NASHVILLE, TN- Alabama took control of their game against Mississippi State midway through the first half and never looked back cruising to a 72-49 win in game seven of the SEC Tournament. All-American Freshman Brandon Miller led the way with 18 points and nine rebounds with most of his work coming in the first half when he posted 11 and nine.

Alabama coach Nate Oats' squad improved to 27-5 on the season with the win and will face the winner of the Tennessee-Missouri game.

"It was a good start to the tournament. We obviously didn't play very well last time we were out at A&M, so we needed to bounce back," Oats said. "We've bounced back off of losses pretty well all year. I think margin of victory after a loss is 20 plus. We did that again today. The question is can we continue to play like this for the next two days."

Alabama finished the regular season with three close wins over South Carolina on the road in overtime, a three-point win over Arkansas and an overtime win over Auburn before losing at Texas A&M in the regular season finale. The team had six days to rest and reset after the loss to A&M before facing State on Friday.

The Tide moved the ball well and had 20 assists on 27 made field goals and that was a season-high assist-to-turnover ratio and SEC Tournament record for Alabama.

Four Alabama players reached double-digits scoring including 11 points off the bench for Noah Gurley.

Center Charles Bediako had 11 points, five blocks, and six rebounds anchoring the defense for 24 minutes helping slow down State's inside game. It was also his 21st birthday on Friday.

"He's a great rim protector. One of the best in the country for sure. It was just great to see him out there, you know, doing his thing," junior Nick Pringle said of Bediako's performance. "It was a great birthday game for him."

Guard Jahvon Quinerly added 10 points and four assists moving into the starting lineup for Jaden Badley.

"We took our Sixth Man of the Year in the SEC and put him in the starting lineup," Oats said of Quinerly. "I just thought we were struggling offensively to start games. We get to the end of the four-minute media timeout, have two points, three points. Today we started 13-6, so it made sense. I thought Jaden Bradley played well in his minutes, too. Wasn't necessarily a demotion of Jaden, because Jaden came to me last night and said he thought I should start Jahvon. That's the kind of group we have. Guys are willing to do whatever they need to do to help the team be better."

The Tide didn’t shoot the ball as well as they have at times this season hitting on 13-37 from the arc and just 40.3 percent overall, but 19 points off Mississippi State turnovers helped considerably.

"It wasn't just Jahvon inserted for Jaden. It was more the whole team. We got to get stops, run off our stops. Only having seven turnovers is big because even when you don't shoot it particularly well, we didn't shoot it bad, 35% is not bad, but that was bolstered by Gurley's three of four, Dom Welch's one of one. The rest of the team that typically shot it well for us all year, you take those guys out, didn't shoot it great," Oats said.

State big man Tolu Smith had a double-double and did his work from the free line scoring 17 points with nine made free throws on ten attempts along with five offensive boards and six defensive boards.

Dashawn Davis was the only other double-figure scorer for the Bulldogs. He was held to two points in the second half and 0-3 shooting after leading State with 10 points in the first half. D.J. Jeffries and Shakeel Moore combined for just nine points on 20 shot attempts for State. The Bulldogs went 1-13 from outside and shot just 31 percent overall with 12 turnovers compared to just seven for the Tide.

Mississippi State held the Tide in check for roughly eight minutes before the floodgates opened. Alabama closed the half with a 21-7 run that included a seven-plus minute scoring drought by the Bulldogs as the lead ballooned to 41-21 at the half. Brandon Miller led the way with 11 points, eight rebounds and four assists in the first half. Charles Bediako added nine points and four blocks and Jahvon Quinerly added eight points moving into the starting lineup for Jaden Bradley at Bradley’s request. The Tide hit 8-20 from the arc and shot 45.7 percent in the first half. The Bulldogs shot 25.8 percent and went 0-5 from the arc led by Dashawn Davis who had 11 points on 5-10 shooting while State also committed seven turnovers compared to just three for Alabama.

The only downside in the win was Dom Welch getting dinged up in a fall. He fell on his tailbone and has a bruised tailbone per Oats.

Alabama returns to action at 12 pm at Bridgestone Arena in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.

Alabama attacked quickly taking a 7-2 lead on the Bulldogs before going into a scoring funk ahead of the first media timeout. The Tide led 7-4 at the first media timeout with 15:35 left in the half. Alabama maintained the lead, 18-13 at the next media timeout with six assists on seven made field goals with 11:42 left in the first half. Alabama extended the lead to 24-13 at the third media timeout with 6:06 left. Bama’s defense clamped down holding State scoreless through the next seven-plus minutes to extend the lead to 26-13. The Tide stepped on the gas and pulled ahead 41-21 at the break.

The game extended the lead to 50-29 at the first media timeout with 14:31 left. The lead continued into the next media timeout 54-33 with 11:47 left in the game as Oats extended his bench for some key minutes. The Bulldogs cut the lead to 19 by the third media timeout with 7:57 to go 57-38 with the Tide going cold hitting just 1 of 7 shots during that stretch. State cut the lead to 14 before Sears hit a three with just under four minutes left to extend the lead to 60-43 and Clowney hit the game clincher after a defensive stop to make it a 20-point game again with just over three minute to play. Bama closed with a 13-2 run going up 70-45 in the final minutes.