Early tipoffs haven’t been too kind to No. 6 Alabama basketball this season. However, the Crimson Tide didn’t take long to find its footing in Nashville, Tenn. on Friday afternoon as it breezed by Mississippi State, 85-48, to open up play in the SEC tournament. Alabama's 37-point victory is the fourth-biggest in modern SEC tournament history.
"I thought our team came out well-prepared," Alabama senior guard John Petty Jr. said. "There were a lot of questions about us coming out of these early games. In previous [early games] we didn't really do too good, but I feel like our guys did a great job of getting up this morning, getting real locked in, and it showed out there on the court."
Friday's victory might have come at a cost as Joshua Primo injured his left knee after a Mississippi State player landed awkwardly on it midway through the second half. The freshman guard let out a loud yell immediately after the incident and had to be helped to the locker room where he did not return.
Following the game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said the team was still waiting on Primo's MRI results to determine his status moving forward.
"We don't know on Primo yet," Oats said. "Hopefully he can play tomorrow. Hopefully, it's not much, but we'll wait on that MRI to see. If for whatever reason he can't go, you've got [Jahvon] Quinerly playing great, Keon Ellis playing great. Darius Miles could be in the rotation."
Added Petty: "We all know that he's going to be all right. We're going to pray for him, and we'll still get the job done for him even if he's not able to go for the rest of the weekend."
Following the win, top-seed Alabama (22-6) will play Saturday at noon against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 5 seed Florida and No. 4 seed Tennessee. A victory on Saturday would give the Tide an opportunity to earn its first SEC tournament title since 1991 on Sunday.
Earlier this week, there was some question over Alabama’s motivation heading into the SEC tournament. Unlike recent years, it entered postseason play with a spot in the NCAA tournament assured with most projections locking the team into a No. 2 seed.
If Friday’s win is any indication, the top-seeded Tide looks like a team determined to make an extended stay inside Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena this weekend.
Alabama was able to make easy work of Mississippi State by demonstrating the same stifling defense that helped it take the conference by storm in the regular season. The Tide forced 18 turnovers, including 14 in the first half, and was able to score a season-best 30 points off those mistakes.
Despite struggling early from beyond the arc, Alabama was able to jump out to a double-digit lead thanks to a myriad of Mississippi State mistakes on the other end as the Bulldogs turned the ball over eight times in the opening 10 minutes.
Things would only get worse for Mississippi State as it failed to score over a five-minute stretch later in the half. During that span, Alabama put the game away, going on a 21-1 run en route to taking a 47-19 lead into the break. The Tide’s halftime advantage was the biggest by any team in the SEC tournament since 1979. Alabama didn’t slow down from there, extending its lead after the break while coasting to the next round of the tournament.
"That was definitely a statement game," Petty said. "We just came here to play our game. We wanted to play good on both sides of the basketball. We're really not worried about what everybody else thinks, what everybody else does. We just want to make sure we play basketball at a high level for ourselves, for our coaching staff and for our program. Every game is a statement game for us, so we're going to come out and play like that every day."
The Tide shot 48 percent from the floor, including 13 of 36 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Mississippi State shot just 29 percent from the floor and was just 1 of 19 from deep. Alabama also held a healthy advantage in bench points where it outscored the Bulldogs 47-5.
Quinerly led the way for Alabama with 14 points off the bench. The sixth man has now scored in double figures in 10 straight games.
Jaden Shackelford, who earned second-team All-SEC honors earlier this week, was also in double digits with 13 points while shooting 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. The Tide’s leading scorer seems to be finding his shooting touch at just the right time. After shaking off a slump from long range earlier this month, Shackelford is now 10 of 21 from the perimeter over his last three games.
Juwan Gary rounded out Alabama's double-figure scorers with 11 points on perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the floor. SEC player of the year Herbert Jones had 8 points while leading the team with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Alabama's blowout win allowed it to rest its stars for the next round. Quinerly and Ellis were the only two Tide players to play in 20 minutes or more on the afternoon.
