STARKVILLE, Miss. – The No. 18/18 Alabama men’s basketball team erased a 14-point first half deficit, and came back to defeat Mississippi State, 97-82, Tuesday night in Humphrey Coliseum. The Crimson Tide outscored the Bulldogs, 61-48, in the second half on its way to securing its first Southeastern Conference road win of the season. 

The Crimson Tide (12-5, 2-2 SEC) was led by Labaron Philon Jr., who scored a career-high 32 points, while Aiden Sherrell also collected a career best output with 22 points to go with five boards and a pair of blocks. Amari Allen added 13 points and 13 rebounds to earn his fourth double-double of the year. 

Mississippi State (10-7, 2-2 SEC) was led by Josh Hubbard’s 23 points in the losing effort. 

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments 

“Big road win and Mississippi State has been playing well lately. They were ahead of us in the league and they beat Texas, who we just lost to, and they have the leading scorer in the league (Josh Hubbard) who is a super talented player. For us to come in here and figure out a way to get a road win with the number of bodies we had tonight shows a lot about who our guys are and the character they have and how hard they play. I couldn’t be more proud of the group and for eight guys to go the bulk of the minutes.

Labaron (Philon Jr.) and (Aden) Holloway both played significantly better on defense, which we challenged them to do, and they did a good job with Hubbard only having five in the first half. He got loose in the second half and finds a way to get his points but by the time he got going, we had a 20-point lead. I tell they guys we are facing adversity and it makes you better.”  

Team Stats 

• Alabama won for the ninth consecutive time against Mississippi State and the fourth straight victory over the Bulldogs in Starkville
• After Mississippi State jumped out to a 15-point lead (29-14) at the 7:12 mark of the opening half, Alabama went on to outscore the Bulldogs 83-53 the remainder of the contest
• The 97 total points scored by the Tide was the most points Alabama has scored at Mississippi State under head coach Nate Oats
• The Crimson Tide finished with an SEC single-game low of just five turnovers, matching its single-game low for the season (twice, vs. Yale and vs. UTSA)
• Alabama outrebounded Mississippi State 47-43 while adding 14 assists on 29 made field goals
• The 15-point win is the largest margin of victory at Mississippi State for head coach Nate Oats, and the largest since the 2012-13 season (won 75-43)

First Half  

• Mississippi State jumped out to a double-digit lead less than eight minutes into the contest and held a 14-point lead (29-15) with 8:13 left in the half
• Alabama responded by closing the last eight minutes of the half on a 21-10 run, taking the 36-34 lead into halftime
• Labaron Philon Jr. led all scorers with 12 points in the first half
• State had nine offensive rebounds which led to 10 second chance points

Second Half  

• The Crimson Tide came out hot, jumping out to its first double-digit lead of the game at 47-36 with 18:04 remaining, forcing a MSU timeout
• Philon Jr, took over in the second half, scoring 20 points, while Sherrell added 14
• Alabama’s largest lead of the game was 22 points (81-59) with 8:17 left in the game
• The Tide finished the stanza by putting up 61 points while shooting 50.0 percent (17-of-34) from the floor, 43.8 percent (7-of-16) from beyond the arc and 83.3 percent (20-of-24) from the free throw line

Up Next

• Alabama will conclude a two-game road trip, traveling to Norman to take on the Oklahoma Sooners on Saturday, Jan. 17
• Tipoff is set for 12 p.m. CT inside the Lloyd Noble Center and can be seen on SEC Network