No. 8 Alabama Basketball Gets Over the Hump, Tops No. 21 Mississippi State

The Crimson Tide used a strong second half to pick up its first win in SEC play.

STARKVILLE, Miss. — The 8th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide showed its resiliency once again in a hard-fought win over the No. 21 Mississippi State Bulldogs in Humphrey Coliseum Wednesday night.

Road wins are hard to come by in the SEC, and Alabama came away with a double-digit one, winning 78-67.

"I thought our effort was really good," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. "We made some tough plays, got on the floor. I was proud of our guys, we overcame some of their guys having really good shooting nights."

It was an ugly game to say the least from the opening tip. Mississippi State has been notorious this season for having a tough defense — ranking in the top-5 according to the analytics service KenPom. The Crimson Tide struggled to find consistent offense in the first half and shot below 30 percent in the half as a team. 

Foul trouble plagued Alabama in the first half as well, with star freshman Brandon Miller being sidelined with three first half fouls. Senior point guard Jahvon Quinerly picked up three fouls in the first half too, as well as multiple Alabama players with two.

Mississippi State shot the ball well in the first half, shooting 47 percent from 3-point land. This included a 3-for-3 performance from Bulldog KeShawn Murphy, who had only made five threes on the season entering the game.

Once the second half started, Alabama took control. 

The Crimson Tide's depth showed, with multiple contributors stepping up while the team dealt with foul trouble. Junior forward Nick Pringle was the most notable, posting 12 points on a perfect 4-for-4 shooting from the field, many of which were thunderous dunks that silenced the home crowd.

"I thought our depth really helped us," Oats said. "We had guys in foul trouble. Charles [Bediako] got in foul trouble in the first half so Nick Pringle had to play more minutes than he's used to and I thought he did well with them."

Junior guard Mark Sears led the Crimson Tide in scoring with 20, and was Alabama's steadiest first half scoring option. The second half saw 11 points from Miller, with each make being incredibly timely to quiet the crowd down as Mississippi State would chip away at the Alabama lead. 

"Our guys stepped up," Oats said. "I thought Brandon [Miller] and Mark [Sears] hit big shots late when we needed them. I thought Jaden Bradley did a great job running the team. [...] I thought he was aggressive against their press."

Senior guard Dom Welch got his first action all season after recovering from a calf strain, and played great defense but didn't make a shot. 

"I thought his defense was great," Oats said. "Obviously he's a little rusty, missed some threes. He's going to make threes he's a really good shooter. He's only practiced one day. Yesterday was the first day he's practiced. [...] I was glad I was able to get him nine minutes. We'll increase his minutes as he gets more comfortable."

The win marks Alabama's fourth win over an AP top-25 team this season, which ranks among the highest totals in the country.

The Crimson Tide will be off until Tuesday, when Ole Miss comes to Coleman Coliseum for an 8 p.m. tip.

How It Happened

(most recent update at the top)

Final stats:

Second Half

• FINAL: No. 8 Alabama 78, No. 21 Mississippi State 67

• Miller once again stops the run with a deep three. Alabama leads 75-61 with under two minutes remaining. Miller is up to 19 in the game.  

• Mississippi State is on a 6-0 run and has cut the lead to 70-61.

• At the under-4 timeout Alabama holds a commanding 70-55 lead. 

• A corner three from Sears extends the Alabama run. The Crimson Tide leads 65-50.

• At the under-8 timeout Alabama leads 60-50 with Sears headed to the line for two shots after the break. 

• Miller silences the crowd with a make from downtown. Alabama leads 58-48.

• Mississippi State is on an 8-2 run and has cut the lead to 55-48.

• Quinerly hits a corner three to put Alabama up 53-40. He has two 3-point makes in the game. 

• Alabama leads 50-38 at the under-12 timeout.

• Pringle scores four straight points capitalized by an alley-oop slam leading to a Mississippi State timeout. Alabama leads 50-37.

• Two free throws from Clowney extend the Alabama lead to nine points, 44-35.

• Clowney hits a three in the corner for his first long range make of the game. Alabama leads 39-33.

• Bradley responds with a floater for Alabama for its first second half bucket. Alabama leads 36-33.

• Mississippi State opens the second half with a three to cut the Alabama lead to 34-33. 

Halftime stats:

First Half

• HALFTIME: Alabama leads Mississippi State 34-30. 

• An and-one from Bradley puts Alabama up 34-27 leading to a Mississippi State timeout. 

• Two Sears free throws stop a quick 6-0 Bulldog run. Alabama leads 31-27.

• Clowney has scored four straight for Alabama to extend the lead to 29-21.

• At the under-4 timeout Alabama holds a 25-20 lead.

• Miller has picked up his third foul.

• Pringle has provided a spark off the bench for Alabama with two straight dunks. Alabama leads 22-17 with five minutes to go in the half. 

• Miller is heating up, scoring Alabama's last five points. Alabama leads 18-13.

• Alabama has taken the lead back at the under-8 timeout. Sears has seven points and Alabama leads 13-10.

• Two free throws from Sears break Alabama's scoring drought and tie the game at 10.

• Brandon Miller has picked up his second foul just 10 minutes into the game. 

• At the under-12 timeout Mississippi State holds a 10-8 lead. There have already been nine foul calls in eight minutes of play. 

• Miller finds some space and nails a three to give Alabama an 8-7 lead.

• Dom Welch enters the game for Alabama.

• At the under-16 timeout, Alabama leads 5-4. Mississippi State has a free throw coming after the break after an and-one in the lane. 

• Both defenses look good so far. Alabama leads 4-2 through three minutes.

• Sears gets a layup to go to get the scoring started in the game. Alabama leads 2-0. 

Pregame

• Officials for tonight's game are Doug Shows, Chuck Jones and Owen Short.

• Alabama's starting five will be Mark Sears, Jaden Bradley, Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney, and Charles Bediako. 

• Junior forward Darius Miles has not been seen in warmups so far. 

• Graduate student guard Dom Welch is dressed out and warming up. Welch is a transfer from St. Bonaventure, but hasn't played in a game yet this season due to a calf strain. 

• As expected, freshman forward Noah Clowney is dressed out and warming up. Clowney missed the Jackson State game on Dec. 20 due to an illness.

• With just over 70 minutes until tip, much of the Alabama team is on the floor warming up. 

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