"I thought our team came out well-prepared," Alabama senior guard John Petty Jr. said. "There were a lot of questions about us coming out of these early games. In previous [early games] we didn't really do too good, but I feel like our guys did a great job of getting up this morning, getting real locked in, and it showed out there on the court."
Friday's victory might have come at a cost as Joshua Primo injured his left knee after a Mississippi State player landed awkwardly on it midway through the second half. The freshman guard let out a loud yell immediately after the incident and had to be helped to the locker room where he did not return.
Following the game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats said the team was still waiting on Primo's MRI results to determine his status moving forward.
"We don't know on Primo yet," Oats said. "Hopefully he can play tomorrow. Hopefully, it's not much, but we'll wait on that MRI to see. If for whatever reason he can't go, you've got [Jahvon] Quinerly playing great, Keon Ellis playing great. Darius Miles could be in the rotation."
Added Petty: "We all know that he's going to be all right. We're going to pray for him, and we'll still get the job done for him even if he's not able to go for the rest of the weekend."
Following the win, top-seed Alabama (22-6) will play Saturday at noon against the winner of Friday’s game between No. 5 seed Florida and No. 4 seed Tennessee. A victory on Saturday would give the Tide an opportunity to earn its first SEC tournament title since 1991 on Sunday.
Earlier this week, there was some question over Alabama’s motivation heading into the SEC tournament. Unlike recent years, it entered postseason play with a spot in the NCAA tournament assured with most projections locking the team into a No. 2 seed.
If Friday’s win is any indication, the top-seeded Tide looks like a team determined to make an extended stay inside Nashville’s Bridgestone Arena this weekend.
Alabama was able to make easy work of Mississippi State by demonstrating the same stifling defense that helped it take the conference by storm in the regular season. The Tide forced 18 turnovers, including 14 in the first half, and was able to score a season-best 30 points off those mistakes.
Despite struggling early from beyond the arc, Alabama was able to jump out to a double-digit lead thanks to a myriad of Mississippi State mistakes on the other end as the Bulldogs turned the ball over eight times in the opening 10 minutes.
Things would only get worse for Mississippi State as it failed to score over a five-minute stretch later in the half. During that span, Alabama put the game away, going on a 21-1 run en route to taking a 47-19 lead into the break. The Tide’s halftime advantage was the biggest by any team in the SEC tournament since 1979. Alabama didn’t slow down from there, extending its lead after the break while coasting to the next round of the tournament.
"That was definitely a statement game," Petty said. "We just came here to play our game. We wanted to play good on both sides of the basketball. We're really not worried about what everybody else thinks, what everybody else does. We just want to make sure we play basketball at a high level for ourselves, for our coaching staff and for our program. Every game is a statement game for us, so we're going to come out and play like that every day."
The Tide shot 48 percent from the floor, including 13 of 36 from beyond the arc. Meanwhile, Mississippi State shot just 29 percent from the floor and was just 1 of 19 from deep. Alabama also held a healthy advantage in bench points where it outscored the Bulldogs 47-5.
Quinerly led the way for Alabama with 14 points off the bench. The sixth man has now scored in double figures in 10 straight games.
Jaden Shackelford, who earned second-team All-SEC honors earlier this week, was also in double digits with 13 points while shooting 3 of 6 from beyond the arc. The Tide’s leading scorer seems to be finding his shooting touch at just the right time. After shaking off a slump from long range earlier this month, Shackelford is now 10 of 21 from the perimeter over his last three games.
Juwan Gary rounded out Alabama's double-figure scorers with 11 points on perfect 4 of 4 shooting from the floor. SEC player of the year Herbert Jones had 8 points while leading the team with seven rebounds and seven assists.
Alabama's blowout win allowed it to rest its stars for the next round. Quinerly and Ellis were the only two Tide players to play in 20 minutes or more on the afternoon.
