By Kenneth Cross
NASHVILLE – The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide wasted little time in showing the college basketball world how they won the deep and talented SEC in the regular season.
Brandon Miller scored 18 points while the Alabama defense held Mississippi State to 18-of-58 from the floor in charting a 72-49 blowout over the Bulldogs in the opening game of Friday’s SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
Alabama held MSU to only 1-of-13 from three while 13-of-37 three-point shots, themselves.
Early in the Crimson Tide spread the floor in looking for the three as they were 8-of-20 in the first half in pushing out to an 18-11 advantage over the first seven and a half minutes.
In the first half, Mississippi State went 0-for-11 from the floor until Desean Davis made a jump shot to cut the Bulldogs’ deficit to 26-15 with 4:29 left. He made the Bulldogs’ last basket which was a layup at 12:39.
“They had great energy out of the locker room,” said Bulldogs coach Chris Jans. “Kind of punched us in the face. We were playing from behind. Playing uphill all night.”
The Bulldogs needed Tolu Smith to be a factor but he was only 1-of-4 with four points at halftime when he finished as MSU’s leading scorer with 17 points as he made 9-of-10 free throws.
The Crimson Tide scored 19 points off 12 turnovers and Noah Gurley scored 11 points as he led Alabama to a 25-8 margin off the bench.
“Our guys are unselfish, they move the ball and they care about each other,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats. “Only had seven turnovers and I thought out guard did a good job of taking care of the ball.”