Nate Oats: Jahvon Quinerly 'was huge' in gritty comeback win vs. Mississippi State

Alabama survived and maintained their perfect 8-0 record in conference play Wednesday overcoming an 11-point lead and defeating Mississippi State 66-63. Crimson Tide guard Jahvon Quinerly came up big for Alabama in their second half comeback, and head coach Nate Oats detailed just how crucial he was in the team’s ninth straight victory.

“He was huge, he can shoot so they couldn’t really sag him as much and they tried to switch,” Oats said. “I thought he’s got some explosiveness to get in the paint, make plays happen.”

Quinerly filled up the box score for Alabama off of the bench, scoring and distributing to play a crucial role in the team’s second-half comeback that involved two major scoring runs, one 15-4 and one 15-3.

“He hit the one three, he hit some drives going in, he made his free throws for the most part, I think he missed the one late but he’s five of six at the line. He had four assists, only one turnover,” Oats said.

Quinerly had offseason knee surgery, repairing a torn ACL, and slowly but surely worked his way into more minutes as the season progressed. His 14-point scoring outing was his best of the season since his 21-point day versus North Carolina, leading the team in scoring on a night where Alabama’s leading scorers Brandon Miller and Mark Sears were held to just 17 points combined.

“I think you’re starting to see, he ended up leading us in scoring tonight on a night when we needed some scoring help. They did a great job on Brandon and Sears, we needed somebody to step up and score the ball, and JQ’s been able to score for us pretty well in the past, we needed him tonight,” Oats said.

Alabama’s ability to score has given SEC teams fits all season, averaging 83.2 points per game and winning by an average scoring margin of 14.4 points. They’ve leaned heavily on the scoring of Miller (the SEC’s leading scorer) and Sears, but if Quinerly can continue to score at a high clip as well like he did a season ago, team’s defenses could have their hands even more full.

The Crimson Tide will be looking to extend their winning streak to 10 wins on Saturday as they face their only non-conference opponent remaining on the schedule, Oklahoma, 2 p.m. ET on ESPN.