Alabama basketball has a proven track record coming off of losses. The Crimson Tide has picked up victories away from home following each of its first three defeats this season. All three victories came against ranked opponents.

After suffering its fourth defeat of the campaign and second in Southeastern Conference play, Alabama yet again is looking to re-discover its swagger on the road as it prepares to face No. 15 Missouri. The Tigers have been one of college basketball’s biggest surprises this season, going from an 0-19 SEC campaign last season to challenging for a top-four spot in league play this year.

The task won’t be easy for Alabama given its opponent and the timing after Alabama fell 94-85 loss to No. 1 Auburn. It was not only an opportunity to get a victory over its archrival but also pick up a marquee win in the SEC title race.

Coach Nate Oats knows the mental hurdle Alabama has to navigate fresh off a high-profile defeat, and the test that is waiting for Alabama in Columbia, Missouri. But Oats has liked the way his players have responded to the Auburn loss.

“I referenced last year, I was a little disappointed with our leadership last year after the Tennessee game going into Florida,” Oats told reporters Tuesday. “Have some of our guys this year have grown up and matured from last year? Can some of the new guys that we got provide it better? And based on yesterday’s practice and today’s practice, I think the answer is yes. I think some of the guys that were on last year’s team that kind of wallowed in self-pity if you will after the Tennessee loss and then didn’t have us ready to go against Florida looked a lot better yesterday in practice than we had last year, and I think some of the new guys we got a good disposition about them to help us in that regard.

“So, I liked our leadership yesterday in practice. We were a lot shorter today, but I thought today we picked it up, got done what we needed to and we’ll be ready to go tomorrow.”

Alabama will bring its flawless SEC road record against a team that has lost just once at home Wednesday night. Oats has continued to drive the point home that, win or lose, he and his players will have to have short memories during the Tide’s gauntlet stretch. He is well aware that an underprepared or mentally unfocused Alabama side will be in jeopardy against a talented Tigers outfit.

“This team looks like they’ve got as much swagger as anybody in the country,” Oats said of the Tigers. “They expect to win. They’re 16-1 at home. They’ve gone on the road and won big. This is a team playing really well. Nobody would have any idea that they didn’t win a conference game last year based on how they’ve performed this year throughout, what they look like right now because they’re one of the best teams in the country, and they’re certainly one of the best teams in our league.”

Here’s everything you need to know about Wednesday’s game.

Who: No. 4 Alabama (21-4, 10-2 SEC) vs. No. 15 Missouri (19-6, 8-4)

When: 8 p.m. CT, Tuesday, Feb. 19

Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Missouri

Watch: SEC Network (Play-By-Play: Kevin Fitzgerald, Analyst: Jon Sundvold)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Bryan Passink, Sideline: Roger Hoover)

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 17.8 ppg, 3.0 rpg, 4.8 apg, 39.7% FG, 34.5% 3-pt

Chris Youngblood: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman

Stats: 9.6 ppg, 2.7 rpg, 0.9 apg, 43.9% FG, 36.5% 3-pt

Jarin Stevenson: 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 5.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 41.3% FG, 28.2% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate

Stats: 12.6 ppg, 8.3 rpg, 1.7 apg, 54.1% FG, 26.5% 3-pt

Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate

Stats: 7.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg, 0.8 apg, 73.2% FG

Anthony Robinson II: 6-foot-3, 180 pounds, senior

Stats: 9.3 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 3.3 apg, 48.1% FG, 40.0% 3-pt

Tony Perkins: 6-foot-4, 200 pounds, graduate

Stats: 8.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.4 apg, 46.1% FG, 33.3% 3-pt

Tamar Bates: 6-foot-5, 195 pounds, senior

Stats: 13.4 ppg, 2.8 rpg, 1.2 apg, 50.0% FG, 39.0% 3-pt

Trent Pierce: 6-foot-10, 220 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 7.4 ppg, 3.3 rpg, 0.9 apg, 46.9%, 30.4% 3pt

Mark Mitchell: 6-foot-9, 230 pounds, junior

Stats: 12.9 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 1.8 apg, 48.4% FG, 23.3% 3-pt

When giving his initial assessment of Missouri, Oats said many of the Tigers' strengths come in areas Alabama has struggled with at times this season. At the top of the list was the turnover category.

The Tide was relatively careful with the ball against Auburn, coughing it up just seven times, which was its lowest mark in conference play so far. However, much of its usual ball movement and quick tempo was lacking against a composed Auburn defense. Alabama managed just eight assists in Saturday’s loss, its lowest mark against an SEC opponent.

Alabama will need to find a happy medium of good ball movement while keeping the turnovers down against one of the best teams at forcing and capitalizing on mistakes. Missouri ranks No. 4 in the country in steal percentage, according to KenPom.com and No. 8 in points off turnovers according to CBB analytics.

