Alabama MBB Looks to Extend its Winning Streak Against Mississippi State

By: Zach Gaines

TUSCALOOSA, ALA. – With revenge on their minds, Alabama is looking to win their third
consecutive SEC game in an important matchup this Wednesday night at home against
Mississippi State.

Earlier this season, the Bulldogs defeated the Crimson Tide 78-76 after rebound struggles and
some late free throws by Iverson Molinar.

Since, the Bulldogs have dropped six out of their last eight games. Along with that, they are
currently sitting at 14-10 and 5-6 in SEC play. Meanwhile, Alabama (16-9, 6-6 SEC) has been
5-3 with big wins over Baylor and LSU.

With this being their second matchup of the year, Nate Oats knows exactly what adjustments the
team needs to make:

“(We’re) excited to play Mississippi State again. They kind of dominated us on the offensive boards late
in the game. … We’re gonna put some guards out there that are gonna box out, rebound the ball.”
Nate Oats said.

Outside of winning the rebound battle, The Crimson Tide needs to focus on not turning over the
ball. In their past two games, Alabama has 36 turnovers with 24 of those in their last matchup
versus Arkansas. Taking care of the ball needs to be priority number one.

Here’s what Oats said regarding the turnover problem…

“A lot of the turnovers are fixable. Too many careless outlet passes, we’re just not looking. The
ball goes through hands, guys driving the ball into three defenders. I thought the ball stuck too
much. Just be unselfish, move the ball to your teammate”. Oats said on Tuesday.

The player to watch out for on Mississippi State is Iverson Molinar. Currently, Molinar is the
second-highest scorer in the SEC with 18.4 points per game, sitting behind Vanderbilts’s Scotty
Pippen Jr. (18.9 ppg). With his combination of handles and shooting ability, Alabama needs to
keep the ball out of Molinar’s hands and take him out of the game entirely.

This shapes up to be game favored towards Alabama. This season the Bulldogs are winless on
the road and Alabama is 11-2 inside of Coleman. If all goes to plan this should be a strong outing
for the Crimson Tide.

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