Alabama Men’s Basketball Opens SEC Play Tuesday Night at Mississippi State
1/2/2017 12:07:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Crimson Tide and Bulldogs set for 195th meeting on Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will open the New Year when it begins Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday night at Mississippi State. The contest will tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will be televised on SEC Network.
Mississippi State and Alabama will meet for the 195th time in series history on Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide owns an all-time record of 120-74 in the series. Alabama has won six of the last seven games overall in the series, and has claimed three straight and four of the last five games played between the two teams in Starkville, Miss.
Alabama is coming off an impressive 83-60 victory over Stetson on Dec. 29 in the Tide's non-conference finale. It marked the second straight win for the Tide and its third victory over its last four games entering SEC play.
HOW TO WATCH/LISTEN
RADIO: Crimson Tide Sports Network
TV: SEC Network
LIVE STATS: http://stats.statbroadcast.com/statmonitr/?id=152214
SOCIAL MEDIA: @AlabamaMBB
WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW
- Alabama has won six of its last eight SEC openers. The Tide fell at Ole Miss in last season's league opener, 74-66.
- Tuesday's game will be the first of two meetings between the teams this year. The Tide will host the Bulldogs on Jan. 28, 2017 at 5 p.m. CT.
- Alabama, which has won three straight over Mississippi State in Starkville, will be looking for its fourth straight win at Humphrey Coliseum for the first time in series history.
- Alabama is a perfect 7-0 when holding teams to fewer than 62 points, but falls to 0-5 when allowing the opposition to score more than 62.
- The Tide boasts 11 players averaging double-figure minutes per game, with eight of those players averaging between 5.9 points and 9.7 points per contest.
- The Alabama bench has been outscored by its counterparts just twice during its 12 non-conference games this year, which came in the season opener vs. Coastal Carolina (22-17) and most recently vs. Arkansas State (29-28). For the year, the Crimson Tide reserves is outscoring the opposition's bench by an average of 12.4 points a game (30.3-17.9).
- Defensively, the Tide ranks 21st nationally in scoring defense (61.8), 32nd in blocked shots per game (5.4) and 69th in field goal percentage defense (.401).
- Alabama will next be in action when it hosts its first Southeastern Conference home contest this season as the Tide will welcome Vanderbilt on Saturday, Jan. 7. That contest will tip off at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.
SCOUTING MISSISSIPPI STATE
• Mississippi State and Alabama will meet for the 195th time in series history on Tuesday night. It will mark the first of two meetings this season. The Crimson Tide will host the Bulldogs on Jan. 28, 2017 at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network.
• Alabama owns an all-time record of 120-74, and have won three straight and four of the last five games played between the two teams in Starkville, Miss.
• The 195 games played and the 120 wins against Mississippi State marks the most for Alabama against any single opponent in each category in program history.
• Mississippi State is 45-38 in SEC lid-lifters — 30-18 at home, 15-19 on the road and 0-1 at neutral sites. Mississippi State's most common league-opening foe is Auburn (21, 10-11). Finally, the Bulldogs are 2-4 against Alabama in openers, with the last meeting coming in 2011, a 75-57 Tide win at the Hump.
• Quinndary Weatherspoon leads MSU with his 19.1 scoring average, while I.J. Ready, who leads the team with 5.1 assists per game, is 54th nationally and 3rd in the SEC with his 2.7 assist/turnover ratio, while also averaging 10.7 points per game. Aric Holman tops the team in rebounds (6.5 rpg), blocks (2.2 bpg) and field goal percentage (.540).
• Ben Howland, who is in his second season at the helm of the program, was named the 20th head coach in Mississippi State history on On March 23, 2015. In four different stints as a head coach, Howland has a 412-220 record – Northern Arizona (79-59), Pittsburgh (89-40), UCLA (233-107) and Mississippi State (11-14). He led UCLA to three-consecutive Final Fours, including a national runner-up finish in 2006.
• Mississippi State probable starters (starting five from last game): Guards: Quinndary Weatherspoon (19.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 44.7 3FG%), I.J. Ready (10.7 ppg, 5.1 apg, 2.7 assist-to-turnover ratio), Tyson Carter (10.1 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 39.3 3FG%), Mario Keigler (9.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg), Forward: Aric Holman (10.0 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 2.2 bpg).
SCOUTING ALABAMA
• Alabama will open Southeastern Conference play on Tuesday night when it travels to Starkville, Miss., to take on the Mississippi State Bulldogs. The two teams split last season's series, with each squad winning on the road. The Tide captured an 82-80 overtime victory at Humphrey Coliseum on Feb. 2, 2016, while the Bulldogs returned the favor with a 67-61 triumph at Coleman Coliseum.
• Alabama does not have a player averaging double figures through its 11 games on the season, but boast 11 players average double-digit minutes and eight guys who average between 5.9 and 9.7 points per game.
• The Tide's top two scorers are both freshmen, as forward Braxton Key and guard Dazon Ingram lead the team at 9.7 points per game. The duo are the only two players to average more than nine points a game for the Tide.
• Ingram also leads the team in three-point field goal percentage (.438), assists (3.8 apg) and steals (1.2 spg). Meanwhile, Key ranks second on the squad in rebounding (5.0 rpg) and assists (2.1 apg).
• Sophomore center Donta Hall tops the team in rebounding (5.8 rpg) and field goal percentage (.659), while ranking second in blocks (1.8 bpg). Graduate senior Corban Collins, who missed the Tide's last two games with a groin injury, is second on the team in three-point shooting (.397) and ranks third in scoring at 8.4 ppg.
• As a team, Alabama is outscoring the competition by 6.8 points per game (68.6-61.8) and outrebounding opponents by 4.8 rebounds per game (37.9-33.1). The Tide is shooting .434 from the field and .318 from beyond the arc as a team.
ALABAMA-MISSISSIPPI STATE - SERIES NOTES
• Alabama and Mississippi State will meet for the 195th time in series history on Tuesday night. The Tide owns a 120-74 edge in the all-time series, including wins in six of the last seven contests played between the two teams.
• The 194 games played and the 120 wins against Mississippi State marks the most for Alabama against any single opponent in each category in program history.
• The two teams split last season's series, with each squad winning on the road. The Tide captured an 82-80 overtime victory at Humphrey Coliseum on Feb. 2, 2016, while the Bulldogs returned the favor with a 67-61 triumph at Coleman Coliseum.
• Last year's overtime game played on Feb. 2 marked the 14th overtime contest in series history between the two teams, with the Tide owning an 8-6 lead in such games.
• Alabama won three straight and four of the last five games over Mississippi State at Humphrey Coliseum. The Tide has an overall mark of 39-54 in games played in Starkville, Miss.
• Alabama owns a record of 75-17 in all-time games against the Bulldogs at home, including a 38-9 mark at Coleman Coliseum.
• The 98-year-old series has seen 14 overtime contests including the 2008-09 season's double-overtime affair.
• Sixty-four of the meetings have been decided by five or fewer points.
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