Alabama’s men’s basketball team secured its seventh consecutive victory in Southeastern Conference play by defeating Mississippi State 100-75 at Coleman Coliseum on Wednesday night. The Crimson Tide, ranked No. 17/18, led the game from start to finish and matched its season-high for three-point shots made, hitting 22 from beyond the arc.
Amari Allen led Alabama (21-7, 11-4 SEC) with 23 points in 26 minutes, making a career-best six three-pointers. Latrell Wrightsell Jr. added 18 points, Aden Holloway contributed 16 points along with a career-high seven rebounds and ten assists, Aiden Sherrell scored 11 points, and Taylor Bol Bowen finished with 10 points.
Mississippi State (13-15, 5-10 SEC) was paced by Achor Achor’s season-high of 18 points and seven rebounds. Josh Hubbard scored 11 points for the Bulldogs.
Head Coach Nate Oats commented after the game: “I thought the first half was the best half of basketball we’ve played all year and the ball moved well with (Labaron) Philon out. Amari (Allen) was hitting threes, and as a team, we shot it well. In the second half, I was a little disappointed with the leadership. I thought we played the scoreboard too much. I was super encouraged with our mentality going into the game and our defense on Josh Hubbard who ended up with 11.
I thought Holloway, outside of the turnovers, had a great game. Sixteen (points), 10 (assists) and seven (rebounds) being three rebounds away from a triple-double. For Philon to be out, Holloway stepped up big. Latrell (Wrightsell Jr.) scored really well again with 18 and Amari had his best shooting night of the season. We had five guys in double figures and London Jemison had eight so there was some pretty good balance overall tonight. It was nice to get Jalil Bethea 20 minutes and get Taylor Bol Bowen back in the mix. Taylor ended up with 10 points and six rebounds when he hasn’t been healthy so I was really happy with him tonight too.”
The Crimson Tide reached at least 100 points for the eighth time this season; their total of 16 three-pointers in the first half marked their highest under coach Oats for any half so far. The team’s total of 22 threes ties their most made in any game this year.
Alabama recorded its most assists in conference play this season with 23 dimes and outrebounded Mississippi State by a margin of twelve boards—48 to Mississippi State’s 36—marking their highest rebound total since January.
During the first half, Alabama started strong by making its first seven attempts from beyond the arc to build an early lead that grew to nineteen by midway through the period. At halftime they led by thirty—the largest halftime deficit for Mississippi State under coach Chris Jans’ tenure—and set a new season high for three-pointers made in one half.
Mississippi State narrowed Alabama’s lead during stretches of the second half but could not overcome Alabama’s scoring runs late in the game.
Alabama will begin its final road trip of the regular season Saturday against Tennessee at Food City Center; tipoff is scheduled for 5 p.m CT on ESPN.
