No. 7 Alabama bombard No. 24 Bulldogs with 22 3-pointers in 111-73 thrashing
Mississippi State’s defensive effort hit a new low on Tuesday night.
The Bulldogs had the worst performance on that side of the ball since 1993 as No. 7 Alabama demolished State 111-73 in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide nailed 22 3-pointers and scored 50 or more points in both halves for its best offensive game of the year, embarrassing the Bulldogs on the road.
It was the 11th time this season that a team has made 10 or more 3-pointers with State falling to 2-9 in such games. This one was the worst of them all as the Bulldogs gave up 22-of-45 makes. It’s the most made 3-pointers by an opposing team since at least 2003-04 as that’s how far back game-by-game stats are available in State’s online records.
The 111 points were the most scored by Bama this season as the Tide have scored 100 or more points in five games this year. The Bulldogs had not given up that many points since ’93. State has also surrendered 53 or more points in the last three halves dating back to the Oklahoma game with a total of 170 points surrendered during that stretch.
The game wasn’t in doubt for most of the night as State would fall down midway through the first half and never recover. Bama had a 53-27 lead at the half after hitting 11-of-18 3-pointers. Somehow, it got worse for MSU in the second half as State was outscored 58-46 and even the Tide’s bench was joining the fun late in the frame with a trio of 3-pointers in the final 2 minutes of the game.
Bama finished hitting 52% of its shots (37-of-71) and they were 15-of-18 from the free throw line to go along with the big night from three. Meanwhile, State again struggled to make its own long shots shooting an abysmal 6-of-30 (20%) from three and 28-of-73 (38%) from the field.
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The Bulldogs turned it over 14 times and it led to 20 points by Bama while State scored just three points off of 11 Crimson Tide turnovers. The Bulldogs only lost the rebounding 42-41 with 18 offensive boards. State also won the paint 40-28 but were doubled up in assists (28-14).
Josh Hubbard led the Bulldogs with 21 points but on 3-of-12 shooting from three. He had four assists and one turnover. Keshawn Murphy delivered another solid performance in the loss with 18 points on 8-of-11 and 11 rebounds. RJ Melendez had 11 points, five rebounds and three assists but was 1-of-6 from three. Claudell Harris and Riley Kugel combined for six points on 0-of-7 from deep.
Chris Youngblood torched State from long range for the second time this season. After making 7-of-10 threes and scoring 23 points in a 88-84 win last month, Youngblood scored 27 points and hit 7-of-11 threes in this one. Mark Sears finished with 21 points and 10 assists with five 3-pointers.
The loss dropped State to 19-9 and 7-8 in SEC play and the Bulldogs have lost consecutive ball games. State returns to the court on Saturday to take on LSU (14-14, 3-12 SEC) at Humphrey Coliseum. Game time is set for 2:30 p.m. on SEC Network.
