Alabama
13-3,8-0SEC
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Mississippi State
9-7,4-4SEC
No. 18/16 Alabama Wins Ninth Straight, Topples Mississippi State 81-73
1/23/2021 8:08:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Crimson Tide’s winning streak is longest since beginning the 2002-03 season 9-0
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Five players reached double figures as the No. 18/16 Alabama men’s basketball team used clutch shooting and timely defensive stops down the stretch to hold on and defeat Mississippi State, 81-73, on Saturday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide secured its ninth consecutive win – the longest winning streak since beginning the 2002-03 season at 9-0 – and improved to 13-3 overall while staying undefeated in Southeastern Conference play (8-0).
The eight league wins matches the team’s conference win total last season and equals the second-best start to SEC play in school history, matching the 8-0 starts by both the 1986-87 and 1974-75 teams. Only the famed 1955-56 Rocket 8 team had a better start in conference action, finishing that season with a perfect 14-0 league mark.
Forward Herbert Jones led the Tide with 17 points, seven assists, four steals and three blocks in the victory. He also claimed his team-leading eighth Hard Hat Award and led the team in plus/minus (+14). Guard Joshua Primo finished with 16 points including going 4-of-5 from beyond the arc. Guards John Petty Jr. (12) and Jaden Shackelford (12) along with forward Alex Reese (11) also reached double figures on the night.
Mississippi State (9-7, 4-4 SEC) was led by D.J. Stewart Jr.’s game-high 27 points, while Ivan Molinar added 19 in the losing effort.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
“It is always good to get a win. I think it was good to play in a close game as well. We have been hitting shots at a pretty good pace and blowing teams out, so it was good to get in a late game situation. I am a little disappointed with our performance, but I am happy we figured out a way to win. I thought our defense stepped up big in the end. Shack and Petty both hit big threes to open the lead. We did not play as well as we have been, but you have to give Mississippi State credit. They were really well-coached and we were not going to be able to do whatever we wanted to on the offensive end. They were going to guard you, which they did a pretty good job of. On our defensive end I thought we did some good stuff. We obviously struggled guarding Stewart which was a little disappointing. He is a really good player. Him and Molinar make a pretty good backcourt, one of the better ones in the SEC. I was a little worried about interior defense coming into the game with (Jordan) Bruner and (James) Rojas out. I thought Reese played well and Keon (Ambrose-Hylton) gave us great minutes. The 10 minutes Ambrose played we were +8, so he did a great job. I thought that the last four minutes of the first half, the first four of the second half started good. We went on an 8-2 run to finish the first half and a 9-3 run to start the second, so a 17-5 run there to close the first half and open the second half is great. We’ll take the win but we have a tough one coming up here on Tuesday with Kentucky.”
Team Stats
- The contest featured 13 ties and five lead changes – all of which came in the opening 20 minutes of action
- Alabama won its ninth straight game, which marks the programs longest win streak since starting the 2002-03 season with nine straight and eventually reached No. 1 in the nation – the only time UA has earned the nation’s top ranking in program history
- The win marks the Tide’s sixth straight game in scoring at least 80 points and is a total 12-0 when scoring at least 80 points on the season
- Alabama’s 21 assists tied a team-high for the season and marked the second straight game of at least 20 assists (had 20 assists in the win over LSU)
- The Tide converted on 28-of-61 (45.9 percent) from the field and 14-of-34 (41.2 percent) from deep while limiting Mississippi State to 27-of-61 (44.3 percent) from the field and just 4-of-14 (28.6 percent) from beyond the arc
- The Tide used a 17-5 run that spanned halftime and lasted exactly five minutes that turned a 33-32 disadvantage into a 49-38 UA lead with just over 17 minutes left to play
Gallery: 01-23-21 MBB vs MSU
First Half
- Alabama jumped out to an 8-4 lead before a quick 7-0 spurt by Mississippi State pulled the Bulldogs ahead 11-8 with 14:59 in the opening stanza
- The Tide evened the score at 11-11 before the Bulldogs went on a 6-0 run to take a 17-11 lead at the under 12 media timeout
- Alabama regained the lead at 20-19 with back-to-back breakaway dunks from Herbert Jones, capping a 9-2 spurt for the Tide
- The Bulldogs led 33-32 with 2:32 until halftime before Alabama went on an 8-2 run to close out the first half and take the 40-35 lead into the locker room
- Joshua Primo led the way with 12 points, knocking down four of the Tide’s nine first half threes
- The first half included 13 lead changes and five ties through the first 20 minutes
Second Half
- Alabama opened the second half on a 9-3 run, knocking down 4-of-4 from the field to take a 49-38 lead at the 17:32 mark
- The Bulldogs came right back with a 13-5 run to cut the Tide’s lead to 54-51 with 13:35 left to play
- The Tide went on a quick 6-0 spurt to push its lead to 60-51 with 10:30 remaining
- A deep ball from Jones gave the Tide the 68-59 lead at the under eight media timeout, but the Bulldogs stayed close by scoring the game’s next five points to trim the lead back to 69-63 with 3:39 left
- Mississippi State cut the lead to five before Jaden Shackelford hit a three to give the Tide a 76-68 lead with 1:33 to play
- The Bulldogs went on a quick 5-0 spurt pull within three with 58 seconds left before a three from Petty and a dunk by Primo sealed the victory
- Alabama shot 46.7 from the field in the second half while limiting Mississippi State to 35.5 percent
Next Up
- Alabama will host Kentucky on Tuesday night at 6 p.m. CT on ESPN. It will mark the second meeting in just two weeks between the teams, as the Crimson Tide knocked off the Wildcats in Rupp Arena, 85-65, back on Jan. 12.
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