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TideIllustrated - How to watch: No. 6 Alabama basketball at Mississippi State
Everything you need to know about No. 6 Alabama basketball's trip to Mississippi State
alabama.rivals.com
After failing to lock up the SEC regular-season title on Wednesday, No. 6 Alabama will get another chance over the weekend as it travels to Mississippi State on Saturday. The Crimson Tide beat the Bulldogs 81-73 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. earlier this season.
Here’s all the information you need to know about Saturday’s game.
How to watch
Who: Alabama (18-6, 13-2 in the SEC) vs. Mississippi State (13-11, 7-8)
When: 5 p.m. CT, Saturday, Feb. 27
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss.
Watch: SEC Network (play-by-play: Paul Sunderland, analyst: Joe Kleine)
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (play-by-play: Chris Stewart; analyst: Bryan Passink; sideline Roger Hoover)
Alabama projected starting five
Herbert Jones: 6-foot-8, 210 pounds, senior
Stats: 11.4 ppg, 5.7 rpg, 3.0 apg, 46.4% FG, 52.6% 3-pt
Jaden Shackelford: 6-foot-3, 200 pounds, sophomore
Stats: 14.1 ppg., 3.9 rpg, 2.2 apg, 40.4% FG, 32.0% 3-pt
John Petty Jr.: 6-foot-5, 184 pounds, senior
Stats: 13.0 ppg., 5.0 rpg, 2.1 apg, 45.1% FG, 38.9% 3-pt
Joshua Primo: 6-foot-6, 190 pounds, freshman
Stats: 8.5 ppg., 3.4 rpg, 1.0 apg, 43.7% FG, 40.9% 3-pt
Jordan Bruner: 6-foot-10, 225 pounds, graduate
Stats: 7.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg, 1.7 apg, 47.1% FG, 33.3% 3-pt
Mississippi State projected starting five
Iverson Molinar: 6-foot-3, 190 pounds, sophomore
Stats: 16.5 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.7 apg, 47.4% FG, 46.2% 3-pt
D.J. Stewart: 6-foot-6, 205 pounds, redshirt sophomore
Stats: 16.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg, 2.8 apg, 43.1% FG, 35.9% 3-pt
Derek Fountain: 6-foot-9, 210 pounds, freshman
Stats: 5.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg, .9 apg, 50.0% FG, 45.5% 3-pt
Tolu Smith: 6-foot-10, 245 pounds, redshirt sophomore
Stats:12.6 ppg, 8.5 rpg, 1.1 apg, 58.8% FG
Abdul Ado: 6-foot-11, 255 pounds, redshirt senior
Stats: 5.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg, 0.7 apg, 51.0% FG
Notes and quotes
— Alabama’s magic number is one in terms of clinching its first SEC regular-season title since 2002. Alabama holds a 2.5 game lead over Arkansas with three games remaining, meaning that a Crimson Tide win or a Razorbacks loss would lock up the conference title.
However, that doesn’t interest Nate Oats at the moment. During his Friday Zoom call with reporters, the head coach said there was too much focus on clinching the SEC title heading into Alabama’s loss at Arkansas on Wednesday. Moving forward, Oats challenged his players to lock in on the task at hand and let everything else take care of itself.
“We talked way too much about stuff that had nothing to do with going 1-0 and winning the game,” Oats said. “The rest of the year, we’re going 1-0 and then after that one’s done we’ll go 1-0 again and then after that one’s done we’re just repeating.”
— There’s been a lot of frustration among the Crimson Tide fan base after Alabama was whistled for a season-high 32 fouls during its 81-66 loss to Arkansas. However, Oats said he doesn’t want to hear any more complaints from his players.
Friday, the head coach said the team spent the final segment of its cleanup session looking over players’ reactions to fouls. Oats voiced displeasure in his players' reactions and said he even purposely made poor calls during practice to test his team’s composure.
The 32 fouls called against Alabama were the most charged against the Tide in a regulation game in the past decade. Adding to the frustration, Arkansas held a 43-8 advantage in free-throw attempts on the night.
“We talk about controlling what you can control,” Oats said. “You cannot control what calls the referee makes whether they are good, bad whatever.
Some of our reactions to the calls were bad reactions on solid calls. We fouled them, and we reacted as if we didn’t foul them.
“Foul a 3-point shooter, and it was definitely a foul and we throw our arms up like there’s no foul. You fouled them. It was a dumb play. It’s the most inefficient play in basketball, fouling a 3-point shooter. We did it multiple times, and then we react as if it’s the referee’s fault. It’s not the referee’s fault when you run into a guy shooting a 3.”
— Alabama’s struggles near the basket continued against Arkansas as the Tide was just 14 of 28 at the rim while allowing the Razorbacks to record 11 blocks. Mississippi State offers a similarly strong inside presence on defense with three starting forwards listed at 6-foot-9 or taller.
Oats said his team will have to do a better job of using its perimeter game to pull the Bulldogs’ bigs away from the rim in order and open up better scoring opportunities.
“They’re essentially starting two centers and a power forward, so they’ve got a lot of rim protection,” Oats said. “Hopefully with [Jordan] Bruner making some shots, you can pull one of those bigs away from the rim, make him play Bruner a little more honest.
“I don’t know exactly how they’ll match up. I’m guessing [Abdul] Ado will be on Bruner. Whoever they decide to put Tolu Smith on should be a perimeter shooter who we can hopefully [use to] pull away from the rim and get the shot-blocking away from the rim with how we play and spread the floor.”
— Alabama’s loss to Arkansas was its third defeat in its last four games. While Razorbacks fans did a nice job of creating an electric atmosphere inside Bud Walton Arena, limited-capacity crowds should, in theory, provide for less home-court advantage. Friday, Oats suggested that his team’s recent road woes have more to do with its mental preparation than the game environment.
“I don’t have an answer to it to be honest with you,” Oats said. “It’s not like there’s one thing we’re doing particularly bad on the road. I think it’s more just a focus, concentration, getting ready to go.”
— Alabama forward Herbert Jones is one of 10 players to be named as a semifinalist for the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year award. The senior currently leads the Tide in rebounding (5.7 per game), steals (1.7 per game), charges taken (12), deflections (80), floor dives (16) and blocked shots (25 total, 1.1 per game).
