TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — While No. 4 Alabama willed itself to an 88-84 win over No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday, Bulldogs guard Josh Hubbard had his way with the Crimson Tide’s defense.

Hubbard, who leads Mississippi State in scoring and was mentioned frequently by Alabama coach Nate Oats in the build-up to the game, not only turned nearly every matchup he faced into a mismatch but set a career-high with 38 points against the Tide.

For the third time this season, Alabama has allowed its opponent’s best scorer to set a new career mark in points against its defense. Rutgers star freshman Dylan Harper went for 36 against Alabama in the Players Era Tournament. Perhaps the most eye-popping individual performance belongs to North Dakota’s Treysen Eaglestaff who dropped 40 and shot 8 of 18 from 3-point range. The junior is currently shooting just 33.3% from 3.

Hubbard’s display of scoring in Alabama’s latest struggle against a team’s top as Oats looking for better individual effort defensively against elite scorers. He gave fifth-year guard Chris Youngblood credit for defending Hubbard late in the game but wants to see players rise to the occasion to prevent a team's best player from getting going.

“I’d be nice if some guys had some intensity and some pride about them to step up and be like, ‘Coach, I got this guy. Just put be onto him. He’s done. I got it.’" Oats said to reporters Tuesday. "We’ve had some of that in the past. I kind of go back — even some of our best players have. Brandon Miller — Brandon Miller’s 6-8, 6-9 and can move and be really athletic. Brandon did that at times. And he’s capable of it a 6-9, 6-8, whatever he is and can move and as athletic as he is. Like, ‘Coach I got him, just put me on him. He’s done.’

“It’d be nice if we had a little more of that. As we currently stand, we probably don’t. So we’ve got to get a guy really amped up that’s capable of guarding the other team’s best player.”

Oats did praise Mouhamed Diobuate and said the sophomore goes into games with the right mindset defensively against opponents with a pension for grit. But as Oats continues to call for a perfect 40 minutes from his side on both ends of the floor, he wants to see other individuals rise to the occasion and make it a point of pride to limit a team’s star, especially when it comes in the form of an elite guard.

“Mo D will do it going into games with other tough guys,” Oats said. “Maybe not so much with some of the guards we’ve done, but Mo’s almost like — will start pumping the other guy up. He looks at you like you’re crazy, like you know, ‘So and so’s looking for you. But I’m looking for him.’ And he usually is. He’s usually got that under control. So we’ve kinda got that category – I wanna say taken care of. We need to get the other one where they’ve got dynamic guards like Harper, Eaglestaff, [Texas A&M guard Zhuric Phelps], Hubbard going where someone can lock him up. So yeah, it is a concern until somebody can lock them up and decides they’re gonna step up to the challenge.”

Alabama faces another challenge Saturday when it faces Georgia and its scorer Asa Newell. While he doesn’t have the same build as players like Harper, Hubbard and Eaglestaff, Newell is a legitimate NBA Draft prospect and leads the Bulldogs in scoring (15.2 ppg) and rebounds (7.0 rpg).

It’s also worth noting the Tide has also struggled against quality forwards as well as elite guards. In losses to Ole Miss and Purdue, Rebels forward Mailk Dia tallied 23 points and 19 (both season highs). Boilermakers forward Trey Kaufman-Renn racked up 26 points.

“I think prepping for another team’s best player and the attentiveness we need to have — hopefully we realize that whatever we thought we had done preparation-wise wasn’t good enough. So, this time it's gonna be different guys matched up on Newell. He’s more like a four-man that can step out… He’s capable of shooting when we recruited him. I saw he could shoot. I liked his shot, but he does most of his damage in the paint.

“So, you’re not gonna have the same type of guys guarding him as you would Hubbard, but you gotta prepare to stop a team’s primary scoring options. He’s definitely their primary scoring option. They're kind of force-feeding it to him in the post and he’s produced as their leading scorer. So we gotta be ready to guard.”

Alabama will look to hone in on Newell and avoid a second slip-up at home in SEC play. The Tide will face the Bulldogs at 3 p.m. CT Saturday inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.