Alabama Drops Third Straight Game with 78-76 Loss at Mississippi State
STARKVILLE, Miss. — Once again, a last minute comeback attempt on the road fell ever so short for Alabama basketball. However, this one might have been the most painful. After trailing by eight with 1:33 to go, a pair of threes from Darius Miles and Keon Ellis got Alabama back in the game.
Ellis was fouled shooting a three-pointer with four seconds left and sunk all three shots from the line to pull Alabama within one at 77-76. Mississippi State made one free throw on the other end, and Ellis got a look at the basket as time expired. His shot bounced off the rim and the Bulldogs held on the for the 78-76 win inside Humphrey Coliseum Saturday night.
Alabama actually looked to be taking control of the game midway through the second half. With 10:18 to go, a JD Davison layup gave Alabama a 60-55 lead, the largest lead by any team up to that point. Then the offense went on a cold streak, going nearly five minutes without a field goal.
“We thought the guys would come out and compete, and they did for large parts of the game," said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. "Our first-shot defense I thought was pretty good. Our guys dug in, played hard on the defensive end, but we’ve got to rebound the last eight minutes of the game. You’ve got to close the games and play a full 40.”
A possession with a little over six minutes left in the game was symbolic of how the rest of the half would go for the Crimson Tide. On that one possession, the Bulldogs brought in five offensive rebounds. It ended with two free throws from Shakeel Moore to give Mississippi State a 66-63 lead.
Rebounding became a major issue for the Crimson Tide in the second half, particularly those last eight mintues. The Bulldogs outrebounded Alabama 43-32 and had 18 offensive rebounds that led to 21 second chance points.
"We were up one on the glass at the under-eight media timeout, and then after that we got out rebounded by 12," Oats said. "We had only given up nine O-boards with less than eight minutes to go in the game. In the last seven minutes and change, we gave up nine more O-boards.
"It's hard to win a game when they're getting half their misses."
The energy and intensity was there for Alabama in the first half, but the stagnant offense late in the second half was detrimental toward Alabama's chances of winning. The Crimson Tide held a 41-37 lead at halftime after there were 14 lead changes in the first half alone.
Alabama got a spark off the bench with the return of senior forward James Rojas. It was his first appearance of the season after he's been working to get back from an offseason ACL injury. He had six points, two rebounds and two steals in 17 minutes of action. After the game, Oats said that Rojas was going to play for emergencies only, and came in after Juwan Gary and Noah Gurley both got in early foul trouble.
Jaden Shackelford finished as Alabama's leading scorer with 17 points, but 14 of those were in the first half as he went 1-6 from the floor in the second half. It was the second strong performance in a row from Miles who had 14 points and six rebounds. Ellis also had 14 points.
Gallery: Alabama basketball at Mississippi State- Jan. 15, 2022
Photos courtesy of Alabama Athletics
There were a combined 47 fouls and 68 free throw attempts in the game, so the line became an important factor. Alabama shot 85.7 percent from the line going 24-28, but what ultimately led to the Tide's downfall on offense was three-point shooting.
The Crimson Tide only went 8-29 from beyond the arc for a 27.6 percent shooting night. Since the win against Houston on Dec. 11, Alabama has only shot above 30 percent on three pointers three times.
With the loss, Alabama falls to 11-6 overall and 2-3 in the SEC. Oats said he is disappointed with where his team is at this point in the season.
"I thought we had a team that could compete for a league title," Oats said. "Just not quite as tough as we need to be to compete for a league title at this point. So maybe they’ll figure it out. Maybe it will come. Got to get tougher though moving forward."
