TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The good news for Mississippi State in Saturday night’s loss at No. 24 Alabama: Tolu Smith was back in top form after three consecutive subpar games, finishing with 23 points on 8-for-14 shooting.
The bad news for the Bulldogs: just about everything else. MSU squandered yet another opportunity for its first road win, struggling to find any offense outside of Smith in a 99-67 blowout loss to the Crimson Tide.
“It’s hard to win any game like that,” Smith said. “From start to finish, it was just an old-fashioned ass whooping.”
Turnovers remained an issue for the Bulldogs (14-8, 3-6 Southeastern Conference), who committed 18 of them — leading to 27 points for Alabama. MSU also allowed 20 offensive rebounds, a season high for the Crimson Tide, and the hosts turned those into 19 second-chance points.
The Crimson Tide (16-6, 8-1), even by their standards, bombed away from 3-point range, attempting 29 shots from behind the arc in the first half and a season-high 48 in the game. Alabama made just 15 of them, but was 11-for-12 on 2-point field goals in the first half, which it ended on an 18-2 run to go ahead by 23.
“I said it earlier in the season, (turnovers) have definitely become an Achilles heel for us,” Bulldogs head coach Chris Jans said. “Things started going off the rails, and that’s usually an area we can point to that has given us problems. This league is so dynamic and athletic that when you turn (the ball) over, when it’s a live-ball turnover, it turns into conversions. Especially when you’re on the road, it changes the tenor of the game.”
Meanwhile, MSU missed all seven of its 3-point attempts in the first half and finished the game 4-for-16. Freshman guard Josh Hubbard was held to single-digit scoring for just the fourth time this season, going 0-for-5 from long range and scoring five of his seven points on free throws. Shakeel Moore and Shawn Jones Jr. joined Smith in double figures, scoring 13 and 10 points, respectively.
It took some time for Alabama’s best player, Mark Sears, to get going, but he was 3-for-5 from deep in the opening half, finishing with 21 points, and also whipped a beautiful behind-the-back pass to Grant Nelson for an assist. Freshman Jarin Stevenson was a perfect 3-for-3 from distance in the first half after coming off the bench and added 14 points, as did Mouhamed Dioubate, another bench player.
“It was pretty obvious their plan was to play Tolu one-on-one and just throw a bunch of different bodies at him,” Jans said. “They really gave Hubbard a ton of attention. It was a good plan, and it worked very well for them. … They shot 48 3’s, and I’m sure if (Crimson Tide head coach Nate Oats) had his way, they’d shoot 50 or 60 every given night. When you shoot those long shots, it sets up opportunities to get long rebounds.”
The Bulldogs also had a pair of injury scares — forward D.J. Jeffries was knocked down by a screen and writhed around on the court for some time toward the end of the first half, and after trying to stick it out, was taken to the locker room and did not return. Hubbard, moments later, was favoring his left ankle after an awkward landing and requested a substitution, but he returned to the floor before halftime.
Jans said the trainer told him that Jeffries was done for the night, but did not have an update on his status beyond that. Trey Fort was also out for the second straight game with a thumb injury, and KeShawn Murphy, who has not played since Jan. 6, was warming up in uniform before the game but did not see any action.
MSU’s free-throw shooting woes continued in the second half as the Bulldogs missed eight of their first 10 attempts from the foul line after the break, including an air ball from Smith. Two of the Crimson Tide’s big men, Nelson and Mohamed Wague, fouled out, and MSU attempted 32 free throws to Alabama’s 10. But while the Tide were perfect at the line, the visitors shot under 60 percent, continuing a recent trend that started with the first meeting against Alabama.
The Bulldogs, who fell to 0-6 in true road games, return to Humphrey Coliseum on Wednesday night to host Georgia. Jans pointed to MSU’s strong finish to the season last year after starting 1-7 in conference play as proof that this year’s group can still turn things around.
“Fortunately, or unfortunately, depending on your perspective, we’ve been in this situation already in our short tenure here,” Jans said. “We found a way to stay together and continue to practice and fight, and we ended up turning the tide a little bit and making the NCAA Tournament. Will that happen again? Who knows, but I’m pretty confident that I’ve got a group of men in there who understand that we have to move on.”
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