Mississippi State embarrassed at No. 24 Alabama 99-67
Mississippi State’s road woes continued Saturday at No. 24 Alabama and the Bulldogs suffered their largest margin of defeat with a 99-67 loss.
The Bulldogs had 18 turnovers and Alabama made 15 three-pointers to roll to the easy victory, which concluded the Tide’s season sweep of Mississippi State. The Bulldogs dropped to 14-8 overall and 3-6 in the SEC while Alabama moved to 16-6 overall and atop the league standings at 8-1.
“I remember it being 23-17 them and I remember sharing with the staff that I liked how the game’s being played,” said Mississippi State head coach Chris Jans. “We missed some stuff around the basket and a couple of failed assignments. They are very explosive, obviously, and they make these runs. A seven-point lead turns into 17 before you blink your eye and it got away from us there at some point in the first half. We could never make a legitimate run to have a chance to get in the game.”
Tolu Smith led the Bulldogs with a game-high 23 points and was 8 of 14 from the floor. Shakeel Moore had 13 points for State while Shawn Jones finished with 10.
With State’s Jones, he started the final half and played the entire second half due to DJ Jeffries suffering a lower-leg injury in the first half. Jans did not have any update on Jeffries and said he will be examined on Sunday.
“I thought he showed some grit and kept playing hard,” said Jans of Jones. “He had no give-up in him and he left it on the floor. Nobody in that locker room is happy and you could hear a pin drop. But Shawn, I thought he gave us what he had in the second half, especially.”
Mark Sears paced Alabama with 21 points and Aaron Estrada had 15 points. Mouhamed Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson added 14 points each for the Crimson Tide.
Overall, State shot 40% from the field and made just 4 of 16 from 3 point territory. The Bulldogs were 19 of 32 at the foul line and were outscored 27-7 in points off turnovers. Alabama shot 45% from the field and made 15 of 48 behind the 3 point arc. The Crimson Tide made all 10 free throw attempts and outrebounded State 48-37, including 20 offensive rebounds.
State opened the game with a 14-12 lead but it was all downhill the rest of the first half. A Stevenson 3 pointer capped off an Alabama 14-2 and gave the Tide a 26-16 lead with 6:59 left in the opening half. Alabama then capped the half with an 18-2 run as State went the last 5:46 of the half without a field goal and trailed 47-24 at halftime.
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The second half wasn’t even better for the Bulldogs as Alabama led by as many as 32 in the final half.
“As crazy as it sounds, I felt good coming into this game,” Jans remarked. “Even as the game unfolded in the first 5-10 minutes, I liked where we were at. But all of a sudden it changed on a dime and we couldn’t get back in it.”
State shot just 32% in the first half and missed all seven attempt behind the arc. The Bulldogs were 8 of 11 at the line and had 11 turnovers in the first half. Alabama shot 46% in the opening half and made 8 of 29 from 3 point range. Alabama had just four turnovers and outrebounded State 22-19.
“It is going to be a tough 24-48 hours but we have to turn the page if we want to keep moving forward,” added Jans. “Last year at the turn (of the SEC schedule) we were 2-7. People ask me about getting off to a better start in the league and how to do that. You play better.
“Unfortunately or fortunately depending on how you look at it, we’ve been in this situation before. I know come Monday we are going to learn, grown and put ourselves in position to beat Georgia on Wednesday. That’s where we are at now and we have to figure out who we are.”
Mississippi State returns to action Wednesday at home against Georgia with an 8 p.m. tipoff at Humphrey Coliseum.
