The mission for Alabama basketball on Tuesday night was a simple one. Beat Mississippi State and get out of Starkville, Mississippi with the Crimson Tide’s third Quadrant 1 win overall and its first on the road.
Everything got more complicated when Alabama junior John Petty Jr. injured his right arm chasing a loose ball with 7:34 left in the first half. The junior rejoined his teammates on the bench in the second half while sporting a new brace on his right arm but did not return to the game.
Alabama, a team only three days removed from scoring 103 points against Ole Miss, struggled to score consistently without Petty. Mississippi State took full advantage of the Crimson Tide’s misfortune and won 80-73 after falling to the Crimson Tide (15-13, 7-8 in the SEC) in Tuscaloosa earlier this season by 21 points.
Petty sunk two of three shots taken beyond the arc and finished the evening with eight points, one assist and one steal in nine minutes of action against the Bulldogs (18-10, 9-6 SEC).
Before this game, Petty led the team with 6.9 rebounds per game and scored more points (15.3) than all of his teammates except Kira Lewis Jr. He also averaged 34.3 minutes per game. Those had to go somewhere, and plenty of them seemed to fall to James “Beetle” Bolden, who saw 34 minutes of action despite averaging only 18 in Alabama’s last three games.
Bolden finished the game with 11 points, behind fellow Alabama players Lewis (29 points) and Jaden Shackelford (17). Bolden also recorded four rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals.
The Crimson Tide evened things up at 59 points with 9:34 left in the game, but the team then missed its next six shots from the field and didn’t make one until Alex Reese drained a three-point attempt with 4:29 left in the game to cut the deficit to six points.
Alabama’s also struggled at the free-throw line down the stretch. In the last seven minutes of the game, the Crimson Tide converted only two of seven attempts taken from the line.
Then there were the Bulldogs themselves. Mississippi State matched up well physically with the Crimson Tide.
The Bulldogs average more blocks per game (4.9) than all but 22 teams in the country, and that showed on Tuesday night as the team recorded eight blocks. Reggie Perry was responsible for three of those blocks himself. He also scored 21 points and grabbed 12 rebounds.
If there’s one thing Alabama can feel good about, it should be matching the Bulldogs on the glass with 37 rebounds each. Mississippi State was ranked 11th nationally with a +7.6 rebounding margin coming into this game.
Now the Crimson Tide must bounce back on Saturday night when South Carolina (16-11, 8-6 SEC) visits Tuscaloosa.
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Andrew Bone, of BamaInsider.com, is a real estate broker in the state of Alabama.
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