Starkville, Miss. - The Alabama Crimson Tide hit the road late on Wednesday night for a matchup with the Mississippi State Bulldogs in "The Hump". Following the "controversy" on Saturday night in Alabama's 80-73 victory over LSU, the questions were swirling around a potential starting lineup for Nate Oats's squad going into yet another tough SEC road game.

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After four days of deliberation, nothing changed drastically in the starting lineup, with Chris Youngblood making his second career start for Alabama in place of a banged-up Labaron Philon. Even more notable, Mark Sears remained in the starting lineup following his getting benched against LSU in the second half on Saturday. The zero points scored by Sears was just the second time this season he scored no points and the third time in his career.

Sears and the Crimson Tide responded the way Alabama needed them to, earning a strong victory over Mississippi State, 88-84.

Alabama continued a trend it has seen this season, shooting better from three on the road than Alabama does at home. The Crimson Tide shot 48% from three against Mississippi State in the victory.

The Crimson Tide took a five-point lead into halftime, but Mississippi State would not go quietly into the night. The Bulldogs relied on their best player to lead the way in the attempted comeback over No. 4 Alabama - as Josh Hubbard set a new career-high in points with 38 points.

Despite having more turnovers than Mississippi State by five, the Crimson Tide did a good job limiting points for Mississippi State on turnovers. Alabama also shot a better three-point percentage than Mississippi State in the second half. Alabama shot 67% from three in the second half in the slim victory.

Defensively, however, Alabama had no answers, allowing 45 points by the Bulldogs in the second half.

One of the biggest concerns for Alabama this season so far has been free-throw shooting, and it almost cost Alabama a top-15 win on Wednesday. The Crimson Tide missed three free throws when it had a chance to ice the game with a one-point lead. Thankfully for Alabama, Chris Youngblood made two of his free throws and Grant Nelson made one at the end of the game to finish off Mississippi State.

Alabama ended the game, making four of five field goals to send Mississippi State packing.

Alabama Stat Leaders

Points: Chris Youngblood - 23
Rebounds: Mouhamed Dioubate - 9
Assists: Mark Sears - 9

Alabama Players in Double Digit Points

Chris Youngblood - 23 points
Grant Nelson - 15 points
Aden Holloway - 12 points
Mark Sears - 17 points

Alabama's next game will come on Saturday, February 1, against Georgia inside Coleman Coliseum.

Wyatt Fulton is the TIde 100.9 DME and Brand Manager, primarily covering Alabama Crimson Tide football and men's basketball. For more Crimson Tide coverage, follow Wyatt on X (Formerly known as Twitter) at @FultonW_.

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