Alabama’s men’s basketball team will travel to Starkville, Miss., on Wednesday, Jan. 16 to battle the Mississippi State Bulldogs.
Mississippi State (7-7, 2-0 SEC) has won four of its last five contests, while Alabama (9-6, 1-1) has gone 2-3.
This meeting will be the 189th game between the two teams, and it is the most games the Tide has played against any opponent in program history. Alabama owns a 115-73 edge in the series, but the Bulldogs claim a 54-36 record when the teams meet in Starkville.
Head coach Anthony Grant praised Mississippi State for its hot Southeastern Conference start and the complexity of its defensive schemes.
“They’re 2-0 in the league, and obviously, that gets your attention right away,” Grant said. “What stands out to me is the way that they defend. They’re a very dangerous team because they can throw a variety of defenses at you that you’ve got to deal with. They’re playing with a lot of confidence and freedom right now.”
The Tide is coming off a thrilling victory over Tennessee, and Grant wants his team to feed off the win when it travels to Starkville.
“For our team, coming off a good win at home against Tennessee, we’ve got to take the momentum and the experiences and the things that we learned from that game and try to carry it over as we go on the road,” Grant said.
But Alabama might be without star point guard Trevor Releford on Wednesday. Grant said the junior was doubtful because of an ankle injury he suffered at practice on Monday.
“We hope that Trevor is able to go. I’ll find out today at practice his status in terms of where he’s at after [Monday],” Grant said. “Right now I list him as questionable and doubtful, but we’ll evaluate that as we go through the day.
“If he’s unable to go [Trevor] Lacey will play more point guard, Retin [Obasohan] will have an opportunity to come in and play some point, and Levi [Randolph] could end up handling the ball some at the point guard spot. I think we’ve got a variety of guys that are capable of going in there and doing a good job for us.”
Releford was averaging 20.5 points per game in Alabama’s two SEC games this season. He was also leading the Tide in field goal percentage (54.2 percent) and minutes per game (35.5).
Sophomore guard Levi Randolph said the team is prepared to substitute for Releford’s absence because of the way it has practiced.
“We play different roles in practice, so I think practice kind of prepares [us] for having different people at different spots,” Randolph said. “Just playing those games early in the season without him has helped us, and I think we’ll be OK.”
The game tips off at 8 p.m. in Humphrey Coliseum and will be televised on CSS.
