How to watch: Alabama Crimson Tide basketball at Ole Miss

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Fresh off an ugly loss to Texas A&M earlier this week, Alabama basketball has no time to lick its wounds if it wants to keep its slim NCAA Tournament hopes alive. Next up for the Crimson Tide (14-12, 6-7 in the SEC) is a trip to Ole Miss (13-13, 4-9) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT. Alabama swept Ole Miss last season, beating the Rebels 74-53 in Tuscaloosa before knocking them out of the SEC Tournament with a 62-57 victory. Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s game.

Free-30-Days To BamaInsider.com

Who: Alabama (14-12, 6-7 in the SEC) at Ole Miss (13-13, 4-9 SEC)

When: 7:30 p.m. CT, Saturday, Feb. 22

Where: The Pavilion at Ole Miss, Oxford, Miss.

Watch: SEC Network (play-by-play: Mike Morgan; analyst: Pat Bradley)

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (play-by-play: Chris Stewart; analyst: Bryan Passink)

Kira Lewis Jr.: 6-foot-3, 165 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 17.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 5.0 apg, 44.8% FG, 34.1% 3-pt

Jaden Shackelford: 6-foot-3, 195 pounds, freshman

Stats: 14.7 ppg, 4.3 rpg, 1.5 apg, 40.6% FG, 35.7% 3-pt

John Petty Jr.: 6-foot-5, 184 pounds, junior

Stats: 15.0 ppg., 7.0 rpg, 2.5 apg, 46.0% FG, 43.9% 3-pt

Herbert Jones: 6-foot-7, 205 pounds, junior

Stats: 8.9 ppg., 6.6 rpg, 2.5 apg, 47.6% FG, 7.1% 3-pt

Alex Reese: 6-foot-9, 245 pounds, junior

Stats: 9.4 ppg, 4.6, rpg, 1.1 apg, 41.5% FG, 32.4% 3-pt

Devontae Shuler: 6-foot-2, 190 pounds, junior

Stats: 11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 3.5 apg, 40.3% FG, 34.0 % 3-pt

Breein Tyree: 6-foot-2, 195 pounds, senior

Stats: 20.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.5 apg, 43.2% FG, 37.5% 3-pt

Blake Hinson: 6-foot-7, 229 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 10.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 1.5 apg, 40.3% FG, 33.0% 3-pt

K.J. Buffen: 6-foot-7, 225 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 9.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 1.6 apg, 50.8% FG, 20.0% 3-pt

Khadim Sy: 6-foot-10, 240 pounds, senior

Stats: 9.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 0.7 apg, 50.6% FG, 29.2% 3-pt

— Alabama heads into Saturday’s game sitting at No. 45 in the NET rankings. The Crimson Tide is listed as one of the “Next Four Out” in ESPN analyst Joe Lunardi’s projected NCAA Tournament bracket. Alabama will play five more regular-season games, including road games against Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Missouri and home games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt.

“There’s very little room for error at this point,” head coach Nate Oats said. “I mean, we’ve done what we’ve done to ourselves and given away too many close games. We’ve put ourselves in a spot where, in my opinion, anything less than 4-1 we’re probably not getting in outside of a big run in Nashville (for the SEC Tournament).”

— Alabama’s last six games have been decided by six points or fewer. The Crimson Tide is 2-4 over that span. Alabama forward Herbert Jones has been missing or limited for the entirety of that stretch which has contributed greatly to the Crimson Tide’s struggles.

“I think a lot of games would have gone a lot different if we had a healthy Herb all year,” Oats said. “You can’t do anything about it. I’ve talked to our players about control what you can control. Also, as a coaching staff, we’ve got to control what we can control. We’ve got to get better game plans together to account for the fact that Herb’s not able to play like he was.”

— Ole Miss has won its past three home games, including victories over South Carolina, Florida and Mississippi State which have all come by more than 10 points. Alabama has dropped its last seven games in Oxford, Miss., with its last win coming in 2009.

“If you look at all their games going back into late January, they’ve been dominating teams at home,” Oats said. “So it’s a really scary road game for us. They struggled early in the year, and I don’t have an answer for what was going on over there. But I know that they’re not struggling right now. They’re playing as good basketball as anyone in the SEC, especially at home.”

— Ole Miss guard Breein Tyree ranks second in the SEC, averaging 20.3 points per game. Over his last five games, he is averaging 29.8 points.

“We’ve got our hands full with him,” Oats said. “We are fortunate that we do have Herb available to guard him. We’d like to kind of rotate matchups whether it’s Herb, (John) Petty, Beetle (James Bolden) and Kira (Lewis) and Shack (Jaden Shackelford), whoever it may be. See who’s doing a better job on him and hopefully let them ride with him a little bit.”

— Alabama leads the SEC shooting 35.2 percent from beyond the arc. However, over its last six games, the Crimson Tide has shot just 28.2 percent from 3 under the five-minute mark of regulation and overtime.

“My guess is some of it may be fatigue because we’ve got such a short rotation in the backcourt,” Oats said. “Now Beetle’s (James Bolden) getting healthy and starting to play well, he’s going to help that hopefully. Playing (Jaylen) Forbes more minutes will help that. We’ve obviously got to find a way to get Kira off the floor a few more minutes to keep him fresh late.

“I hope it’s not nerves. I think we’ve got big shot makers. I’ve seen Reese make a bunch of big shots. I’ve seen Shack make big shots. I’ve seen Petty send it to overtime a few times this year. Kira’s made big shots. I think our guys have got the wherewithal to hit big shots.”

Contact Andrew Bone for all of your real estate needs; buyers, sellers, investors, developers. Property management; BoneHomeTours.com Call 205-531-5577 or click here