The Tigers' 18.2 points per game off turnovers rank only behind Vanderbilt among SEC teams. Alabama coughed it up 11 times in its Jan. 21 matchup against Vanderbilt. The Tide stayed below its season average in turnvoers while allowing the Commodores to score just eight points off its giveaways. Alabama will need a similar performance on the road Wednesday night.

“They’re top-five in the country in steal percentage, we’ve had an issue with turning the ball over,” Oats said. “So that’s a major issue going into this game. Can we take care of the ball so we’re not sending them layups on the other end? Their transition offense is one of the best in the country.”

Missouri and Alabama will also feature a battle of two elite bench-scoring teams. The Tigers rank No. 1 in the country in bench points while the Tide ranks No. 3. Alabama has seen a major bump from its bench all year, particularly from the likes of Aden Holloway, Mouhamed Dioubate and Labaron Philon since his move to the bench last month. The scoring has helped Alabama recover from slow starts and the Tide will need all of its available firepower to match Missouri’s substitutes.

The Tigers are mainly led off the bench by sharpshooting guard Caleb Grill. Playing in his sixth season, Grill is the best 3-point shooter in the SEC, hitting 46.7% of his shots from beyond the arc against conference opponents and he’s been especially good in some of Mizzou’s marquee wins. He had 20 points on six made 3s in Missouri’s blowout win over Mississippi State and 22 on the same number of makes from deep in the Tigers victory at Florida.

“Caleb Grill is second in the SEC in 3-pointers made,” Oats said. “We’ve given too many good shooters career nights. You go back to [North Dakota’s Treyson Eaglestaff], [Mississippi State guard Josh Hubbard]… I didn’t even think we did a great job against some of the shooters Auburn had, getting them off the line. So our defense on Grill’s gotta be better. We gotta be able to guard them without fouling and we gotta take care of the ball on offense.”

Oats’ reference to guarding without fouling, highlighted another area where the Tigers can hurt Alabama on Wednesday. Missouri ranks No. 2 in the country in free throw rate and made free throws per game with 19.7. Though the Tigers only shoot 72.4% from the line which ranks No. 10 in the SEC, their ability to draw fouls will expose Alabama if its defense is undisciplined.

In addition to guarding Missouri’s shotmakers, the Tide also has a chance to reverse some worrying trends and make a statement with its second-half defense over the past few games.

Alabama has allowed all but one of its SEC opponents to average more points per possession in the second half than in the first half. The only exception was the Tide’s 80-73 win over LSU, in which it benched starters Clifford Omoruyi and Mark Sears to start the second half.

Oats talked about the possibility of a different starting five to begin games and more halftime changes could be coming beginning with Wednesday’s matchup. He also said the team talked through Auburn’s 9-0 start and 7-0 end to the first half, which ballooned a nine-point advantage to 14 in the opening minutes of the second half.

“Our starts to the second halves haven’t necessarily fixed themselves,” Oats said. “Maybe we do need a change in the starters at least for the second half even if we don’t do it for the game. Maybe we need a little bit more of a wake-up call at halftime. I haven’t felt the need to go crazy. I don’t wanna say I do that often but, light a fire under them if you will with all the fifth-year seniors that we have. That maybe needs to be a discussion we have with all the fifth-year seniors that our sense of urgency starting the second half has to be better.”

Alabama has managed to avoid defeat on the road in conference play thus far. But Oats issued a challenge to his players to have better discipline, particularly playing from ahead on the road. Missouri has only trailed once at halftime on its home court in SEC play, making a halftime lead a luxury Oats wants to see his team protect after failing to do so in two of Alabama’s last three games.

“We built an 18-point lead at Arkansas,” Oats said. “Are we not mature enough to guard when we’re up? We had a big lead at Texas. Are we not mature enough to guard when we’re up? We’ve had multiple double-digit leads in the second half against these teams and I’m with you. I don’t like our sense of urgency to guard when we have a lead. To me that shows some leadership issues [and] that we’ve got to do a better job.”

— Alabama is 4-1 in road games against Associated Press top 25 opponents this season.

— Alabama has scored 85 points or more in eight straight road games, which is the longest single-season streak by any team in SEC history.

— Alabama has seven wins over AP Top 25 opponents, tying the program record for most AP wins in a single season set during the 2022-23 campaign.

— Aden Holloway has scored 10 points or more in 17 games coming off the bench this season, which leads the SEC.

— Missouri's Caleb Grill had made 79 three-pointers this season, which ranks second in the SEC and shoots a league-best 46.7 percent from beyond the arc.

— The Tigers are converting 19.7 free throws per game, which ranks second in the nation and first in the SEC.

— Mizzou is averaging an SEC-best 10.0 steals per game, which ranks sixth throughout Division I.

— The Tigers lead the SEC in bench scoring, averaging 36.0 points per contest.