Alabama was ready for a physical battle. In a game where the Crimson Tide needed to be tough on both ends of the floor against a solid Mississippi State side, Alabama showed up on the road.

The Crimson Tide saw its best player come alive in the second half, battled in the paint and got the benefit of a woeful Mississippi State performance from the free throw line to outlast the Bulldogs and stay perfect in SEC play.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama's 82-74 win over Mississippi State.

None of Alabama’s opponents have managed to keep Mark Sears quiet this season.

For a little over 20 minutes, Mississippi State seemed like it would be the first. The Bulldogs held the SEC’s leading scorer and Alabama’s best player to just five points on 1-for-4 from the field in the first half. Sears was also limited for much of the opening period after he picked up two early fouls.

That led the SEC Network broadcasters to question when Sears would make his run. He answered that in the second half scoring eight straight points for Alabama and finished the game with 22, along with two assists and a rebound.

Sears recovered from his early foul trouble to help Alabama impose its fast-paced style on the road. Even when he wasn't scoring Sears frequently led Alabama on the break. The Crimson Tide outscored the Bulldogs 18-0 on fastbreak points.

When Sears was quiet in the first half the brunt of Alabama's offense came from Rylan Griffen. The sophomore finished with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists.

Latrell Wrightsell Jr. finished in double figures in two of Alabama’s last three games before Saturday’s contest. He continued his strong run of form by leading Alabama’s bench against the Bulldogs.

Wrightsell finished with 17 points, two rebounds and a steal, sparking Alabama with his 3-point shooting and on-ball pressure defensively.

"I'm experienced and we have a lot of experienced guys in the starting lineup," Wrightsell said. "So when I just come in and help those guys out it just gives an extra boost to us and we all just play along with each other and we have really good guards so it makes it easy for me too."

With Sears limited by early foul trouble and Grant Nelson kept relatively quiet offensively, Alabama’s bench helped the Crimson Tide establish its offensive presence against by scoring 23 points against a strong Mississippi State defense, which was allowing just 63.7 points per game.

After snagging six rebounds in nine minutes off the bench against South Carolina, Alabama coach Nate Oats said forward Mouhamed Dioubate has provided a spark and energy in both practice and game situations for the Crimson Tide.

Dioubate's energy was on full display when Oats again turned the freshman in the first half after Mississippi State scored its first 10 points in the paint. Dioubate quickly grabbed an offensive rebound after coming in, and finished the game with three points, two rebounds and three assists.

After missing the South Carolina game with a foot injury, Mohamed Wague returned against the Bulldogs and was crucial for Alabama’s efforts against Mississippi State’s star center Tolu Smith.

Smith was playing in just his fourth game after missing the start of the season with an injury but was averaging 17.3 points and 5.7 rebounds in that stretch.

Just one play after Wague was called for a foul on Smith in the first half, the experienced Mississippi State center drove on Wague again. The West Virginia transfer promptly pulled the rug from under Smith to draw an offensive foul.

"We needed those minutes," Oats said. "He ended up with just under 10 minutes, he had four points and we needed every point we could get, two rebounds, we needed his depth and then when [Nick] Pringle was in foul trouble we needed him. He was big for us."

After a quick start that saw Mississippi State pound the rock in the paint early Alabama ratcheted up the pressure on Smith, forcing the former first-team All-SEC forward into catching the ball away from the basket.

The Crimson Tide made life difficult for Smith and the rest of Mississippi State’s forwards by staying strong at the rim and picking the pockets of the Bulldogs when they attempted to put the ball on the floor around the basket or kick it to an outside shooter.

Nelson finished with just nine points but battled with Smith in the paint all game. He defended well without fouling and matched his point total with nine rebounds, along with three blocks and three steals.

"I thought Grant's defense was as good on [Smith] as anybody's," Oats said. "I think Grant showed that he can be that spacy five for us when we need him to because he can cause problems on the offensive end with his skillset."

While the Crimson Tide stayed strong against Smith, he and the rest of the Bulldogs crippled themselves when they got to the foul line. Pringle fouled out in just six minutes and Alabama committed 20 as a team but Mississippi State shot just 55.6% from the free throw line, including six straight misses in the final 2:20.

Alabama will look to improve to 4-0 in SEC play when it returns home to face Missouri. The Tigers have yet to pick up a win against a conference foe and most recently lost 71-69 to South Carolina on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide takes on the Tigers at 8 p.m. Tuesday inside Coleman Coliseum.