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No. 6 Alabama basketball to open SEC tournament against Mississippi State

Tony_Tsoukalas

All American
Staff
Feb 5, 2014
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No. 6 Alabama’s pursuit of claiming its first SEC tournament title since 1991 will begin against a team it has beaten twice before this season. The top-seeded Crimson Tide will take on No. 9 seed Mississippi State on Friday at 11 a.m. CT after the Bulldogs upset No. 8 seed Kentucky 74-73 Thursday.

Alabama (21-6) swept Mississippi State (15-13) in the regular season, beating the Bulldogs 81-73 at home in January before clinching the SEC regular-season title with a 64-59 victory in Starkville, Miss. last month. Despite the Tide’s previous success, head coach Nate Oats said his team will face a tough test in Friday’s matchup.

“They gave us everything we could handle at their place,” Oats said of Mississippi State on Wednesday. “They’ve got maybe in the conversation for the best backcourt in the SEC, [Iverson] Molinar and [D.J.] Stewart.

“Our first game in the SEC is not gonna be easy, no matter who it is. Our second game is not gonna be easy. And if we’re fortunate enough to get to Sunday, that’s gonna take everything we got to win that one.”

Iverson Molinar led Mississippi State’s win over Kentucky on Thursday, scoring a team-high 21 points on 8 of 10 shooting. Fellow sophomore guard D.J. Stewart Jr. also came up big, chipping in 9 points while recording 10 assists and seven rebounds. Stewart has been the Bulldogs’ leading scorer in both meetings against Alabama this season, recording 27 points during the game in Tuscaloosa before tallying 15 points in Starkville last month.

The Bulldogs also feature perhaps the SEC’s most imposing frontcourt with three starting forwards listed at 6-foot-9 or taller in freshman Derek Fountain (6-foot-9, 210 pounds), redshirt sophomore Tolu Smith (6-foot-10, 245 pounds) and redshirt senior Abdul Ado (6-foot-11, 255 pounds). Smith, the SEC’s leading rebounder, recorded 13 points and 11 boards against Kentucky while Ado had 12 points and nine rebounds.

Mississippi State’s length could put more emphasis on Alabama forward Jordan Bruner, who has still yet to return to full strength after missing nine games after undergoing surgeries on both of his knees earlier this season.

“Bruner still doesn’t look like he’s moving 100 percent but he’s got such a high IQ, such a high skill level that he impacts the game in so many other ways other than his athleticism so that he still helps us,” Oats said Wednesday. “Outside of Bruner, I feel like we’re pretty healthy right now and I feel like Bruner is healthy enough to help us.”

“Part of winning conference championships and being able to make runs in March is getting to March fairly healthy, and I feel like we’ve been pretty fortunate to do that right now.”

Fortunately for Alabama, Herbert Jones said Wednesday that he is close to 100 percent after playing through multiple injuries this season. The senior forward was named the player of the year and defensive player of the year by the SEC earlier this week and leads the Tide in rebounds (6.1 per game), assists (3.1 per game), steals (1.7 per game), blocks (1.0 per game) and 3-point percentage (45.5).

“My body feels great now,” Jones said. “I’m ready to play some games.”

Mississippi State will need to run the table this weekend in order to secure a spot in the NCAA tournament. Meanwhile, Alabama is already assured of a spot in the Big Dance where it is most likely locked into a No. 2 seed regardless of Friday’s result. However, Oats said that shouldn’t affect his team’s mindset as it looks to begin postseason play on the right foot.

“Our goal right now is to be playing our best basketball that we ever played all year,” Oats said. “If we play our best basketball we’ve played all year, we’re winning those games.

“I’d love to win a tournament championship. If we play well and the shots drop, then we will. If we have an off game or the shots aren’t dropping -- we could play a really good game and just don’t make shots and lose. I would be alright with that, as long as we give a championship-level effort, which is what we really got to get out of our guys.”

Added Jones: “I also think a lot of the motivation is a lot of people didn’t expect us to do what we have done this year. So I think as long as we keep that chip on our shoulder, we’ll be OK.”
 
very good article. thanks. we have not won a conferce tournament since wimp. he won several of them. 4 i think. i believe our last one was 1991. could be wrong
 
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