Alabama Basketball Defeating Mississippi State

The 4th Ranked Crimson Tide Basketball Team stayed warm on the road by defeating 14. Ranked Mississippi State in Starkville Wednesday with a score of 88-84 in a back and forth affair. Alabama improved to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in SEC, while MSU fell to 16-5, 4-4 in league games.

After sitting out the second half of Saturday’s match with LSU, Mark Sears returned to the starting lineup on Wednesday with Chris Youngblood, Grant Nelson, Jarin Stevenson and Clifford Omoruyi.

State scored out of the opening tip, but Youngblood responded with a three marker on the first possession of the tide. The Bulldogs then scored six straight points for an 8-3 lead with 18:22 on the clock. Labaron Philon came from the bench to hit one behind the arch to cut the margin to 11-10 with 15 minutes on the clock. When Youngblood hit his second three-point, the tide again led the lead 23-21 with 10:20.

Sears was about to disc help left and right, and Youngblood remained warm from three. Sears finally broke into the scoring column with a deep three, and the tide had a 37-30 lead. Sears was then buried on the four-minute timeout and went to the line for a one-and-one with a chance to expand the lead, but missed the first. After an input and out three, two unanswered layups and a few revenue, the margin was spread. MSU tied things at 37 with 1:53 back. Another Youngblood-Three-Pointer and an old-fashioned and a three-point game of Nelson gave the tide a 44-39 lead during the break.

In the first half, the tide shot 17-37 for 46%, including 7-19 for 37% from deep, but only made 3-7 free throw. Bama collected 23 total rebounds with 10 on the offensive glass, exhausted 10 assists, blocked three shots, stole the ball twice and committed only five revenue. Youngblood led the road with 12 points on 4-5 shooting from deep. Nelson scored nine to go with four rebounds and two blocked shots. Sears scored five, handed out a similar number of assists and added three rebounds. Aiden Sherrell played only three minutes, but scored four points with two rebounds.

Mississippi State shot 16-33 for 48%, with 4-12 from deep and 3-6 on the charity stripe. Josh Hubbard scored 13 points to LED all scorers during the break. Just a harbinger of things that come from the small spark plug protection.

Oats stayed with the same starters in the second half. Nelson scored right away, but State and especially Hubbard would not disappear. Over the course of a four -minute period, Aden Holloway, Sears and Holloway hit three points again. Sears added a tear drop as the shooting clock expires to extend the lead to 59-50 with 14:10 back in the game.

State then went on a race to make 10 of 11 shots, almost all of Hubbard, and the dogs led 65-64 with 10:14. Sears hit a three to take the lead, Hubbard replied with a long ball to a bulldog lead. Youngblood drained a clutch corner three for a 70-70-made with 8:10 back.

Things continued to go back and forth with Youngblood and Hubbard trade. A Hubbard lineup and free throw crushed things up 80-80 with 3:57 on the clock. Nelson hits a corner three for a three -point lead followed by a bulldog brace. The tide then turned the ball on a bad care, but the dogs returned. Sears made one last second on the shot wall float in the field for an 85-82 lead with one minute left. Hubbard scored to make it 85-84 with 48 seconds left.

As the tide tried to remove the game, the free throwing demon. Nelson missed two freebies with 24.5 seconds left, but Mo Diouubate somehow got the offensive rebound and was buried. However, it was only one and one, and Diouubate missed the front end to keep the homecoming alive. Bama rebound a dog missed a wide open layup and Youngblood was immediately sent to the line. The senior both made the 87-84 lead with 5.3 seconds left. After another MSU, Miss Nelson was stir and made 1-2 free throw with only a few ticks left on the clock. The state missed the summary and the tide had turned off the 88-84 victory.

In the second half, Bama shot 14-26 for 50%, including 8-12 for 67% from three, and still injured himself with 8-13 at the free throwing line. Generally, the tide shot 31-63 for 49%, 14-31 for 48% from three and a miserable 11-20 for 55% at the free-throwing line. Alabama had 41 rebounds, 17 major offensive rebounds. 18 assists, four steals, five blocks and 14 revenue. Youngblood spiked 7-10 behind the arch and led the scores with 23 points and was appointed player of the game. Sears had 17 points, nine assists, six rebounds and seven revenue. Nelson scored 15, rebound seven, had an assist and blocked three shots. Holloway used 3-7 shoots from three to help him score 12 points. Mr. Hard Hat, Diouubate, played 18 minutes and led the team with nine rebounds, seven of them on the offensive glass, adding a few assist, a block and a steal and claiming another Hard Hat Award. Omoruyi scored six and had seven rebounds.

MSU shot 17-33 for 52% in the second half by 4-13 from three and 7-10 on the line. Generally, the dogs shot 33-66, 8-25 from three and 10-16 on the free throwing line. Hubbard hit 14-28 from the field, 6-15 from three points range a 4-4 on the charity stripe to score a career hit 38 points in 36 minutes. Birmingham native Keshawn Murphy scored 18 points with six rebounds. No other Bulldog player scored in double.

Any road wind sec is huge. When you defeat the 14th ranked team in the country, it is even bigger. The victory was the seventh in a row over the Mississippi State and the third right in Starkville. Bama now has Sec Road winner over #12 Texas A&M, #8 Kentucky and #14 Mississippi State.

The defense of the tide left much to be desired tonight. Bulldogs had far too many wide open hangers in the paint, mainly on picking and rolling playbacks. Youngblood looks like he has rounded in shape after his off -season ankle surgery. Sears accepted the waking call from oats, and Diouubate remains a dog. Nelson puts quietly near double-double every night out. Omoruyi plays better and enthusiasts less. Holloway is a wandering bucket with a sharp shooting game. Philon seems to have hit a bit of the beginner wall, but is still dangerous. The tide welcomed Derrion Reid back after a several game absence, and his size, speed and athletics will greatly help the team in the stretch.

Then for the tide is a home game on Saturday at. 15 CT with Georgia Bulldogs and appears on ESPN2.

Rolling water!