Bama Basketball Breakdown: Mississippi State

After the worst performance – especially defensively – of the 2026 campaign, the 18th-ranked Alabama Crimson Tide is now coming off back-to-back losses for the first time this season. Texas was also the first unranked team to best Nate Oats’ squad this year. To be completely frank – that was an ugly, and telling, loss the other night in Tuscaloosa.

Now, the Longhorns have underachieved all season – and, for their part, they absolutely played like a desperate, talented team for the better part of the game. That’s basketball, it happens. However, Alabama climbed all the way back into the game and brought it to a single possession as we took a TV timeout at the under-eight mark of the second half. And then it was like the team decided that was enough, and that Texas deserved a win for their effort. Missed free throws, lack of hustle, dumb shot selection, giving up offensive rebounds, you name it. The Tide did everything they could to lose that game after they spent all night coming from behind.

And it’s not like the Longhorns were just making tough shot after tough shot down the stretch – they played poorly too! Alabama just played even worse and took a really brutal ‘L’ because of it. The defense was bad all night. Why we are going under screens on Jordan Pope as he continues to splash us with threes all night long, I have no idea. As frustrating as the Vandy loss was because the refs basically decided to make the game about them, the Texas loss was just as frustrating because the Tide basically chose to lose that game.

Nate Oats absolutely let them have it after the game too:

We are officially at that point in the season where everyone on this roster needs to decide how good, exactly, they want to be. Because the defense and rebounding efforts just aren’t going to cut it. It seems like everyone on the team is dealing with an injury, but at a certain point, you have to be willing to give 100% or take a night off and let somebody else do so.

We’ll see what this team decides to do.

How to Watch

What: #18 Alabama (11-5, 1-2 SEC) at Mississippi State (10-6, 2-1 SEC)

Where: The Hump, Starkville, Mississippi

When: 8:00 pm CST

TV: SEC Network

Line: Alabama -4.5

Now I’ve got some good news and some bad news for the Tide as they try to figure out how great they want to be this season. The good news is that the upcoming schedule is as manageable as we’ll see in SEC play this year. The bad news is that many Tide teams of the past have made the quick trip over to Starkville on a weeknight only to leave with a loss, and those teams were a lot healthier than this one.

State has had a bit of an odd year. In a league where it seemed like most everyone was likely to regress from their 2025 selves, the Bulldogs looked to be trending upward under Chris Jans. They’ve somehow been able to keep their superstar guard – Josh Hubbard – in Starkvegas, and they were 38th in the country in D-1 Experience coming into the season. It felt like this was the year for them to make the kind of jump Vandy or Georgia has.

Instead, they had one of the worst nonconference showings of any SEC team – losing five games in total and getting completely run off of the floor by Iowa State and Kansas State. They then bounced back and opened SEC play strong with wins over Texas and Oklahoma and looked to have righted the ship a bit. But then a disappointing Kentucky team wiped them off the face of the earth Saturday night in Lexington.

Ultimately, they’ve been really bad at the number one variable in the game – putting the ball in the basket. State is shooting 31.3% from three (270th in the country) and an abhorrent 69.9% from the free throw line – which somehow ranks better than the three-point percentage does nationally (260th in the country). They also have one of the worst Free Throw Rates in the SEC. Although, considering what they are shooting from the stripe, maybe that’s not a bad thing?

Three Keys to Victory

• Limit Josh Hubbard. Hubbard absolutely carries this team. He’s 20th in the country in Usage Rate and 12th in % of Shots Taken for his team. He’s averaging 22.8 PPG on 42.8%/34.6%/81.6% with 3.8 APG. He dropped 38 and 21 points on Alabama last season. Oats has challenged his team to step up defensively – and that really begins with our guards. Well, here’s your shot to prove it, guys. Arguably the best point guard in the league, let’s see what you got, fellas. Pro tip: don’t go under on screens if he starts hitting treys left-and-right.
• Dominate the Three-Ball. As I mentioned earlier, the Bulldogs really can’t shoot the ball well. If it’s not Hubbard, Ja’Borri McGhee (45.2% 3P%), or Jayden Epps (31.2%), it’s likely not going in. Still, it’s basketball – Jordan Pope wasn’t exactly lighting the world on fire prior to our game the other night either. Prevent them from getting into a groove from deep and take advantage of the one area of the game Alabama can count on more often than not – trading twos with threes.
• Play with some Pride. It’s as simple as this, really. Sometimes you just have to get back to the basics and look yourself in the mirror. This Alabama team is good enough to win this league. They are good enough to get back to the Final Four. The quality and depth at the guard position is the best in the country offensively. For all of the Tide’s issues, Alabama is still second in the nation in Offensive Efficiency. And the crazy thing is that it feels like they’ve only scratched the surface of what they could be even from an offensive standpoint. Jalil Bathea and Latrell Wrightsell haven’t really gotten back to their pre-injury selves yet (as an aside, Trelly is doubtful for this game, as is Taylor Bol Bowen). And that’s not even mentioning how much better they would be playing merely average defense consistently!

It seems like every season has a moment where you reach a fork in the road and have to decide which path to take. Alabama feels like they are there right now. Nate Oats has now publicly called for better effort on defense and on the glass, even going as far as to say that his team is “comfortable losing”. If that doesn’t get your attention as a competitor, nothing will.

There’s a lot of basketball left to play this season; hopefully the 2026 Tide Hoops team is ready to make the most of it.