Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Mississippi State
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — It wasn't pretty, but they got it done.
The No. 2 Alabama Crimson Tide needed a come-from-behind effort to complete the sweep of Mississippi State on Wednesday night. Alabama won by a final score of 66-63 in what was one of the more uninspiring efforts from Nate Oats' squad this season.
Here are some of my thoughts on the game:
1. Alabama proved it can still win in difficult ways.
Alabama has been on a roll for over a month now. Coming into Wednesday's game the Crimson Tide had won eight games in a row and every game had come by a double digit margin.
The reality is, not every game is going to be a blowout no matter how good the team in question is.
Look at No. 1 Purdue for example. The Boilermakers have had two close calls in the past week with Michigan State and Maryland. It was only a matter of time until Alabama had one of its own.
Nate Oats' team came out flat in every sense of the word, especially on the defensive end. The positive part? That didn't last for the entire game. Once the players grasped the reality of being down by 10 in the second half, the intensity turned up a notch and they were able to gut out a win.
Beating a team twice is never easy, and Mississippi State's record doesn't show how good of a defense the Bulldogs have. Still, Alabama is the better team, and that eventually shone through.
Sometimes, difficult wins help teams learn a lot. Alabama certainly learned that it can't sleepwalk into games thinking it's the better team, or a team with more offensive firepower than Mississippi State could pose a real threat to Alabama's undefeated conference record.
We haven't seen Alabama have to play in a close game late in the clock since December, though. So in a way, it's good for them.
2. Jahvon Quinerly looked more comfortable than he has all season.
Jahvon Quinerly has been on an upswing in recent weeks, but that improvement of play came to a head in Wednesday night's game.
The Crimson Tide was out of sorts for much of the game offensively, and it felt like Quinerly was the one player who was comfortable with the ball in his hands.
For the first time this season, Quinerly led the team in scoring. He posted 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting and added four rebounds and four assists.
He was the engine of the run in the second half that gave Alabama the lead for good, driving and dishing smooth passes to Noah Clowney while also getting to the free throw line and even hitting a mid-range jumper.
Quinerly's 27 minutes made one of the highest totals he's played all season, and his shooting has improved over the course of the season. He has made eight of his last 19 attempts from beyond the arc and is over 35 percent on the season, compared to shooting below 30 percent last season.
He is finally starting to shoot the way he did in 2021, when he shot over 40 percent from distance. It's coming at the perfect time, too, with Clowney and Sears both in shooting slumps of their own.
3. Rylan Griffen has found his role.
I've talked about Griffen on this series a couple of times, especially in recent weeks, but I'm going to talk about him again.
He plays hard every time he gets in the game, whether that be on the offensive end or the defensive end. He's started to showcase the ability to penetrate the defense off the bounce, and finished a nice floater in the lane on Wednesday on one of those occasions.
Griffen's is another player whose shooting has improved recently, too. He has made six of his last 16 attempts and is now shooting over 30 percent on the season after a very slow start.
He only played 13 minutes on Wednesday, but he made every single one of them count, and that's the kind of impact you need from bench players.
Griffen isn't the first man off the bench, and some games he isn't even the second or third, but having a bench player with the mindset of wanting to compete every time he's on the floor is a recipe for success.
4. A few more things...
- Clowney hasn't shot the ball well at all lately, missing his last 16 attempts from three, but that hasn't affected his efforts anywhere else on the floor. He continues to work on the glass and around the rim, as well as on the defensive end of the floor despite his recent shooting woes.
- Nick Pringle gave really good minutes when he got to play. He is another guy who, like Griffen, always gives maximum effort even in limited playing time.
- I doubt Alabama shoots 18 percent from three as a team very often this season. To still be able to win in spite of that is testament to the defense, which still hasn't allowed 70 points this calendar year.
