Dominating With 47 Points, Aaron Estrada and Grant Nelson Extend Alabama’s Perfect Start

Published 11/13/2023, 8:24 AM EST

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Two of the Crimson Tide’s young guns went berserk on Friday night and maintained Alabama’s yet another scoring outburst in the ongoing NCAA season. The duo ensured 102-80 victory over Indiana State and gave #24 college team second win of the season. Aaron Estrada and Grant Nelson led Alabama’s offense and made it a dangerous shooting side.

Estrada led all scorers with 27, followed by Nelson (20) and Mark Sears (24). They contributed 47 win points to their team’s triumph. It was the second game in a row that the team scored more than 100 points. The first time Alabama did it was in 1964-1965.

A dominant starter for the Tides

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Four players scored in double figures in Alabama’s Friday night win over Indiana State. Estrada was the Crimson Tide’s offensive coordinator in the first half. The Hofstra transfer scored 16 points in the first 11 minutes of the game, 12 of which came from long range. At the end of the first half, he had 22 points.

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Aaron Estrada led his team to a victory with a game-high 27 points. He has now scored more points in his collegiate career after shooting 56 percent (9-16) from the field, 75 percent (6-8) from beyond the arc, and a perfect 3-3 from the free throw line.

Grant Nelson was a quiet player in the first half, scoring only two points. Nelson entered the locker room due to an eye injury just before halftime. He scored eighteen of his twenty points in the second half, and he was once again able to consistently draw contact down low, earning him six free throws.

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Head coach hails Aaron Estrada and Co.

“It’s a quality win,” stated head coach Nate Oats after the game.”They’re a really good, well-coached team. We expected it to be that way. We knew it when we scheduled them. [Estrada and Sears] are capable of going for 20 in a half, easy.”

You have two of them in the backcourt, he said, so it’s difficult to focus on just one.

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The Crimson Tide is demonstrating that it has a number of guys who are capable of scoring over 20 points on any given night, which gives the attack greater adaptability.

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Written by:

Nima Murugan

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Nima Murugan is an NBA writer at EssentiallySports. With a Master's in English Literature, she provides detailed analysis of the games. Nima developed an interest in the NBA after witnessing the greatness of LeBron James and she continues to support the Los Angeles Lakers with passion.
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Edited by:

Bilal Handoo