No. 1 Alabama Set To Take on No. 9 Mississippi State
The No 1 seeded Alabama Crimson Tide will face off against the No. 9 seeded Mississippi State Bulldogs tomorrow at 11 a.m CT. It will be the Tide's opening matchup in the SEC Tournament after receiving a double-BYE as the tournament's top seed. Mississippi State draws Alabama after defeating No. 8 seed Kentucky 74-73.
Alabama defeated Mississippi State twice this season on its way to the SEC regular season championship. The Tide won 81-73 on Jan. 23 at home and defeated the Bulldogs 64-59 on the road on Feb. 27. Both games stayed close throughout with Alabama pulling away as the games wore on.
Alabama will rely on its SEC Player of the Year and SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Herb Jones to guide the Tide to a deep SEC Tournament run. Jones has averaged 10.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.1 assists, 1.7 steals and one block per game throughout his 2020-21 campaign. The Crimson Tide also boasts the SEC Coach of the Year in Nate Oats.
Mississippi State will hope to keep Iverson Molinar hot as the sophomore guard scored 21 points in the Bulldogs' opening round game against Kentucky. Sophomore forward Tolu Smith added a double-double for the Bulldogs with 13 points and 11 rebounds to eliminate Kentucky in the opening round.
Should the Crimson Tide come away victorious tomorrow morning the Tide would faceoff against the winner of No. 4 Tennessee vs. No. 5 Florida on Saturday.
Alabama has not won the SEC Tournament since 1991 and the last time they were the top seed was 2002.
The game will be aired at 11 a.m. CT on ESPN and can be heard locally beginning at 10 a.m. CT on 95.3 The Bear with the Alabama Basketball Pregame Show.