TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 14/15 Alabama men’s basketball team buried a season-high 22 three-pointers in its final non-conference victory of the season, defeating the Yale Bulldogs 102-78 inside Coleman Coliseum on Monday night.

Aden Holloway led the Tide offensively in the contest, scoring a career-high tying 26 points off 9-for-15 shooting from the field, including five threes, to go along with seven assists.

Alabama had four others in double figures, including Amari Allen, Jalil Bethea and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. who finished the night with 15 points apiece, rounded out by 12 points from Houston Mallette.

Yale was led by Nick Townsend’s 18 points, off 6-for-12 shooting from the floor, along with grabbing seven rebounds in the effort.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“Non-conference is over with. 10-3 with the schedule we had is not bad. We’d like to have gotten a few more of those wins, but I think we got better. This team is good; I think Yale is one of the best mid major teams in the country. James Jones does a great job with that team; I’ve known him for a long time. You saw in the second half, we had a hard time guarding them once they got settled in. To beat a team of this caliber by 24 going into conference play is good for our confidence. Going in, I thought we moved the ball well. We had guys take care of it well. We had four guards with a combined 17 assists and had no turnovers. Holloway had 7, Houston had 3, Amari with 4 and Wrightsell with 3. Obviously, Labaron [Philon Jr.] is super talented, but we were able to play pretty well without him, particularly on the offensive end. I mean, we had three guys make four or more threes.”

“One thing I would’ve liked to see more of is defensive intensity for 40 minutes. I thought it was there for a bulk of the first half, but it wasn’t there to start the second half. We gave up 15 points in the first minutes to start the second half, which isn’t good, but I thought the next eight minutes were a lot better. I have to give Yale a lot of credit. They only had three offensive rebounds in the first half and then got 11 in the second half. They got out in transition, scored some transition buckets, drained some threes themselves. They’re one of the top teams in the country in three-point percentage and they shot over 40 percent from three on us. The one good thing we did defensively was prevent Townsend from getting an assist and he leads the team in assists. They got multiple guys on their team who shoot over 50 percent from three so we didn’t give up open shots to their shooters. All in all, it was a really good win going into conference play. Now we turn our attention to Kentucky who is super talented and is a big game for us to start conference play on Saturday.”

Team Stats 

• The scoring output marks the 35^th time that Nate Oats has surpassed the century mark and the fifth time this season 
• The Crimson Tide had no trouble moving the ball all night long, tallying 22 assists on 34 made field goals, while only surrendering five turnovers
• Alabama controlled the rebounds 46-38 over Yale in the contest, including a season-high 21 offensive rebounds
• Oats’ squad had five players convert on multiple three-point attempts, including Holloway (5), Wrightsell Jr. (5), Mallette (4), Bethea (3) and Allen (2)
• Amari Allen and Taylor Bol Bowen combined for 18 total rebounds, grabbing nine each
• Alabama had nine different scorers in the contest with seven of them scoring five or more points

First Half  

• Alabama started the game with an early three-point barrage, with eight of its first 10 makes coming from beyond the arc
• Quickly, the Tide jumped out to a 14-point advantage after a three-pointer by Latrell Wrightsell Jr. made it a 29-15 game with 9:24 to go
• Nate Oats‘ squad amped up the defensive pressure down the stretch, holding Yale scoreless from 8:43-3:09 (5:34)
• The Tide held a double-digit lead from the 10:01 mark through the remainder of the half
• Alabama closed the final 2:55 of the first half on a 15-7 run to enter halftime with a 55-31 lead 
• Amari Allen led the Tide offensively in the opening frame with 14 points off 4-for-5 shooting from the field to go along with seven rebounds
• Oats’ squad dominated the rebound battle 28-14, with 10 of Alabama’s rebounds coming on the offensive glass resulting in 17 second chance points
• The Crimson Tide shot the ball with efficiency in the half, converting 19-of-38 attempts from the floor (50 percent) and 11-for-26 (42 percent) from three, its most three-pointers in a half this season

Second Half  

• The three-point onslaught continued in the second half as well, with seven of Alabama’s first 10 makes coming from three-point range
• The Tide stayed 1on the gas down the stretch, going on a 16-3 run from 14:36-9:56 (5:06) to take an 84-49 lead
• Alabama passed the 100-point mark after a three-pointer by Holloway with 0:37 remaining in the game
• Holloway scored 16 of his 26 total points in the second half, shooting 5-for-8 from the floor, including a trio of threes
• The Tide was outrebounded in the second half 24-18 by the Bulldogs, with 11 of Alabama’s rebounds coming on the offensive end
• Oats’ squad held at least a 20-point lead through the entire half, with its biggest lead being 35 points, coming with 7:22 left in the half

Up Next

• Alabama begins Southeastern Conference play to open up the new year against the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday, Jan. 3
• Tipoff is set for 11 a.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on ESPN