Alabama Basketball Preview: Charleston Southern

Alabama basketball returns home to play Charleston Southern on Tuesday night for its fourth home game of the year.

Alabama basketball returns home to play Charleston Southern on Tuesday night for its fourth home game of the year. Alabama recently returned from Las Vegas, where the Crimson Tide defeated St. Louis after losing to Valparaiso. The team will look to improve to 4-2 on the season with a victory.

Charleston Southern is 3-2 so far, and is coming off of wins against Toccoa Falls and Abilene Christian. In terms of raw statistics, the Buccaneers have the edge over the Crimson Tide, scoring 80.2 points per game (the Tide have averaged 68.2), and averaging 46.6% on field goals (Alabama has hit 41.7%). Alabama’s defense has looked better so far, though, averaging 62.8 points allowed to Charleston Southern’s 67.8.

Despite these statistics, Alabama is favored by 16 points tonight, and should be able to get a win here if all goes well. The shooting statistics so far are somewhat concerning, though, and Avery Johnson will undoubtedly be looking for better performances from that angle in the future.

The biggest challenge for tonight’s game may be staying focused. Alabama’s next two games are against Texas and Oregon, and this mini road trip will be the biggest test for the Tide so far this season. Tonight’s game should not provide too much of a challenge on its own, but could become much more challenging if Alabama basketball cannot stay focused on this game.

One of the marks of a good team is being able to easily win games like these, and Alabama has (largely) been able to handle business so far at home. Charleston Southern will not provide an extremely difficult challenge for the Tide, but staying focused before beginning this next road trip will be key. If players like Dazon Ingram and Corban Collins can step up and deliver an easy win tonight, these upcoming two games will start off on the right foot.