Crimson Tide defeats visiting Mississippi State by 5 without Nate Oats

Alabama earns its third-straight win, this time against Mississippi State.

Nate Oats was not present for the latter half of the second half in Alabama’s Wednesday night matchup against the Mississippi State Bulldogs, but that didn’t stop the assistant coaches from making a big difference in their chance without him.

Alabama won 80-75 thanks to a 24-15 run after Oats’ departure, which noticeably fired the Crimson Tide up enough to propel them to victory absent their head coach.

While the Tide only hit six out of 30 on three-pointers, they shot 44.4% from the field overall. Jahvon Quinerly led Alabama in scoring with 21 points, followed by seven-footer Charles Bediako with 15. Jaden Shackelford and Darius Miles each tallied 12 points in the win.

Superstar freshman JD Davison recorded 10 rebounds to complement his seven points.

Defensively, Alabama refused to give the Bulldogs too many substantial looks from the floor in allowing just 36% FG shooting.

The SEC’s leading scorer, Iverson Molinar, led the Bulldogs in scoring with 22 points.

Alabama improves their record to 17-9 (7-6) following the win. They are the winners of three-straight games as the field pushes onward to March in anticipation for the NCAA Tournament.

Next up for Alabama is a road matchup against top-five Kentucky at Rupp Arena in Lexington at 12:00 p.m. CST.

Stay tuned to Roll Tide Wire for all the latest on the Crimson Tide!

Contact/Follow us @RollTideWire on Twitter, and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Alabama news, notes and opinion. You can also follow Layne Gerbig on Twitter @LayneG_29.