No. 6 Alabama obliterates No. 24 Mississippi State behind hot shooting night

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 6 Alabama won its second straight game on Tuesday night, utterly dominating No. 24 Mississippi State by a final score of 111-73. The win moves the Crimson Tide to 23-5 on the season with a 12-3 record in SEC play as three regular season games remain.

Alabama went with the same starting five for the third straight game, again going with Labaron Philon, Mark Sears, Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi.

HOW IT HAPPENED

The game got off to a pretty ugly start, with both teams combining for five turnovers and both teams shooting below 50 percent from the field in the first four minutes of the game. At the game’s first media timeout Alabama held a slim 6-5 lead.

Alabama kept its strong defensive intensity over the next 4-minute segment, and got some big-time contributions from Mo Dioubate. He came off the bench and scored a quick five points, hitting a 3-pointer, and also dishing it to Sears for another three. The Crimson Tide pushed out its lead, holding a 16-9 advantage at the under-12 timeout.

Over the next stretch, the threes started falling, and fast. Alabama went on a run bolstered by a couple threes from Sears, one from Philon, and a thunderous slam from Nelson that pushed the Tide lead to 29-15, prompting a Mississippi State timeout with seven minutes remaining in the half.

Somehow, the next four minutes were Alabama’s best. Youngblood caught fire hitting multiple more threes, and the Tide went on a 17-4 run from the under-8 timeout to the under-4 timeout. At this point Alabama had doubled up the Bulldogs, leading 42-19.

By halftime Alabama nearly kept the score doubled, headed into the break with a 53-27 lead after Sears drilled a deep one before the buzzer. The Crimson Tide made 11-of-20 attempts from downtown in the first half, as Youngblood led the way with 16 points.

Alabama kept its hot shooting going in the second half. The Crimson Tide outscored Mississippi State 12-8 over the first four minutes of the second half, making two more threes in the process and holding a whopping 30-point lead at the half’s first media timeout.

Alabama kept its lead hovering around the 30-point mark as the game approached the midway point in the second half. Jarin Stevenson got going from deep in a big way, hitting his first three looks from downtown as Alabama neared 20 3-point makes for the game.

On the negative side, Mississippi State’s Josh Hubbard finally got going with back-to-back threes, prompting a Nate Oats timeout with 9:13 to go as Alabama led 83-53.

The lead was never threatened for the rest of the game, as the Crimson Tide was able to coast to the final buzzer riding a massive lead. Every player on the team scored at least four points aside from walk-on Max Scharnowski.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Chris Youngblood — 27 points, 7-for-11 3pt

Mark Sears — 21 points, 10 assists

Mo Dioubate – 10 points, 11 rebounds

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama will hit the road for a monster game this weekend, taking on No. 5 Tennessee in Knoxville. The game will tip off at 3 p.m. CT and air on ESPN.

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