By: Nick Elliott

NASHVILLE, Tenn- After coming off a loss this past Saturday to Texas A&M, Alabama Men’s Basketball team showed no doubts leading from the jump in rout to a 72-49 victory defeating Mississippi State for the third time this season. 

 

Alabama came out hot to start the game on the offensive end getting off to an early lead which it has not been able to do in the past couple games with the help of Jahvon Quinerly’s eight points early which helped propel the team to get in the drivers seat early. Charles Bediako on his birthday had a huge first half recording four blocks and held the Bulldogs to just 25.8% shooting from the field. The Tide’s offensive woes from the outside did not carry into Nashville as the Tide shot 40% from behind the arch. The Tide were able to get scoring contributions from seven out of 11 guys who recorded minutes in the first half. 

 

Alabama made a starting change and it certainly paid off and Head Coach Nate Oats said, ”Jaden came to me last night and said Jahvon needed to start, and I thought it made sense to add more shooting to the lineup and it certainly paid off with getting off to a 13 to six start in the first four minutes.”

 

Alabama finished with a season low seven turnovers and Brandon Miller said,”It is just another way to win games.”

 

The Tide continued to step on the gas pedal in the second half and were able to rest much of their starting five throughout the half, but struggled to score for the most part only shooting just 34% from the field scoring only 31 points, but its defense were able to cause problems all half for the Bulldogs, and were able to close out the game strong giving the Tide momentum into tomorrow. 

 

Noah Gurley, who has not seen much action for the Tide as of late had a huge impact off the bench for the Tide recording 11 points shooting ¾ from the outside. 

 

“I’m really happy for Noah he’s leading even when he doesn’t play and he steps up and has a big game and continued to work his tail off in the gym waiting for his time to contribute” said Oats on Gurley’s performance. 

 

Miller led the tied in scoring having 18 points and was one rebound shy of a double-double.

 

Alabama will face the Missouri Tigers in the Semifinal Tomorrow at 12 central on ESPN.