Mississippi State Bulldogs vs Alabama Crimson Tide Match Player Stats On Feb 03, 2024

Mark Sears scored 21 points Saturday night and No. 24 Alabama remained atop the Southeastern Conference by squashing visiting Mississippi State 99-67 in Tuscaloosa, Ala.

Aaron Estrada added 15 points and eight rebounds for the Crimson Tide (16-6, 8-1 SEC), while reserves Jarin Stevenson and Mouhamed Dioubate each tallied 14 points.

Alabama got going after a slow start to hit 44.6 percent of its field goal attempts, connecting on 18 of its first 20 2-point shots.

More impressive was the Tide's defensive effort, which discombobulated the Bulldogs (14-8, 3-6). They limited them to 40 percent accuracy from the field and also forced 18 turnovers that they converted into 27 points.

Tolu Smith III scored a game-high 23 points for Mississippi State, while Shakeel Moore added 13 and Shawn Jones Jr. hit for 10 points. But the Bulldogs' second-leading scorer, freshman guard Josh Hubbard, was held to seven on 1-of-9 shooting.

Mississippi State, which remained winless in true road games, managed to hang around for the first 10 minutes by slowing the pace against the nation's highest-scoring team. But once Alabama got its offense that averages 89.4 point per game in gear, it ran away and hid.

Beginning with Sears' 3-pointer off an Estrada assist at the 8:53 mark, the Tide peeled off an 8-0 run that Stevenson capped with a 3-pointer with 6:59 left to make it 26-16.

But the spurt that decided the game occurred after Smith made two free throws to pull the Bulldogs within 29-22.

Dioubate started the run with a layup and then followed a Sears' 3-pointer with an old school three-point play. It grew from there into an 18-2 avalanche that Stevenson finished with a layup, turning a competitive game into a 47-24 blowout at the half.

It got no better for Mississippi State in the second half. Estrada made a layup at the 13:29 mark to push the advantage to 30 for the first time and Alabama kept rolling. The margin reached 34 twice in the final minute.

--Field Level Media