Alabama Snaps Three-Game Losing Streak With 44-Point Rout of EKU

The Alabama Crimson Tide finally got back in the win column, snapping their three-game losing streak with a 111-67 decimation of the Eastern Kentucky Colonels.

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"It's a good win going into Christmas," said Oats to open the press conference. "We needed a win like that."

The Tide drew first blood, getting on the board with a Mark Sears three.

The Colonels responded with a three of their own, but the Tide quickly racked up seven more points - five from Grant Nelson and two from Mohamed Wague.

EKU and Alabama would trade buckets for the next couple of minutes, but after two Collin Cooper free throws, the Tide would go on a 26-12 run to take a 22-point advantage with 7:20 remaining in the first half.

After an ankle-breaker by Davin Crosby, which turned into a Latrell Wrightsell three and a near Grant Nelson dunk that would've popped the roof of Coleman Coliseum, the Tide was rolling, and Coleman was rocking.

Alabama entered the locker room for halftime up 61-32.

The beginning of the second half was the opposite of what coach Oats had been preaching all week; the Tide allowed the Colonels to go on an 11-point run led by Michael Moreno.

After a technical on Nate Oats and the under-16 media timeout, the Tide started to run away from the Colonels.

"Oh, he was mad. He chewed us all out," said sophomore Rylan Griffen about Nate Oats' message during the timeout.

"We can't do this," said Oats about his message during the timeout. "We've been one of the best teams in the country for large parts of most games, and then we just have stretches where we just fall apart and lose everything we've built up for 28, 32, 24 minutes, whatever it is."

That message seemed to get into the player's minds, as the Tide would dominate the rest of the game en route to their highest-scoring total of the season.

Rylan Griffen and Grant Nelson led the way to victory for the Tide, each scoring 19 on efficient shooting clips after recent rough scoring outings.

After the loss, Eastern Kentucky falls to 4-8 and will gear up to play Purdue on December 29.

Alabama (7-5) will take a break over Christmas before facing off against Liberty in the C.M Newton Classic.

For more Alabama Basketball content from Simon Besnoy, follow him on X/Twitter at @SimonBesnoy and stay tuned to Tide1009.com for daily news.