• Basketball
  • No. 2 Alabama Holds On To Defeat Mississippi State Inside Coleman Coliseum, 66-63

No. 2 Alabama Holds On To Defeat Mississippi State Inside Coleman Coliseum, 66-63

Details
Basketball

The No. 2/2 Alabama men's basketball team battled back from a double-digit second half deficit to earn its ninth consecutive victory, outlasting Mississippi State 66-63 Wednesday night inside Coleman Coliseum.

The Crimson Tide secured its ninth straight win overall and eighth consecutive to begin conference play to improve to 18-2 on the year, however it was not easy. Alabama (18-2, 8-0 SEC) trailed by seven at halftime and by as many as 10 points, 43-33, early in the second half. 

Alabama used a 15-3 run to take its first lead of the half at the 9:19 mark. The Tide extended its lead to as many as eight at 63-55 with 3:33 remaining following a 15-4 UA spurt. Alabama was able to hold off an 8-3 Bulldog run to result in the final score. 

Jahvon Quinerly led Alabama's offensive effort with 14 points off the bench, followed by Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney with 13 points apiece.

Mississippi State (12-8, 1-7) was led by Tolu Smith's 15 points and seven rebounds in the loss.

HEAD COACH NATE OATS POSTGAME COMMENTS

"I have to give a ton of credit to Mississippi State. They came ready to play and I thought they had a great plan. They improved more than we improved from the first time we played them. I didn't think we did a great job getting our guys ready to go, and we didn't do a good job attacking them. We didn't start the game the way we needed to, but I give our guys a lot of credit in the second half. We found a way to get a win in a tight game. We haven't had a lot of tight games, so it's not the worst. We have to figure out how to win close games. I told the guys about the SEC Championship tournament from two years ago. We were down 15 to Tennessee in the semifinal and had to figure out how to win games like that that aren't going your way. We shot 18 percent from three tonight, couldn't buy a bucket and still figured out how to beat a pretty good team. I know their record doesn't say they're good, but I think they're a pretty good team and are going to upset some people. They play really hard and they had us down 11 at one point. They're a quality team, and at this point, we'll take the win."

TEAM STATS 

  • With the victory, Alabama is now 8-0 in conference play for the second time in three seasons
  • The Tide has now won six of its last seven matchups with the Bulldogs, including two victories this season
  • After trailing 43-33 with 16:44 to play, the Tide would go on to score 30 of the game's next 42 points, using the 30-12 run to take a 63-55 lead with 3:30 left to play
  • It was the first time in eight conference games that UA did not win by double figures, averaging a scoring margin of +18.8 over conference opponents this season
  • The Crimson Tide is 8-0 in conference play for the second time in the past three seasons
  • Alabama is now 10-0 inside of Coleman Coliseum this season
  • After coming off a 13-point performance in the win at Missouri last Saturday, Jahvon Quinerly led Alabama with 14 points, his first time this season leading UA in scoring
  • The Tide dished out 11 assists, led by four from Quinerly and three from Mark Sears
  • After shooting just 33 percent from the field in the opening stanza, the Tide made 11-of-27 (40.7 percent) in the second half
  • Alabama's bench contributed 33 points compared to 14 from Mississippi State

FIRST HALF 

  • Mississippi State used an early 8-0 run to jump out to a 10-2 lead over the Tide, shooting 60 percent (6-of-10) to start the game with the Tide making just two of its first 10 shots from the field
  • After the Bulldogs extended the lead to its largest of the game at 20-9, the Tide responded with a 7-0 run over 1:30 to cut the lead to three with 5:57 remaining, 24-21
  • The Bulldogs went on a 7-1 run over the next two minutes to extend its lead back to nine, taking a 31-22 lead into the 3:40 timeout
  • Brandon Miller and Dom Welch led Alabama's offensive effort with six points apiece in the opening half, with Jahvon Quinerly and Nick Pringle adding five each
  • The Crimson Tide shot just 33 percent (10-of-30) in the first half to 56 percent (17-of-30) from Mississippi State

SECOND HALF 

  • The Tide and the Bulldogs traded baskets throughout the opening minutes of the half
  • Trailing by 10, 43-33, Alabama used a 15-3 run to take its first lead of the half at 48-46 with 9:19 remaining
  • With MSU battled back and retook the lead at 51-48 following a 5-0 spurt, the Tide again responded this time using a 15-4 run over the next 4:33 to take a 63-55 lead
  • Noah Clowney led all scorers in the second half with 10, getting hot after just contributing three points in the opening 20-minutes 
  • Alabama outrebounded the Bulldogs 20-15 in the period
  • Jahvon Quinerly dished out three assists in the second stanza to lead UA
  • The Tide forced seven Bulldog turnovers in the period, converting into 22 UA points

UP NEXT 

  • Alabama will compete in the 2023 Big 12/SEC Challenge, travelling to Norman, Okla., to face the Oklahoma Sooners on Jan. 28 at the Lloyd Noble Center
  • The game will tip-off at 1 p.m. CT and air live on ESPN