Alabama vs Mississippi State College Basketball Prediction and Preview

Preview and analysis for Alabama vs Mississippi State. This starts a huge run of home games for the Bulldogs
Feb 3, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA;  Alabama head coach Nate Oats protests to an official after another official hit him with a technical foul at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images
Feb 3, 2024; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama head coach Nate Oats protests to an official after another official hit him with a technical foul at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images / Gary Cosby Jr.-Imagn Images

All of a sudden, Alabama is right there in the mix for everything again.

Coming off the Final Four run of last year, this year's Crimson Tide bunch has almost as much firepower, is finding ways to get through the tough SEC schedule, and now it needs this with three of its next four games on the road before dealing with Auburn.

Mississippi State needs to get hot. This is the first of a run of three road games in four dates, and it doesn't get too much easier with Missouri and Florida next.

Win this, and MSU suddenly becomes a national IT team with Mizzou coming to town on Saturday.

Alabama vs Mississippi State: College Basketball Game Preview

Date: Wednesday January 29, 2025
Game Time: 9:00 pm ET
How To Watch: SEC Network
Venue: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, MS
Teams: Mississippi State (16-4), Alabama (17-3)
Fiu Bluesky 

Why Alabama Will Win

Can Mississippi State keep up?

Alabama has a deadly style combination of hitting lots of threes, scoring lots of points, and doing a great job on the defensive boards. Against the nation's top scoring team, the Bulldogs have to keep taking it to the rim, and they can't blink.

And they have to at least hold their own on the offensive glass.

MSU is 9-1 when coming up with 12 or more offensive rebounds, and 7-3 when it doesn't, with one of those games a rough outing in the win over South Carolina - the team didn't do much of anything on the boards.

Alabama is relentless. You have to be able to slow it down a wee bit, and ...

Why Mississippi State Will Win

Mississippi State beat Ole Miss. Auburn didn't.

What did the Rebels do against the Crimson Tide? They forced the pace and held Bama to a season-low 64 points, starting with attacking the three and seemingly grabbing every offensive board. You give this team second chances, and forget it.

The latest South Carolina game aside, the Bulldogs are usually terrific on the offensive boards and can hold their own on the defensive side. They have to resist the temptation, though, to attack, attack, attack with fast break points.

Alabama is 3-3 when scoring fewer than 83 points, and ...

Alabama vs Mississippi State Who Will Win?

Mississippi State is 0-3 when allowing more than 84 points, 16-1 when giving up fewer.

But here's the problem. Two of those losses were recent. The Bulldogs couldn't keep up with Kentucky in a 95-90 home loss, and were never really in the 88-66 loss at Auburn.

The Hump will be really loud, and really energetic, and really fun for a back-and-forth game with the two offenses trading shots all game long.

Alabama is better equipped to have that one mini-run needed late.

Alabama vs Mississippi State Prediction

Prediction: Alabama 85, Mississippi State 81


Published
Pete Fiutak
PETE FIUTAK

Notre Dame, Kansas, Illinois, and Mississippi State On SI. Publisher of CollegeFootballNews.com since 1998, writing more words about college football than any human ever. Worked for FOX Sports, USA TODAY, The Sporting News, and CBS Sports. America’s radio guest on ESPN, FOX, VSiN and several major market stations. Co-hosted shows on NFL Network, Big Ten Network, FOX Sports Radio, and for eight years was a talking head for Campus Insiders - now Stadium - including as an in-stadium co-host for the first four CFP National Championships. Heisman voter, FWAA Award winner, Doak Walker Award advisory board. Ordered by Keith Jackson to “call me Keith.” BlueSky @petefiutak.bsky.social and X @PeteFiutak