No. 7 Alabama Basketball Blows Out Ole Miss to Open Home SEC Slate with Win

Brandon Miller had 17 points on the way to a dominant 84-62 win for the Crimson Tide.

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Alabama head coach Nate Oats said his team wasn’t taking any chances overlooking Ole Miss ahead of a matchup with Kentucky, and the Crimson Tide certainly did not.

After a somewhat slow start, Alabama reclaimed the lead against the Rebels early on and had control until the end on the way to a dominant 84-62 victory inside Coleman Coliseum Tuesday night.

"If you're planning on competing for an SEC championship, you've got to take care of your home games," Oats said after the game. "We got the one tonight."

Alabama's depth was again on display against Ole Miss. Even with Nimari Burnett out with injury, Alabama still played a 10-man rotation with nine players scoring and four players finishing in double figures.

"Oats did a good job building this team because we all feed off each other," said Alabama freshman Brandon Miller.

Miller once again led Alabama in scoring with 17 points and also had five rebounds. Mark Sears added 16 and Jaden Bradley had 14. Miller had a few highlight moments including an alley oop from Rylan Griffen and a nearly half-court shot right before the shot clock went off on a possession late in the second half. 

Alabama built up to a 27-point lead in the second half before the Rebels went on a 19-7 run to cut the lead to 15 points. Miller's long 3-pointer ended the run, and any slim hope Ole Miss had of coming away with a win. 

"We've got to do a better job closing games with a lead," Oats said. "That is a good spot to be in though where you've got to worry about closing games with a lead, but happy with the guys effort."

One of Alabama’s biggest struggles this season has been turnovers, and for the first time all season, the Crimson Tide turned it over less than 10 times, finishing with just seven turnovers.

Alabama improves to 12-2 (2-0 SEC) and will face Kentucky at home Saturday at noon on ESPN.

How it happened...

Live Updates

(latest updates at the top)

Second Half

FINAL: No. 7 Alabama , Ole Miss 62

• 0:37- Alabama's walk-ons check in with the Crimson Tide holding an 81-61 lead. 

• Alabama had about three seconds on the shot clock out of the break, and Miller rattled in a shot from almost half court to extend the lead to 76-58. He's up to 17 points. 

• 3:58- Alabama is still leading at the final media timeout, but the Rebels have cut the deficit to 15 after trailing by as many as 27 points. 

• 4:21- Ole Miss on a 19-7 run to cut it to 73-58.

• 7:54- Alabama leads 68-44 at the under-8 media timeout. Bradley and Miller tied for the team lead with 14 points each.

• All the fouls being called in this half are completely killing the pace of the game. 21 combined fouls in the second half between the two teams

• 11:52- Alabama leads the Rebels 60-38 at the under-12 media timeout. Bradley will be shooting the back end of an and-1 after the break. 

• 14:30- Five straight points from Quinerly give Alabama a 57-30 lead. 

• Quinerly, Pringle, Gurley and Griffen in for Alabama off the bench. Miller stays in the game. 

• 15:31- The Crimson Tide leads 52-30 at the first media timeout of the second half. A lot more fouls being called this half, already five on Alabama in the first five minutes. 

• 17:27- Miller hits his first 3-pointer to go up 52-27

• Brandon Miller picks up two fouls in the first three minutes of the second half, but didn't have any in the first half. Alabama leads 49-27

• Same starting five as the first half to open the second for the Crimson Tide. (Sears, Bradley, Miller, Clowney and Bediako)

Halftime Notes

• Alabama closed the half on a 9-0 run over the final 3:06
• The Crimson Tide turned the ball over just four times in the first half, an area that has been a struggle a lot this season.
• It was a strong and clean half defensively for the Crimson Tide. Ole Miss shot just 28.6 percent from the floor, and Alabama only committed three fouls. 
• Mark Sears leads Alabama with nine points. 

First Half

HALFTIME: No. 7 Alabama 44, Ole Miss 23

• 0:57- Ole Miss calls a timeout after a layup from Miller. He's up to eight points, and the Crimson Tide is up 41-23. 

• 1:40- An alley oop from Griffen to Miller gets the Coleman crowd on its feet and pushes the Alabama lead to 39-23. 

• 3:53- Alabama leads 35-20 at the final media timeout of the first half. Really solid defensive effort by the Crimson Tide so far. The Rebels are shooting 31 percent from the floor. 

• 7:23- Sears nails a long-range 3-pointer to put Alabama up 31-16. 

• Contrary to my pregame observations, the crowd as filled in pretty nicely at Coleman Coliseum. 

• 7:58- Pringle wrangles in an off-target pass to lay it in and is fouled. He will be at the line after the media timeout with Alabama leading 28-16.
• It's been pretty balanced scoring from Alabama so far with eight different players in the scoring column. 

