Alabama Men’s Basketball Falls in Oxford

Alabama goes to 19-11 on the year and 11-6 in Southeastern Conference play.

“Uncharacteristically for us we had 14 turnovers in the first half, which was really our demise," UA head coach Anthony Grant said. "They’re a very offensively talented team. They had a lot of guys that were explosive and they really hurt us. We dug a hole for ourselves and it really carried over into the second half.

“They did a good job continuing to attack in the second half,” Grant said. “They had multiple guys step up for them, (Marshall) Henderson is a terrific player, but I thought they got great play out of their bench."

Sophomore forward Nick Jacobs had a career-high 18 points and nine rebounds while sophomore guard Trevor Lacey led the Tide with 19 points to go with seven assists and six rebounds.

Behind by 12 at the half, Alabama trailed by as many as 19 in the second half. The Tide shot 60 percent (9-of-15) from behind the three-point line in the second half to cut the lead down to three points with four seconds remaining. But Mississippi closed the game with a free throw to put the game out of reach.

“I was proud of the way our guys battled through, but unfortunately for us we couldn’t get the win,” Grant said. “Despite the deficit it was good to see our guys continue to compete and play out the whole 40 minutes. It's a tough loss for us, but give credit to Ole Miss, they played extremely well.”

Junior guard Trevor Releford had 16 points before fouling out while sophomore guard Rodney Cooper came away with 12 points and seven rebounds. Rebels guard Marshall Henderson had a game-high 24 points.

The Tide outrebounded Mississippi 41-25, its largest biggest rebounding margin of the year. Alabama also had an advantage in second chance points, 23-7.

For the second straight game, Alabama’s opponent got to the free-throw line more than the Tide with Mississippi going 26-35 from the line, while Alabama went 13-16. The 26 free throws are the most made against Alabama all season. Alabama is 1-8 this season when shooting fewer free throws than their opponents.

Alabama returns to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday, March 9 and will play Georgia at 3 p.m.