Is it Possible for Alabama to Play a Perfect 40 Minutes of Basketball? Just a Minute

Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats wasn't pleased with his team's defensive performance in the second half against Mississippi State despite winning the game 111-73.

Feb 25, 2025; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats directs his team against the Mississippi State Bulldogs during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Will McLelland-Imagn Images / Will McLelland-Imagn Images

Welcome to BamaCentral’s "Just a Minute," a video series featuring BamaCentral's Alabama beat writers. Multiple times a week, the writers will group up to provide their take on a topic concerning the Crimson Tide or the landscape of college sports.

Watch the above video as BamaCentral staff writer Hunter De Siver discusses Alabama basketball's defensive performance against Mississippi State.

No. 6 Alabama men's basketball defeated No. 24 Mississippi State 111-73 on Tuesday night. In other words, the Crimson Tide beat a ranked team by nearly 40 points.

Alabama started with a 19-9 lead midway through the first half and it never looked back as it only built on the margin. Alabama's backcourt duo of Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood combined for 28 of the Tide's 53 points at halftime. Mississippi State as a whole had 27 at the break.

The Crimson Tide's offense in the second half was just as good, if not better than the dominant performance in the first period. Alabama scored 58 points in the latter 20 minutes as its 22 total threes were the most in a game in four years.

Alabama's defense was also locking down Mississippi State in the first half, as Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard, who scored 38 total points in the first game in January, had just six at the break. But the Crimson Tide, who led by 38 at halftime, naturally took its foot off the pedal defensively in the second half as Mississippi State scored 46 points in the period with Hubbard finishing the game with 21.

Needless to say, head coach Nate Oats was disappointed with the defensive intensity in the second half as the all-around dominance in the first 20 minutes made the Crimson Tide look like National Championship contenders.

Alabama came into this game leading the nation in points per game with 90.8, but the Crimson Tide's 80.4 points allowed ranks 354th of 364 teams in the field. Of course, Oats and company have had numerous impressive defensive performances throughout the season and Tuesday evening was a solid example of that in the first half.

But besides this past Saturday's Kentucky win plus the Georgia victory, we haven't really seen a stout outing from the Crimson Tide from start to finish throughout SEC play. Alabama's final three games are against top-6 teams in the country. It'll be practically impossible to play a perfect game over the next couple of weeks, but the Tide must find a way to be as close to consistent as possible on both ends of the floor in each half of the game.

Do you think it's possible for Alabama to play a perfect 40 minutes of basketball at some point this regular season and/or postseason?

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