Alabama
8-6,1-1SEC
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Mississippi State
9-5,0-2SEC
Alabama Rolls Past Mississippi State, 90-69, in SEC Home Opener
1/8/2020 8:56:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide sets a school record with 90-plus points for a fifth consecutive game
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team earned its first conference win of the season with a dominating 90-69 victory over the Mississippi State Bulldogs in the SEC home opener at Coleman Coliseum. With the win, the Crimson Tide has now reached 90 or more points in five consecutive games which marks the first time in school history a UA team has achieved the feat.
Alabama (8-6, 1-1 SEC) collected its sixth win over the last eight contests as four players reached double-digits led by junior John Petty Jr. who scored a team-leading 18 points on the strength of 4-of-7 shooting from beyond the arc. The SEC leader in three-point percentage recorded double figures for the fifth-straight game and 10th time in UA's last 11 contests.
Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. finished with 17 points, 8 rebounds and 4 assists, while junior Galin Smith added 11 points, matching the best single-game scoring output of his career, to go along with four rebounds and a pair of assists. Graduate senior Beetle Bolden added 11 points off the bench in the winning effort.
Mississippi State (9-5, 0-2) was led by Nick Weatherspoon's 20 points on the night.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"That's a good win. We struggled closing the first half and opening the second half at Florida and that's something we wanted to get better at tonight. We went into halftime on a run and came out of halftime on a run. We kind of closed down any runs they made. I thought our defensive effort in the second half was as good as we've had. Typically, we've been pretty good in the first half and then relapsed in the second half on the defensive end. Our stats guys had us at .94 points per possession in the first half and .95 in the second half, so it was just about dead even. I'm proud of our guys. Kira won the Hard Hat award as you can see, the first time he's got it. I thought it was the best game he's played in a while. I thought he was efficient with his shots and getting to the rim. I thought this was the best game Galin has played too. It was great, him being from Mississippi, that he got to come out and play as well as he did against Mississippi State."
Team Stats
- Alabama captured its 16th win over Mississippi State in the last 21 meetings between the two teams dating back to the 2011-12 season
- The Crimson Tide shot 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from beyond-the-arc, marking the fifth straight game that the Tide has made at least 10 triples
- Petty is one three-pointer away from reaching 200 threes made in his career, which would make him the fifth Alabama player in program history to achieve that feat
- Trailing 28-27 with 4:19 left in the opening half, Alabama went on a 24-8 run that spanned half time and last 7:03 to give the Tide a 51-36 lead with
- UA shot 49.1 percent from the field and held MSU to just 37.7 shooting on the night to improve to 8-0 on the year when it shoots a better percentage in a game than the opposition
- Alex Reese earned a career-high three blocks while adding five points and five rebounds
- Galin Smith tied his career-high of 11 points and two assists
- Mississippi State entered the game as one of the top rebounding teams in the country, however, Alabama outrebounded the Bulldogs 42-38 on the night
- The Crimson Tide bench outscored the Bulldogs reserves 30-9 in the contest
First Half
- After falling behind 5-2, Alabama reeled off 11 straight points to grab a 13-5 lead at the 13:33 mark of the first half
- With Alabama in the front, 20-14, a 13-1 Bulldogs spurt gave Mississippi State a 24-23 advantage with 6:11 to play in the period
- With UA trailing 28-27 at the 4:19 mark, Petty and Bolden connected on back-to-back triples to give the Tide a 35-30 lead with 2:49 to go in the first
- Over the final 4:19 Alabama outscored Mississippi State, 15-6, to carry a 42-34 lead into the half
- Lewis led the Tide with 10 points in the first half, while Petty added seven
Second Half
- Alabama scored the first six points of the second half and extended its lead to 48-34 at the 18:14 mark of the second half
- Alabama led 55-42 before a 7-1 Mississippi State run cut the Tide's lead to 56-49 with 13:45 to go
- A Petty three-pointer capped a 10-0 Alabama run that stretched the Tide's advantage from 60-53 at the 10:53 mark to 70-53 with 8:11 remaining in the contest
- The Bulldogs cut Alabama's lead to 71-60 before the Tide responded with a 7-0 surge to widen the gap to 78-60 with just 4:53 remaining and closed the game out for the victory
Alabama will return to action on Saturday afternoon as it hits the road to face No. 14/13 Kentucky in Rupp Arena. Tipoff is slated for 11 a.m. CT (noon ET) and will be available on ESPN.
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