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Alabama basketball: Details from exhibition loss to Wake Forest – Tuscaloosa Magazine
Alabama basketball held its second and final tune-up before the regular season on Sunday, losing to Wake Forest 88-80 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina as part of a charity exhibition.
The Crimson Tide also faced and lost to TCU in a closed scrimmage earlier in October.
Alabama held a sizeable 52-39 halftime lead. Then Wake Forest came storming back in the second half as Alabama went cold scoring for a while. The Demon Deacons out-scored the Crimson Tide 49-28 in the second half.
“I am disappointed with today’s result and how complacent we got after leading by 19 points towards the end of the first half,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said in a statement. “We have a lot to clean up before next week’s season opener so we will get back in the gym and gear up for Morehead State.”
Guard Mark Sears, who is expected to be a top player for the Crimson Tide this season, did not play because of a minor injury. The starting lineup for Alabama looked like this: Aaron Estrada, Rylan Griffen, Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson and Nick Pringle.
Wake Forest only had eight players who saw time.
Alabama will begin its season on Monday, Nov. 6 vs. Morehead State at Coleman Coliseum.
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Estrada had a strong outing, scoring 24 points as he shot 10-for-20. He also had six rebounds and three assists. The only big blemish he had came in the form of turnovers with five, which led the Crimson Tide.
Over two preseason scrimmages, Estrada scored a combined 43 points.
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Pringle, who started at center, finished with 13 points as he went 5-for-5 shooting to go with 9 rebounds. He also had a block.
Walters is the early leader to be Alabama’s top player in 3-point shooting.
The freshman shot 4-for-6 from deep vs. Wake Forest. He also shot 7-for-12 from beyond the arc against TCU. Walters scored 42 points over the two scrimmages.
The North Dakota State transfer scored 11 points but he shot 4 of 11 as he went 2 of 5 from beyond the arc. He tallied five fouls and had three turnovers. He also grabbed three rebounds and had one steal. Nelson finished with a plus-minus of -16, the worst of any Crimson Tide player.
Nelson has a high ceiling and should be one of Alabama’s best players this season, but there might be somewhat of an adjustment needed in his first season with Alabama.
Alabama out-rebounded Wake Forest 39-33, but the Demon Deacons shot better at 48% compared to 46% for the Crimson Tide. Alabama had more turnovers, though, with 18 compared to Wake Forest’s 14.
The Crimson Tide saw significant contributions from the bench, outscoring Wake Forest 24-6 in bench points.
Nick Kelly covers Alabama football and men’s basketball for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.
