Why It Will Be 'Ridiculously Hard' for Alabama Basketball to Defeat Mississippi State
![Jan 25, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama head coach Nate Oats reacts after an Alabama player was called for a foul on a missed three point shot by LSU at Coleman Coliseum. Alabama defeated LSU 80-73. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.- Imagn Images Jan 25, 2025; Tuscaloosa, AL, USA; Alabama head coach Nate Oats reacts after an Alabama player was called for a foul on a missed three point shot by LSU at Coleman Coliseum. Alabama defeated LSU 80-73. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.- Imagn Images](https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/upload/c_crop,w_4681,h_2633,x_0,y_81/c_fill,w_720,ar_16:9,f_auto,q_auto,g_auto/images/ImagnImages/mmsport/bama_central/01jjqz8djzvkhcsbgf3j.jpg)
TUSCALOOSA, Ala.— It's impossible at this point in the season to name any other conference in college basketball that's been better than the SEC this season.
Four of No. 4 Alabama's first seven conference opponents have been and still are ranked. The Crimson Tide has 11 SEC games remaining in the regular season and eight of its opponents are currently ranked.
One of these ranked teams is No. 14 Mississippi State, who Alabama will face on the road on Wednesday night.
"This is going to be ridiculously hard to go into Mississippi State and get a win," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during Tuesday's press conference. "They're one of the toughest teams in the country. Rebounding-wise, they're one of the best in the country. Offensively, they've gotten better and better every year that coach [Chris] Jans has been there. They've got four guys in double figures and last year they only had two."
Mississippi State Bulldogs' Josh Hubbard was not only one of the best freshmen in the SEC last season, but one of the top guards as well due to his scoring ability. This year seems to be no different as he leads Mississippi State with 16.3 points per game. Nevertheless, Hubbard has a supporting cast that includes four other players who are averaging at least nine points per game. The Bulldogs have six active players averaging over 21 minutes per game.
"Hubbard is obviously their leading scorer, but he's got a lot of help," Oats said. "Hubbard's good, he's a quick and explosive guard. If you lose him for half a second and all sudden he's got a three off. He's got an act for getting fouled shooting threes. We gotta guard him on the three-point line without fouling him. You know, [guard Claudell] Harris has been good. He's an elite shooter. [guard Riley] Kugel comes off the bench for them. A year or two ago he was on some draft boards and was projected to go first round, borderline lottery pick, so he's super talented."
While Oats commended Hubbard and some of Mississippi State's top scorers, he also highlighted Bulldogs forward Cameron Matthews who is a bit of a Swiss army knife. Matthews may be sixth on the team in points per game (7.8) but he leads Mississippi State in assists (3.8) and offensive rebounds (2.6) is second in total rebounds (4.5), third in blocks (0.8) and his 2.6 steals per game leads the entire SEC. Oats compared Matthews to Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate as well due to each of their status as the "glue guys that are all about the right stuff."
"Cam Matthews is one of my favorite players in the SEC over the last few years," Oats said. "He plays hard, rebounds it well, they've got him handling the pick and rolls more this year. He just does a little bit of everything and he's a winner. We gave up 15 rebounds in the first half last game to an individual. Cam Matthews has more potential to do that than maybe anybody in this league. So our defense and rebounding efforts on him are going to have to be significantly better than they were last game against LSU."
Although Matthews is a forward, Oats explained that due to recent defensive performances, especially against Texas A&M's Zhuric Phelps, Alabama guard Chris Youngblood could see some time being the answer to this tough task of guarding Matthews.
"He's strong and Matthews is strong," Oats said. "He's a guy we can move around on different guys and I feel like his competitiveness is his strength. His toughness and his experience give him a chance. And he talks a lot and that's a big thing that goes understated a lot of times...Chris' defensive leverage numbers have been positive and for a lot of different reasons."
All said and done, Oats stressed on Tuesday that Alabama has looked great in the past couple of practices leading up to the Starkville showdown and is looking forward to the game.
"I like where our heads are at," Oats said. "I love where our energy was in practice today. I love this team. I think we've got really good guys, but I like Mississippi State's team. They're tough, their coach does a good job and we've got our hands full on Wednesday night."