Coming off a disheartening loss to Memphis on Tuesday night, most expected the 6th ranked Crimson Tide to take care of business early against Jacksonville State on Saturday night. However, the instate opponent had other ideas and battled the Alabama to the end. The Tide pulled out the victory by a score of 65-59, improving to 9-2 on the year while the Gamecocks fell to 5-6.
Coach Nate Oats used the same starting five of Keon Ellis, Jahvon Quinerly, Charles Bediako, Juwan Gary, and Jaden Shackelford that he has used for the last several games. JSU controlled the tempo from the get-go, continually taking the shot clock to the final seconds before attacking.