No. 22 Mississippi State at Alabama
When: Tuesday, 7:30 p.m. CT
Where: Coleman Coliseum
Records: Alabama (12-7, 3-3 SEC) Mississippi State (15-4, 3-3 SEC)
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (95.3 FM locally)
The University of Alabama men’s basketball team doesn’t have to worry about the plane on Tuesday night, just the plan.
A delay on Alabama’s charter flight from Tuscaloosa to Waco last Friday kept the Crimson Tide from arriving for an 11 a.m. game against Baylor until a mere 10 hours before tipoff. However, Crimson Tide players said on Monday that it was execution, not aviation, that cost UA in its 73-68 loss — and that must be corrected against No. 22 Mississippi State.
“We talked before the game about needing to rebound against Baylor and then we went out and got outrebounded,” said Crimson Tide senior forward Riley Norris. “So we’ve got to get that corrected at practice and rebound against Mississippi State.”
“If we rebound, we can run,” said junior guard Dazon Ingram. “We think we are one of the fastest teams in the league when we run the break.”
“We track our energy using the Catapult system and our energy was the lowest it has been in three years (against Baylor),” said Crimson Tide head coach Avery Johnson. “Hopefully, we will be rested and ready because we are playing a very good opponent in Mississippi State. Rarely do we see a team that has all five starters back. We know those guys pretty well. They know what they are doing.”
“You can’t mess around with teams like this. Lamar Peters can basically win the game by himself. Then there are the Weatherspoon brothers.”
“We’re a veteran team, too. We’ve just got to get the job done.”
“We know what we have to do,” Ingram said. “They’ve got four of the best guards in the league, so we’ve got to defend and rebound.”
Senior Quinndary Weatherspoon leads Mississippi State in scoring (17.3 points per game, tied for second in the SEC.)
Three other MSU players average double figures in scoring. Peters ranks second on the team at 13.0 ppg, while leading the team and ranking sixth in the SEC with 5.9 assists a game. Senior forward Aric Holman averages 11.4 ppg and the younger Weatherspoon brother, Nick, averages 10.3 ppg.
Reach Cecil Hurt at cecil@tidesports.com or 205-722-0225.
