Alabama basketball snapped a two-game losing streak by beating Kentucky by 13 points at home on Saturday. They'll look to keep that momentum alive against Mississippi State on Tuesday in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama enters the game at 22-5 overall and 11-3 in the SEC. The Tide still has an outside shot at an SEC Regular Season Championship, but no path to that would include a home loss to the Bulldogs.
Mississippi State comes in at 19-8 overall and 7-7 in league play. They're coming off of a road loss to Oklahoma, but Chris Jans' team has proven they can win on the road. They have road wins over Ole Miss and Vanderbilt in SEC play; they went on the road in non-conference play and beat both SMU and Memphis.
They'll be looking to return the favor on Alabama's home court after the Crimson Tide knocked off the Bulldogs 88-84 in Starkville last month. Alabama had no answers for Josh Hubbard in that game. He dropped 38 points and single-handedly kept the Bulldogs competitive in that game. Alabama will need to do a much better job defensively on him.
Nate Oats' defensive game plan in that game was to put bigger defenders on him, but he was too quick for Jarin Stevenson or Mo Dioubate to stick with. I would expect a heavy dose of Chris Youngblood and if Mark Sears defends with the same effort he has been giving, then Oats will be comfortable leaving the veteran on him.
Youngblood had his breakout in last month's win in Starkville for Alabama. He went 7/10 from three and hit several clutch shots to help the Tide to the win.
Alabama finishes the season with a three-game stretch at Tennessee, vs. Florida, and at Auburn. They cannot afford to lose this game with what lies ahead. But they also can't afford to look ahead to that stretch, either. Mississippi State is too good and demands Alabama's full, undivided attention.
Alabama basketball a solid betting favorite over Mississippi State at home
Betting Odds
Odds courtesy of FanDuel
Spread: Alabama -8.5
Over/Under: 169.5
How to Watch:
Tip Time: 8:00 PM CT
TV: ESPN2
Streaming: WatchESPN
Prediction:
Alabama is a smaller favorite over Mississippi State than they were over Kentucky on Saturday. The Bulldogs will come into this game confident that they can win in Tuscaloosa. It will take a sustained effort on both ends of the floor for Alabama to win this game.
Mark Sears seems to be hitting his stride. He was named co-SEC Player of the Week coming off of back-to-back 30+ point games against Missouri and Kentucky. He set the tone defensively against the Wildcats, too.
KenPom has Alabama projected to win 89-80 so this spread feels about right. If Alabama can play with the same defensive intensity that it did for the final 30 minutes against Kentucky, they should be able to win this game without it becoming a shootout like it was in Starkville for the first meeting.