• 8:39- Kermit Davis takes a timeout for Ole Miss after Gurley hits a 3-pointer. Alabama leads 26-16

• 9:17- Brandon Miller gets his first bucket of the game on a drive to the paint. Alabama leads 23-14

• Nick Pringle checks in for the first time after the second media timeout. 

• 10:30- At the under-12 media timeout, Alabama leads 19-12. Noah Gurley has four points for the Crimson Tide, and the last basket was a nice assist from Welch to Griffen for a 3-pointer. 

• 13:32- Noah Clowney sinks Alabama's first 3-pointer of the game to give the Crimson Tide a 12-8 lead.

• Dom Welch, Jahvon Quinerly and Noah Gurley are the first players off the bench for Alabama out of the break coming in for Miller, Sears and Bediako. After Bradley makes both his free throws, Rylan Griffen comes in for him. Alabama leads 9-8. 

• 13:57- At the first media timeout, Ole Miss leads 8-7. Neither team shooting well from the floor so far. Alabama already has three blocks on defense. Jaden Bradley will be at the line shooting two free throws after the break. 

• 19:35- Charles Bediako lays it in on Alabama's opening possession to give the Crimson Tide the early 2-0 lead. 

• Alabama wins the opening tip, and this game is underway. 

Pregame

• Tonight's officials: Bart Lenox, Rob Rorke, Ron Groover

Starting lineups

Alabama

• Jaden Bradley- G

• Mark Sears- G

• Brandon Miller- F

• Noah Clowney- F

• Charles Bediako- C

Ole Miss

• Matthew Murrell- G

• TJ Caldwell- G

• Jaemyn Brakefield- F

• Myles Burns- F

• Jayveous McKinnis- F

• The combination of rough weather around the state with students still being on Christmas break is creating a slimmer crowd in Coleman Coliseum tonight. 
• After playing his first game for the Crimson Tide last time out against Mississippi State, Dom Welch is going through warmups. 
• Darius Miles, who was out last game with a personal matter, is not with the team during warmups. 

How to Watch Ole Miss at Alabama

Who: Ole Miss (8-5) No. 8 Alabama (11-2)

When: 8 p.m. CT, Tuesday

Where: Coleman Coliseum.

TV: SEC Network

Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart; Analyst: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Last Meeting: Junior guard Jaden Shackelford scored a career-high 30 points on the strength of a career-high-tying eight 3-pointers leading Alabama to an impressive 97-83 win on Feb. 9, 2022. The Crimson Tide shot single game season-best marks of 60 percent (36-of-60) from the field and 63.6 percent (14 of 22) from beyond the arc. Alabama also had a season-high 23 assists on its 36 made baskets. Shackelford knocked down 8-of-13 3-pointers to lead the charge as four Crimson Tide players recorded double figures in the victory. Freshman JD Davison had 18 points and eight assists off the bench while senior Keon Ellis (13) and graduate transfer Noah Gurley (10) also reached double figures on the night. Ole Miss was led by Jarkel Joiner's 33 points.

Last time out, Alabama: The Crimson Tide opened SEC play last Wednesday with a 78-67 victory at Mississippi State. Alabama had four players score in double-figures, led by Mark Sears with a game-high 20 points. Brandon Miller recorded his second straight double-double and third of the season scoring 19 points to go along with 11 rebounds against the Bulldogs.

The Crimson Tide used a 7-0 run early in the second half to take their first double digit lead of the game (47-36) with 14:46 left in the game. The Tide's offense continued to find its rhythm throughout the second half, jumping out to a 17-point lead (70-53), its largest lead of the game with just over five minutes left in the game. The Bulldogs were able to climb back and cut the Tide's lead to single-digits with 2:38 left in the game but Alabama was quickly able to regain its double-digit lead and come away with the victory.

Last time out, Ole Miss: Ole Miss was able to keep pace with the visitors throughout the second half and got to within two points with one minute to play, but came up short against No. 7 Tennessee 63-59 on Wednesday at the SJB Pavilion. Jaemyn Brakefield led Ole Miss with a season-best 18 points, going a perfect 4-4 from the 3-point line. The junior became just the eighth Rebel in school history to shoot a perfect 100 percent from 3-point range in a game with a minimum of four attempts, which was last accomplished by Devontae Shuler when he went 5-5 on Dec. 10, 2020 against Jackson State. For the fifth time this season, Myles Burns led the team in rebounds with six. Amaree Abram chipped in 10 points for the Rebels coming off the bench.

Alabama leaders:

• Scorer: Brandon Miller (19.3)
• Rebounder Noah Clowney (8.8)
• Assists Jahvon Quinerly (4.1)

Ole Miss leaders:

• Scorer: Matthew Murrell (14.8)
• Rebounder: Myles Burns (6.8)
• Assists: Matthew Murrell (2.5)