Alabama Basketball has another important game Wednesday night in Tuscaloosa. The Crimson Tide is coming off back-to-back wins and has six more regular-season games to improve its SEC and NCAA Tournament seedings.
Mississippi State is 14-10 and 5-6 in SEC play. The Bulldogs beat the Crimson Tide 78-76 earlier this season in Starkville.
Alabama sits at 16-9 and 6-6 in SEC play. After beating the Tide in mid-January, the Bulldogs have dropped six of their last eight games. They are coming off a three-point loss to LSU, last Saturday in Baton Rouge.
The latest NCAA NET rankings have the Tide at No. 21. Mississippi State is ranked No. 50.
In its last contest, the Crimson Tide held on to defeat Arkansas, 68-67. Against the Hogs, the Tide barely survived 24 turnovers. On Tuesday, talking about turnovers, Nate Oats said,
"We still want you to play with a lot of freedom, but if you’re gonna turn the ball over like you’ve been turning it over, we can’t keep you in the game. It makes it really hard to win the game when we’re not taking care of the basketball."
In the earlier loss to the Bulldogs, the Tide was hampered by too many fouls, too many Mississippi State rebounds and Jaden Shackelford shooting 1-for-9 from outside the arc. Commenting on that loss, Oats said,
"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."
Alabama Crimson Tide vs. Mississippi State: Spread, Over/Under
According to WynnBET, the Alabama Crimson Tide is a 5.5-point favorite. The Over/Under is at 151 points.
Alabama vs. Mississippi State Prediction
Ken Pomeroy rates the teams more highly than their NET ranking. KenPOM has the Crimson Tide at No. 18 and Arkansas at No. 44.
Keeping Bulldogs’ top scorer, Iverson Molinar in check is a key for Alabama. So too, is not letting Garrison Brooks dominate the glass. The Tide does not have to play great to win, but the Bulldogs can take advantage if the Tide is not sharp. As Saturday’s close road loss to LSU showed, the Bulldogs have the talent to compete, but the main challenge for the Crimson Tide is not beating itself.
Game Prediction: Alabama Crimson Tide 78 – Mississippi State 71
Make your pick on WynnBET now!
What Channel is the Alabama Game On?
The 6:00 PM CST game can be seen on ESPN2. The game’s announcer will be Tom Hart with analyst, Jimmy Dykes.
Chris Stewart, Bryan Passink and Roger Hoover will handle the radio broadcast on the Crimson Tide Sports Network and will be available on Sirius/XM, channels NA/191.
Alabama vs. Mississippi State Live Stream
The broadcast of the game will be streamed on the ESPN App.
Complete Alabama Crimson Tide Game Notes are available here.
Up next for the Crimson Tide is another major challenge, traveling to Lexington to take on the Kentucky Wildcats.