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The great escape
Alabama holds off Mississippi State despite some missed free throws -- and a surprising shot. Plus: Maryland's on a roll (and Scott Van Pelt stopped by to discuss), Ole Miss won at Texas, Ace Bailey went off, and there was an upset in the Southern Conference.
Samuel Lance
January 30, 2025
Good morning! On a day with a lot of games, it somehow seemed like a relatively quiet night. Let’s get into what mattered.
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1. Sadness in Starkville
You have to feel for Mississippi State after Wednesday’s 88-84 loss to No 4 Alabama.
The No. 14 Bulldogs trailed by one point with 24 seconds remaining. Alabama’s Grant Nelson missed two free throws, but Bama got the rebound. Then Mouhamed Dioubate missed a one-and-one, and Miss State ran a play that got junior forward KeShawn Murphy and open shot, but he missed the layup with 13 seconds left, which would’ve given Miss State the lead.
After two made Bama free throws, Miss State committed a turnover without taking a would-be tying shot. missed a layup that would have given the Bulldogs the lead, and then Mississippi State lost the ball out of bounds to fall to Alabama, 88-84 in Starkville.
Mississippi State’s sophomore guard Josh Hubbard was excellent with 38 points, the most of any player on Wednesday, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulldogs (16-5, 4-4 in SEC).
Bulldogs coach Chris Jans wasn’t about to dwell on the missed shot, either.
Chris Jans on KeShawn Murphy's missed layup in the final seconds: "We're definitely not going to point to that. It's the first thing I addressed when I walked in the locker room. This ain't on you. There were a million plays in a game like that. There were plays after that.… x.com/i/web/status/1…
— Sam Sklar (@sklarsam_)
5:02 AM • Jan 30, 2025
Indeed. The Tide (18-3, 7-1) played well, shooting 48% from beyond the arc with 15 makes, while outrebounding the Bulldogs by six, good for 1.26 points per possesion. Senior guard Chris Youngblood also had his coming out party, finishing with a team-high 23 points and career-high seven triples. All of them seemed to come at the just the right time.
“I think both sides of the ball, he’s starting to kind of exert his will, his demeanor, his competitiveness,” coach Nate Oats said of Youngblood postgame. “It’s good to see.”
Senior guard Mark Sears responded in a big way after getting benched in the second half on Saturday vs. LSU. He finished with 17 points, nine assists and six rebounds. Senior forward Grant Nelson (15 points) and sophomore guard Aden Holloway (12 points) were the other two players in double-figures.
Oats now has 25 wins against AP Top-25 teams at Alabama. That tied Wimp Sanderson's record for most the AP Top-25 wins in program history. This season alone the Tide have beaten three AP Top-15 teams on the road.
2. Maryland’s rolling, and Scott Van Pelt loves it
Don’t look now, but Maryland is hot and trying to avoid any kind of bubble talk next month.
