Electric Three-Point Shooting Rockets Alabama Past Mississippi State

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The Alabama Crimson Tide returned home after a road victory at LSU to take on a Mississippi State team that may have been down on its luck as we enter the final two weeks of the regular season, but still posed a threat to topple the Crimson Tide, thanks to star guard Josh Hubbard. The Bulldogs (13-14, 5-9) were looking to right the ship after last Saturday's loss to South Carolina; meanwhile, the Crimson Tide (20-7, 10-4) was riding high on a six-game win streak that saw Alabama vault from ninth in the SEC standings at the beginning of the month to tied for second with two weeks left in the season. Alabama was part of a three-way tie in second with Tennessee (which Alabama lost to earlier in February) and Arkansas (which Alabama defeated last Wednesday). With the Volunteers' loss on Tuesday night to Missouri, the pressure was on Alabama to keep winning in the hunt for a top-four seed in the SEC tournament, with the Tide's matchup with the Vols on Saturday looming large. But first, Alabama had to handle its business on Wednesday night against Mississippi State.

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The Tide was without its star sophomore guard Labaron Philon as he dealt with a short-term injury, but it made no difference in the Tide's scoring output, with Alabama defeating Mississippi State 100-75 behind an electric performance from Amari Allen.

The first half saw Alabama light up Mississippi State from three, led by freshman forward Amari Allen, who had 18 points in the first half on perfect six-for-six shooting from the floor and five-for-five from three-point range. It was the first game that Allen had made more than three three-point shots in a game, and he made five in the first half. He was joined by junior guard Aden Holloway as a double-digit scorer in the first half, with Holloway scoring 14 points on five-for-nine shooting from the floor and three-for-seven from three-point range. Every player who attempted a three-pointer in the first half (except for Jalil Bethea) made at least one three-pointer, contributing to the 16 that Alabama had in the first half, and the 30-point lead the Crimson Tide held. Coming out of halftime, there were two concerns for the Tide: Make sure no one gets injured, and can Alabama carry over the red-hot shooting to Saturday's matchup with the Vols? We'll have to wait to see if the shooting carries over to Saturday's date with Tennessee, but the shooting continued in the second half, as the Tide barrelled toward a record-setting night.

It wasn't quite the 16 made threes that the Tide had in the first half, but Alabama sank six threes in the second half, giving the Crimson Tide 22 total made three-pointers, coming up just short of the program record (25) set against BYU in the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. The poor shooting in the second can be attributed to the Tide taking its foot off the gas, as Alabama led by 39 points with 14:45 left in the game. Eight of the nine players who saw the court for the Crimson Tide made at least one three-pointer.

Alabama Players with Double-Digit Points

Amari Allen: 23 points
Latrell Wrightsell Jr.: 18 points
Aden Holloway: 16 points
Aiden Sherrell: 11 points
Taylor Bol Bowen: 10 points

The victory for the Crimson Tide advances Alabama to 21-7 on the season (11-4 in SEC play). The Tide will travel to Knoxville, Tennessee, for a date with No. 22 Tennessee on Saturday, February 28.

Wyatt Fulton is the Tide 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.