Alabama Handles Mississippi State, 80-61

Senior guard Trevor Releford had a game high 28 points on 10-of-13 shooting to lead the Alabama men's basketball team to an 80-61 win over Mississippi State Wednesday night at Coleman Coliseum. Alabama is now 8-8 on the year, 2-1 in the SEC, while Mississippi State falls to 11-5 overall, 1-2 in the SEC.

“I thought from an effort standpoint, we did a really good job,” UA Head Coach Anthony Grant said. “Releford really set the tone with the way he shot the ball tonight. I thought he was tremendous.”

Alabama made 10 three-point shots, which is a season-high. Releford was a big part of that, as he was 6-of-9 from behind the arc. With the 28 points, he moved into 14th on the Alabama all-time scoring list with 1,582 career points. He also led the team with four assists.

Alabama ended the first half on a 9-1 run to give the Tide a 38-26 lead and would never look back. The Crimson Tide had 17 assists on 30 made shots.

Freshman forward Shannon Hale had 12 points on 5-of-9 shooting and is averaging 13.7 points-per-game in SEC play. Hale has shot over 50 percent in five of his last six games. Sophomore guard Retin Obasohan had 11 points to go along with a team-high three steals and a career-high four blocks. Junior guard Rodney Cooper also had 10 points off of the bench.

The Crimson Tide will return to action this Saturday, Jan. 18, as they go on the road to face the Missouri Tigers. The contest tips off at 1 p.m. CT. The game will be televised by ESPN/ESPN2 and the radio broadcast will be carried by the Crimson Tide Sports Network.