MSU keeps it close but falls at No. 18 Alabama
On the heels of a disappointing loss to Ole Miss earlier in the week, Mississippi State head coach Ben Howland wanted to see his Bulldogs play at No. 18 Alabama with a sense of urgency on Saturday night.
In that regard, Howland got his wish. MSU looked like an inspired bunch. In the end though, the Crimson Tide proved to be too much and the Bulldogs fell 81-73 in Tuscaloosa. Still, Howland could find reason to be positive unlike in the moments following the defeat to the Rebels this past Tuesday.
"I thought our guys really played hard," Howland said. "I thought they played tough. I thought they really battled. We were going after every 50-50 ball with all our might and all our strength. I thought there were a lot of positives today, even though we lost the game on the road against a really good team who's the hottest team in our league."
(CLICK HERE TO WATCH HOWLAND'S FULL POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE)
MSU (9-7, 4-4) was in the game essentially all night long. Alabama (13-3, 8-0) saw its unbeaten Southeastern Conference record very much in danger. It was a one-possession game with the Bulldogs trailing 76-73 with only 32 seconds left. That's when Crimson Tide guard John Petty, Jr., hit the dagger from deep.
"We had a chance there," Howland said. "We're in a three-point game with a minute to go and they make a tough three on us...We had a chance."
State's D.J. Stewart then missed a 3-pointer of his own on the other end and Alabama's Joshua Primo capped the night's scoring with a Crimson Tide dunk.
Primo was one of five Alabama players to score in double figures for the night, led by 17 points from Herbert Jones. MSU was paced by Stewart, who scored a game-high 27 points. Iverson Molinar tallied 19 for State. No other Bulldog scored more than eight.
Still, though no one in maroon and white claimed a moral victory, there did certainly seem to be strides forward from MSU's outing against the Rebels four days prior. Against Alabama, State won the rebounding battle by four. The Bulldogs scored 27 more points against the Tide than they tallied against Ole Miss.
MSU outscored Alabama in the paint and State also was incredibly strong at the free-throw line, knocking down 15 of 17 shots from the charity stripe.
However the difference in the game was Alabama's proficiency from the perimeter. The Crimson Tide attempted a whopping 34 3-pointers. They made 14 of them. Primo, Petty, Jr. and Jones were a combined 10-of-19 from long range.
"It's pretty tough," Stewart said of defending Alabama's shooting. "Give them credit. They knocked down open shots."
Even as Alabama sank its threes, Stewart said there was reason for positivity there, too.
"Our main focus was to be better defensively helping on drives," Stewart said. "That was one of the things that hurt us against Ole Miss. So (Alabama) knocked down shots. Give them credit. But I feel like we played way better defensively this game."
All the positives of course couldn't change the end result. MSU was behind 40-35 at halftime and despite pushing Alabama over the final 20 minutes, the Bulldogs trailed the rest of the way. At the final buzzer, State could basically only hang its hat on its resilience against the tough Tide.
"We had a lot of energy and we kept fighting until the end," Stewart said.
It doesn't change the big picture though. MSU has now lost two SEC games in a row and after a 4-2 start to the league season, the Bulldogs have now fallen to a .500 mark in conference play.
And now, another tough test awaits as State tries to right the ship. MSU is on the road facing the nation's current No. 6 team Tennessee at 6 p.m. central Tuesday.
MSU apparently learned plenty from the loss to Ole Miss leading into the defeat at Alabama. State hopes falling to the Crimson Tide can now spark another boost as they try to put things together and get back on the winning track against the Volunteers.
"We always learn that we can get better," Stewart said. "Just go back to the drawing board and learn from the mistakes that we made."
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