The Alabama Crimson Tide and the Mississippi State Bulldogs meet Tuesday in college basketball action from Humphrey Coliseum. Here’s a Mississippi State vs Alabama prediction. We will look at this from a betting perspective and determine the best Mississippi State vs Alabama pick.
Alabama Crimson Tide Betting Preview
The Tide opened up the season on a pretty spotty 3-2 run amid some tricky competition. Alabama would even themselves out over the next nine games, beating UNLV, Maryland, Clemson, UTSA, South Florida, Kennesaw State, Yale and Kentucky alongside a lone loss to Arizona. Since then however it’s been consecutive losses to Vanderbilt and Texas. That gives the Crimson Tide an 11-5 run over their first 16 games of the season thus far.
In the Texas matchup on Saturday the Tide entered the second half with a one-point deficit 46-45. Alabama was outscored 46-43 the rest of the way, so they didn’t end up getting any closer in a 92-88 home loss. Labaron Philon was the team’s top scorer on 21 points with five assists and Aden Holloway put up 18 points with four assists and three rebounds. Aiden Sherrell chipped in with 13 points and five rebounds in the losing effort as well.
Mississippi State Bulldogs Betting Preview
Over on the Mississippi State side, they limped to a 4-5 record in their first nine games with wins over North Alabama, SE Louisiana, New Orleans and Georgia Tech. Wins over Utah, Long Island U, Memphis, Alabama State, Texas and Oklahoma came next however, ahead of another loss to Kentucky over the weekend. That gives the Bulldogs a 10-6 run in the books over their first 16 games of the season.
Matched up against Kentucky on Saturday the Bulldogs were in the locker room with a 44-39 deficit. Mississippi State was blasted 48-29 the rest of the way, resulting in a relative blowout road loss 92-68 in the end. Josh Hubbard was the team’s leading scorer in the losing effort with 20 points and five assists. Achor Achor managed to double up on 13 points and 11 boards, while Jayden Epps added 13 points and six boards.
Why the Mississippi State Bulldogs will win
- Mississippi State has won seven of its last eight games at Humphrey Coliseum.
- Alabama has lost three of its last four games against Conference opponents.
- Mississippi State has won the first half in four of its last five games at Humphrey Coliseum.
Why the Alabama Crimson Tide will win
- Alabama has won 20 of its last 21 games against non-AP-ranked opponents.
- Mississippi State has lost eight of its last nine night games against AP-ranked opponents.
- Alabama has won the first half in each of its last 10 Tuesday night games as a top-15 AP-ranked team.
Mississippi State vs Alabama Prediction
I’ll stick with Alabama, but you could probably make a case either way. The Tide could use a good bounce-back showing here after falling to Texas over the weekend at Coleman Coliseum. In that defeat, Alabama shot 43.9 percent from the field with a 42-35 rebounding deficit and 70.4 percent (19-of-27) from the line. The Tide gave up 45.5 percent shooting on the other side overall and 41.7 percent (10-of-24) from 3-point range. That makes consecutive losses for Alabama, and in those two games they’ve given up a combined 188 points.
As for Mississippi State, they shot just 15 percent (3-of-20) from 3-point range in their loss to Kentucky on Saturday. The Bulldogs were out-rebounded 32-27 and had a 54-44 deficit in the paint alongside 15 turnovers. Mississippi State had won six straight prior to that defeat, scoring 71 or more points in each of those victories. I wouldn’t be surprised to see them rally at home versus the incoming Tide.