Alabama Basketball Falls at Ole Miss, 79-67

The Alabama men’s basketball team fell on the road to Ole Miss Wednesday night, 79-67. Freshman forward Shannon Hale led the team with a career-highs of 27 points and nine rebounds.

Hale’s 27 points came on 7-of-12 shooting from the field (58.3 percent), including 3-of-5 (60 percent) from behind the three-point line. He also set career-best marks at the charity stripe, knocking down 10-of-11 free throws. For Hale, it was his first game with more than 20 points, and his 10th game with double-digit points since the start of SEC play.

Senior Trevor Releford had 16 points and five rebounds. It is his 29th consecutive game with double-digit points going back to last season. Releford now has 1,809 points, which makes him the sixth ever player in UA history to reach 1,800 points and the first since 1993 when James “Hollywood” Robinson accomplished the feat. He’s now only four points shy of Robinson for sixth all-time.

Alabama (11-17, 5-10 SEC) went in to the locker room down 43-28 after Ole Miss (17-11, 8-7 SEC) finished the half on a 13-3 run over the last 5:36. The Tide shot just 31.8 percent (7-of-22) from the field in the first half with nine turnovers.

Alabama trailed by as much as 17 early in the second half, but cut it to six with 6:10 remaining. UA was able to make a game of it by shooting 50 percent (13-of-26) in the second half. However, the Tide would not get any closer.

Junior Levi Randolph had 13 points and a team-high three assists. Ole Miss was led by guard Jarvis Summers who had 20 points.

Jarvis Summers led four Ole Miss players in double figures by scoring 20 points, while Martavious Newby finished with career highs of 15 points and 10 rebounds.

Alabama will return to action on Saturday afternoon when it welcomes the Auburn Tigers to Coleman Coliseum at 2 p.m. CT. The game will be televised on ESPNU.

Saturday's contest will be a special day of recognitions, as the Tide will celebrate the 40th year anniversary of the 1973-74 SEC Championship Team, as it welcomes back players, coaches and staff from that team. In addition, 2014 SEC Legend Eddie Phillips will also be recognized during the first half.