HUNTSVILLE — It was a tale of two halves Sunday when Alabama took on Kennesaw State in the Rocket City Classic.
The 16th-ranked Tide (9-3) held 54-28 lead over the Owls (8-4) at intermission, and even widened the gap to 30 points early in the second half.
But the Owls, after shooting just 29% from the field in the first half, were 57% from the floor in the second half.
However, despite closing on a 16-6 run, they couldn’t break through and the Tide came away with the 92-81 win in Huntsville’s Von Braun Center Propst Arena.
“We had too many rebounding issues,” said Bama Head Coach Nate Oats. “We’ve got to get rebounding in our front court.
“If they don’t rebound, they’re not going to play.”
The Owls of Conference USA came into the game as the top rebounding team in the nation and won the battle on the boards 46-41.
After opening the game shooting 4-for-15 from the field, Alabama quickly caught fire by shooting 11 for its next 15 attempts from the floor to take a 39-17 lead with 5:18 left in the opening stanza.
“We dug ourself a hole that was too big,” said KSU Head Coach Antoine Pettway. “It was a great learning experience. We’ve got to come out in the first half and do better.”
It was a reunion of sorts for Pettway, who played for Bama from 2000-04 and was an assistant coach for the Crimson Tide from 2008-23.
“I’ll root for those guys everyday,” he said. “But not today.”
The Owls were led by All-CUSA preseason first teamer Simeon Cottle with 20 points, one of five KSU players to finish in double-figures.
Grissom High grad RJ Johnson, a redshirt sophomore, had his biggest offensive output Sunday for the Owls with 16 points.
“RJ was bringing it at home,” Pettway said. “He got off to a slow start but got his pop back.
“He’s a guy who can make our offense go.”
Freshman Kaden Rickard, who played at Bob Jones High School, started for KSU and finished with four assists and a steal.
The Owls were hurt by 16 turnovers, which led to a 22-10 edge for Alabama for points off turnovers.
The Owls managed just three total field goals in the first 13 minutes of the contest, and finished the first half shooting 29.4% (10-of-34), and 16.7% (2-of-12) from three-point range.
The Tide shot 19-for-39 (49%) from the floor and 7-for-18 (39%) from beyond the arc in the first 20 minutes while the second half they were 13-for-34 (38%) from the floor and 3-for-13 (23%) from three.
“It was good to get a win going into Christmas,” Oats said. “We had some good defensive stops, but we just haven’t been able to maintain it for 40 minutes.”
Pettway will return to Huntsville in March for the Conference USA tournament and he saw Sunday’s game as a building block.
“You don’t lose; you learn,” he said. “This was a chance to play on the same court we’re going to compete on for the conference championship.
“Now, we’ve got to focus on our conference play.”
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