Alabama
15-9 (6-5SEC)
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Mississippi State
17-7 (5-6SEC)
Alabama Men’s Basketball Falls at Mississippi State, 81-62
2/12/2019 10:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Freshman Kira Lewis Jr. led four Alabama players in double digits with 17 points
STARKVILLE, Miss. – The Alabama men's basketball team fell on the road in Humphrey Coliseum on Tuesday night, dropping an 81-62 contest. With the loss, the Tide and Bulldogs split the season series for the second consecutive year (Alabama defeated Mississippi State, 83-79, back on Jan. 29 in Tuscaloosa).
Freshman Kira Lewis Jr. led four Alabama players in double figures with 17 points to go along with a career-high tying five rebounds. Junior Tevin Mack scored 13 points with junior Dazon Ingram adding 12 points of his own. Senior Donta Hall went 5-of-6 from the field for 11 points and a team-leading seven rebounds and three blocks.
"You have to give credit to Mississippi State. The came out focused and energized," Alabama head coach Avery Johnson said. "Coach (Ben) Howland did a great job getting his team ready to play tonight. This is a team that's been ranked in the top-25 for most of the season and you see the reason why. They shot the ball well and (Lamar) Peters was hard to contain early in the game and (Quindary) Weatherspoon has been a terrific second half player over the last couple of games and he did it again tonight.
"This was not one of our better nights. We turned the ball over 18 times on the road and allow 28 points of turnovers and then get outrebounded, then you're going to have a tough time winning."
Mississippi State (17-7, 5-6 SEC) led for the entire game, finishing shooting 49.2 percent (29-of-59) from the field and 46.7 percent (7-of-15) from beyond the arc. The Bulldogs also posted a big advantage in points off turnovers, outscoring the Crimson Tide 28-5 in the category despite a having just six fewer turnovers in the contest (18-12).
The Bulldogs built a 13-point lead at intermission, 43-30, and never trailed by fewer than nine points throughout the second half.
The Tide trailed by 16 early in the second half but responded with a 7-0 run to cut the lead to nine, 52-43, with 13:20 remaining. However, Mississippi State responded by scoring five straight to go back up by 15.
Just a few minutes later, Alabama (15-9, 6-5) seemed to have stolen momentum and once again trimmed the lead to nine points, 62-53, with 8:28 remaining. The Tide was then able to get back-to-back stops on defense, however, three consecutive UA turnovers resulted in six straight points for the Bulldogs to extend their lead back to 15, 68-53, with 6:34 left to play. Alabama did not get any closer than 10 points the rest of the way.
Mississippi State was led by Lamar Peters, who finished with 22 points, while Quindary Weatherspoon added 20 points – 14 of which came in the second half. Freshman Reggie Perry added 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, helping the Bulldogs to finish with a plus-nine advantage on the glass, 35-26.
The Alabama bench, which entered the contest averaging just over 27 points per game on the season, scored a season-low five points in the loss.
Alabama will return to Tuscaloosa on Saturday afternoon when it welcomes Florida to Coleman Coliseum. The game is scheduled to tipoff at 1 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU.
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