Alabama survives dogfight with Mississippi State, extends winning streak

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Following three straight blowout victories, Alabama basketball expected a dogfight Saturday night. Mississippi State might not match the talent of the Crimson Tide’s previous three opponents, but the Bulldogs feature two starting forwards listed at 6-foot-10 or taller and lead the SEC in rebounding.

It didn’t help that Alabama was missing forwards Jordan Bruner (meniscus) and James Rojas (medical condition) for the matchup. However, Alabama was able to hit enough shots to stave off an upset, during an 81-73 victory inside of Coleman Coliseum.

With the win, Alabama (13-3, 8-0 in the SEC) extended its winning streak to nine games, its longest run since the 2002-03 team recorded nine consecutive victories to start the season. The Tide has also won its first eight conference games, tying the 1986-87 and 1974-75 teams which also started SEC play 8-0. Mississippi State (9-7, 4-4) lost for the third time in four games.

"It's always good to get a win," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said during his postgame Zoom call. "It's actually good to play some close games, too. We had been hitting shots a pretty high clip and blowing some teams out. It's good to have to execute some late-game stuff."

Clinging to a three-point lead in the final minute, John Petty Jr. helped the Tide put the Bulldogs away, hitting a shot from the top of the arc to extends Alabama’s advantage to 79-73 with 31.3 remaining. Petty scored 12 points on 4 of 10 shooting from beyond the arc with no shot meaning more than the last one.

"I think every shot he takes is going to go in," Alabama forward Alex Reese said of Petty after the game. "After the game, he told me he should have hit me for the one more. I said, 'No, you shouldn't have.'"

Alabama hit an SEC-record 23 shots from beyond the arc during its 105-75 victory over LSU earlier this week. While the Tide didn’t match its historical heights Saturday night against Mississippi State, it still shot a respectable 41 percent from deep, connecting on 14 of 34 shots from beyond the arc.

Joshua Primo joined Petty with four 3s on the night. Primo scored 16 points while shooting 4 of 5 from 3. The freshman guard tied his career-high with 22 points earlier this week when he went 6 of 8 from 3 against LSU. Primo, who came into the night averaging 8.6 points per game, has scored 12 or more points in four of his last five games.

Herbert Jones led the Tide with 17 points, seven assists and five rebounds while Jaden Shackelford (12 points) and Reese (11 points) were also in double figures.

Already down a pair of bigs in Bruner and Rojas, Alabama suffered some bumps and bruises on the night as forwards Jones and Reese both suffered injury scares. Late in the first half, Jones landed awkwardly and had to be tended to on the court before gingerly jogging off to the Tide’s locker room. Less than two minutes into the second half, Reese injured his left knee and had to be tended to on the bench. Both players were able to return to the game as Reese wore a sleeve over his left knee after re-entering.

"I went up for a rebound, and I came down and landed on my hip," Jones said. "But now I'm feeling pretty good. I'm still a little sore, but I'm good."

Added Reese: "I just fell on my knee and got a little not on it, but that's it. I'm good."

After trailing Mississippi State by as many as 6 points in the first half, Alabama began to settle in offensively. Primo capped off an 8-0 with his fourth 3 late in the first quarter as the Tide headed into the break up 40-35.

Alabama kept Mississippi State at arm’s length for the majority of the second half. Leading by five with 8:44 remaining, Jaden Shackelford hit a corner 3 to extend Alabama’s lead to 65-57. The Tide would increase its advantage to as many as 11 points before 1 of 9 shooting drought allowed the Bulldogs to creep back in the game.

Mississippi State won the rebounding battle 36-32 and outscored Alabama 38-26 in the paint. However, Alabama did a nice job distributing the ball, recording assists on 21 of 28 made field goals.

Alabama will remain at home next week as it hosts Kentucky on Tuesday at 6 p.m. CT.

Alabama announced that Rojas would be out for Saturday’s game during pregame warmups. Following the win, Oats provided a brief update on the forward’s medical condition, stating he hopes it doesn’t sideline him too long.

"He's not doing well right now, but we're hoping we can get Rojas back before Kentucky. We'll have to see how he comes along in the next few days here."

With Rojas and Bruner sidelined, Alabama leaned heavily on Reese, who recorded season-highs in points (11) and minutes (28). On top of his offensive effort, the senior forward helped hold Mississippi State forwards Tolua Smith and Abdul Ado to a combined 14 points.

“I thought he did a great job defensively when we needed him to,” Oats said. “He hit the one 3 which was big. We looking to get him shooting a lot better, but I thought his contribution tonight was more defensive rebounding kind of keeping us together.”

Alabama also received a nice effort from Keon Ambrose-Hylton, who chipped in 4 points and three rebounds over 10 minutes. Oats said the 6-foot-8, 210-pound freshman was recruited to play at the power forward position but has had to switch to center due to his lack of production from beyond the arc.

“He’s a great kid,” Oats said. “His attitude has been unbelievable all year. He’s in every morning trying to get better, getting his skill level up so that in the future he can play on the perimeter like we want him to. In the meantime, he’s giving us whatever he can give us, whatever we ask of him.”

Alabama’s bench received a little bit of pregame buzz as four-star football signee Ga’Quincy McKinstry accompanied the team Saturday night. McKinstry, who enrolled early at Alabama this month, was recruited in both football and basketball for the Tide. While the four-star defensive back is thought of as more of a prospect on the football field, Oats said he has been working with the basketball team during practice when his schedule permits.

“We’re trying to get him accustomed to what we’re doing,” Oats said. “It’s going to take a long time. I’m mean obviously you think about our new players now, they were here in June. Think about all the time he’s missed. It’s going to be hard for him to do anything realistically with the team game-wise this year.”

McKinstry, a Pinson Valley, Ala. native, is the top-rated player in the state and No. 46 player in the nation for football. According to Oats, the defensive back’s focus will shift back to football once the Tide moves into its conditioning program. However, for the time being, the two-sport athlete is a welcomed addition to his squad.

“He’s a great kid. I like having him around,” Oats said. “He likes to talk. I like the kid a lot. I love having him around. We’ll have to see how the schedules work out and how much we can get him. It seems like a pretty intelligent kid to where he can pick stuff up pretty quick, too.

“He’s obviously a great athlete. Kind of brings that blue-collar toughness, gritty. He can probably give us some of that. We’ll have to see how he picks up the system and all that here.”

Alabama took down Kentucky 85-65 in Rupp Arena earlier this month. However, Oats is expecting more of a challenge when the Wildcats come to Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday night.

Kentucky (5-9, 4-3) snapped a three-game losing streak Saturday with an 82-69 victory over LSU.

“We’ve got a tough one coming in Tuesday,” Oats said. “Kentucky looks like they got their mojo back a little bit.”