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Alabama outlasts Mississippi State to stay perfect in SEC play

1918632_10206777287683070_1367905321192383146_nby:Charlie Potter•01/13/24•

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Alabama guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (Courtesy of Alabama Athletics)

The Alabama men’s basketball team defeated Mississippi State, 82-74, on Saturday night to claim its fifth straight victory and remain perfect in conference play. The Crimson Tide moved to 11-5 (3-0 SEC) on the season, while the Bulldogs dropped to 12-4 (1-2) this year.

Alabama’s win inside Humphrey Coliseum marked its fourth straight win over Mississippi State and its ninth in the last 11 meetings. The third consecutive win to open conference play is also the Tide’s third such start under head coach Nate Oats. After Saturday’s games, Alabama and Auburn (14-2, 3-0) are the only SEC teams with undefeated league records.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Cameron Matthews opened the game with back-to-back dunks, State scored its first 10 points in the paint and the Bulldogs jumped out to a 15-6 lead. But four straight points from Rylan Griffen capped a 9-0 Alabama run to tie things up. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. had a mini-run of his own with back-to-back threes and a layup to give the Crimson Tide a 25-21 advantage with less than eight minutes to play in the first half. Alabama held the lead for over four minutes before a D.J. Jeffries triple at the 3:44 mark. Moving back in front, 40-36, the Tide fumbled an inbound play to allow State to trim the edge to two points at halftime.

Shakeel Moore scored five straight points out of intermission, but Alabama went on another 9-0 run to reclaim control at 49-43. The SEC’s leading scorer, Mark Sears, had been quiet through the early goings, but five consecutive points from the senior, including his first trey of the game, gave the Crimson Tide a sizeable 56-47 edge and forced Chris Jans to call a timeout. Up by 10 with 12 minutes to play, Alabama saw its lead cut in half, and four straight free throws from Tolu Smith made it a 1-point game, 67-66, with 5:43 to go at The Hump.

A Smith layup gave Mississippi State its first lead in almost 14 minutes, but a Griffen layup and Sears triple saw the Tide go back up and held a narrow 74-72 advantage at the under-4 media timeout. Matthews tied the game on a tap-in, but Sears responded with a jumper with 2:20 left on the game clock. The Bulldogs couldn’t make free throws down the stretch, missing six in a row late, and Alabama did, scoring six straight at the line to secure the win.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Sears led all scorers with 22 points and recorded 17 of those in the second half. Wrightsell (19 points) and Griffen (17) joined Sears in double figures, and all three players – as well as Aaron Estrada – were perfect at the free-throw line. UA forward Grant Nelson needed one more point and rebound to tally a double-double; he led the Tide with nine boards. Five Bulldogs had double-digit points, including Smith who did have a double-double (15 points, 10 rebounds). Josh Hubbard was second for State with 14 points off the bench.

KEY STATS

Both teams shot 43 percent from the field, with Alabama going 25-of-58 and State ending up at 26-of-61. The Bulldogs had a better average from beyond the arc at 41 percent (compared to 38 for UA) but attempted 11 fewer threes. The Tide went 10-of-28 from deep. The big difference was at the free-throw line, where Alabama made 85 percent (22-of-26) of its shots while MSU was 15-of-27 (56 percent). Turnovers were close (UA 13, MSU 12), but the Tide took advantage of the home team’s mistakes with 18 points. State won the rebounding battle, 37-36, while Alabama had a sizeable lead in fastbreak points at 18-0.

QUOTE FROM OATS

“This is a tough place to get a win. Coach Jans is one of the best coaches in the country coaching defense, toughness. This is one of the tougher teams. You saw what they did to Tennessee here last game. I think Tennessee is one of the tougher teams, and they out-toughed them for most of the game. So for us to come in here and get a big win, I thought we had some guys really step up defensively. 

“I thought Trelly was one of them. I thought Grant Nelson’s defense inside on Tolu was huge for us. Rylan started to come around, really guard and play well. Obviously, it was not one of our better offensive games, but it’s good to win on the road when you don’t play great on offense all the time.

“We made free throws, too. Our four guards went 16-of-16 at the free-throw line. Between Trelly, Rylan, Mark and Aaron, they didn’t miss a free throw. A lot of positives. We had them out-rebounded for most of the game, ended up losing by one, but for a team that rebounds it as well as they did, I thought we did a pretty good job for most of the game.”

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama will return to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to take on the Missouri Tigers on Tuesday, Jan. 16. The home game at Coleman Coliseum will tip off at 6 p.m. CT and air on the SEC Network.

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