Alabama basketball opened up conference play by adding another ranked win to its resume. The No. 8 Crimson Tide took a while to heat up but eventually found its touch in time to roll to a 78-67 victory over No. 21 Mississippi State in Starkville.

Alabama (11-2, 1-0 in the SEC) opened the game 4 of 17 from the floor before shooting 45.6% on the night. Mississippi State (11-2, 0-1) was equally cold from the start, hitting just four of its first 19 shots. Unlike the Crimson Tide, the Bulldogs weren’t able to find their stroke, finishing 36.4% from the floor.

Here are three takeaways from the game.

Brandon Miller recorded his second straight double-double despite being forced to the bench early. The five-star freshman got off to a fast start, scoring 8 points and pulling down six rebounds by the 5:50 mark in the first period. However, he was whistled for his third foul 45 seconds later, sending him to the bench for the rest of the half.

Alabama headed into halftime with a 34-30 lead before pulling away early after the break. Mississippi State opened the second half shooting 2 of 9 from the floor. Meanwhile, Alabama used an 11-2 run to extend its lead to 50-37 with 13:39 to play. The Crimson Tide never really looked back from there, cruising to quality win on the road.

"I’d really just say we locked in on defense," Alabama forward Nick Pringle said. "I think we had ten stops going into the media [timeout] so that was just great for us. And we just kept building defense on defense. Brandon, we played great defense, and the offense just started clicking."

Miller finished with 19 points 11 rebounds. He was shot 7 of 15 from the floor and 5 of 10 from beyond the arc. The performance comes after he recorded 14 points and 10 rebounds during Alabama’s victory over Jackson State last week. Miller also recorded a double-double during the season opener, registering 14 points and 13 rebounds during the win over Longwood.

Mark Sears led Alabama with a game-high 20 points while shooting 5 of 11 from the floor and 4 of 8 from deep. Noah Clowney recorded 12 points and eight rebounds while Pringle chipped in with 10 points and four boards off the bench.

Tolu Smith has to be getting sick of seeing the color crimson. Alabama once again locked up the Mississippi State star, limiting him to 5 points and six rebounds on 1 of 7 shooting. The 6-foot-11, 245-pound forward came into the game leading the Bulldogs averaging 15.6 points and 8.7 rebounds while shooting 62.2% from the floor.

"He's a great player," Miller said of Smith. "He's probably one of the biggest centers we're going to have to face in the SEC. We just really came as a team and, I mean we preach defense from the jump since the summer. That's the biggest thing for us is just defense."

Smith has now struggled in his last three games against Alabama. Last season, he recorded 4 points and three rebounds in an 80-75 loss to the Crimson Tide before registering 6 points and four rebounds during a 78-76 victory over Alabama.

Smith’s struggles from the floor Wednesday were coupled from a dismal night at the free-throw line where he made 3 of 15 attempts. Mississippi State shot 18 of 36 from the line on the night. Alabama was 14 of 18 from the stripe.

On a night were Alabama saw one of its wings return from injury, another is set to be out for an indefinite amount of time.

Wednesday night saw St. Bonaventure transfer Dom Welch make his Crimson Tide debut after sitting out the first 12 games of the season with a calf injury. However, Alabama will now be without Darius Miles, who sat out the game due to a personal matter. Following the game, head coach Nate Oats said he is unsure how long Miles will be out.

Welch put together a quiet debut, missing a pair of 3-point attempts while pulling in two rebounds over nine minutes. While he didn't provide much of an impact Wednesday night, the 6-foot-5, 205-pound wing is expected to be an important part of the Crimson Tide’s plans moving forward.

"I thought his defense was great," Oats said. "Obviously, he was a little rusty... He's going to make 3s. He's a really good shooter. He's only practiced one day. Yesterday was the first day he's practiced in a month in a half. We assumed he would be a little rusty on offense, but I was glad I was able to get him nine minutes. We'll try to increase his minutes as gets more comfortable, but I thought defensively he gave us some really good minutes."

Last season, Welch started 33 games for St. Bonaventure, averaging 12.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 41.4% from the floor and 37.4% from beyond the arc.