TUSCALOOSA – It was a refreshing sight for Alabama fans Tuesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide demolished No. 24 Mississippi State 111-73, making a much-needed statement and getting off to a rare strong start, going up 19-9 in the first nine minutes and never looking back.

Alabama held Mississippi State to just 27 points and 0.75 points per possession in the first half. The Tide’s defense blitzed the Bulldogs' leading scorer Josh Hubbard, restricting him to just six points while he got into foul trouble. The Tide’s offense had its familiar surge and it looked unstoppable, negating any chance of a Bulldogs comeback.

However, Nate Oats’ reaction after he called timeout with 9:13 remaining was anything but pleased despite the Tide’s 30-point lead at that point. The Bulldogs just hit back-to-back 3-pointers, the second came after the Tide gave up an offensive rebound. Oats was frustrated by the effort.

“We’re just trying to take that next step with our defense,” Alabama guard Mark Sears said after the game when asked about the sequence. “We can’t feel any sympathy for the other team… That’s the time we can take that next step with our defense.”

Oats said Sears had the right reaction to Alabama’s second-half defensive performance. Mississippi State’s points per possession ballooned to 1.27, continuing a trend for Alabama of allowing its defensive efficiency numbers to drop in the second half against SEC competition.

It might seem nitpicky given the final score. But in Oats’ eyes, keeping its foot on the gas will be what helps separate Alabama as an elite team and grow even more on the defensive end.

“We better be better in the second half,” Oats said. “We weren’t better in the second half again today. And you can use the excuse it’s hard to play with a lead. If you’re immature it’s hard to play with the lead — hard on defense. If you’re mature and it’s about getting stops and you’re not playing the scoreboard you’re playing the guy across the line from you if you will — you’re trying to dominate them every possession. You’re not giving up free looks.”

Oats used an example at halftime that occurred elsewhere in the SEC on Tuesday night. No. 3 Florida went down big on the road against Georiga. The Bulldogs led by as many as 26 points in the first half, but allowed the Gators to come chomping back. They even took the lead for the first time with 1:28 remaining.

Georgia managed to hang on for a massive 88-83 upset. But that didn’t stop Oats from using it as an example of what not to do when up big.

“We had a case in point tonight, you’ve got to take care of business when you get a team down,” Oats said. “You gotta take a 20-point lead to 25, to 30, to 35 and we’ve buried teams here in the past and we’ve gotta get a little better killer mentality if you will to just put teams away when you’ve got a lead on them. And we weren’t bad, our offense did enough to keep them at good arm’s length the whole game, but our defense has to get a little bit better.”

Alabama cannot afford to play with any lead that it has in its final three regular season games. The Tide will face No. 5 Tennessee before a matchup against those same Gators, who will certainly be eyeing a marquee win after falling to Georgia as they grapple with the Tide for SEC and NCAA Tournament seeding. Alabama wraps up the regular season with No. 1 Auburn, a team it hadn’t managed to get a lead against, let alone lose, the first time they matched up.

As Alabama’s offense dominated a helpless Mississippi State, Oats emphasized that the Tide’s free-scoring will continue as long it continues to take pride on the defensive end. Alabama's first-half defense against a talented Bulldogs team is a promising sign. Now Oats needs it to carry over for a full 40 minutes.

“You kinda look at the guys that were positive on the defensive end,” Oats said. “Grant [Nelson] was positive, Sears was positive on the defensive end and that’s what we’re stressing. That’s what we’re really trying to get out of the guys and the offense will take care of itself as long as we don’t turn it over and we get on the O-boards.”

Alabama will look to build on its big win over the Bulldogs when it travels to Knoxville, Tennessee. The Tide and Volunteers will face off at 3 p.m. CT Saturday inside the Food City Center. The game will be televised on ESPN.