Alabama 62, #23 Mississippi State 57: Initial Impressions

The Crimson Tide basketball teamed knocked off the #23 Mississippi State Bulldogs early Saturday in Coleman Coliseum. Roll 'Bama Roll reacts with some initial impressions...

• First and foremost, this was a huge win. I stopped just short of calling this a "must-win" in the game preview, but suffice to say our postseason hopes would have been all but dead in the water with a 1-4 SEC start. Not only did we get back into the win column, but we did so by beating a very talented and tough Bulldog squad that was previously undefeated in SEC play.
  
• Before getting into any game specifics, big kudos go out to every single player in an Alabama uniform, from the starters to the walk-ons and injured players on the bench. You know the players had to be extremely frustrated after three straight games of losing a second-half lead. To be honest, I was worried about how they would respond to adversity from this point on, and every single one of them proved my worries unfounded. When Mississippi State went on big runs at the end of the first half and especially in the middle of the second half, I halfway expected the guys to just throw up their hands and say, "here we go again". Instead they responded to both big runs by seemingly turning up the intensity even more and finally finding a way to win a big game late in the second half.
• This may have been the best defensive performance of any Alabama team in the last decade. I know many State fans as well many in the media will just glance at the stat sheet and say, "oh well Mississippi State was just cold." Cold shooting implies you got open shots and just couldn't knock them down. Honestly, other than maybe a half-dozen 3-point attempts (two of which were made), how many open shots did the Bulldogs get? Hardly any. Our guards did exactly what I suggested we needed to do in the game preview, applying tight pressure to MSU's guards on the perimeter, not allowing them space to shoot and instead forcing them to do things out of their comfort zone. The execution on defense in this regard, from all of our guards, was exceptional. We allowed one of the SEC's best sharpshooters, Ravern Johnson, to get off only two 3-point attempts the entire game, and only one of those was a good look. Dee Bost and Barry Stewart got off a combined 11 3-point attempts, but many were rushed and in any case they aren't the shooters that Johnson is. 
• Coach Grant and his staff deserve a lot of credit for the transformation they've made in our defensive performance all year, but they especially deserve credit for the defensive performance turned in by the team in this game. First, the game plan put together for State was as spot-on and effective as Tennessee's was against us in our last game. The staff correctly identified that State's biggest weakness is ball handling (save for point guard Dee Bost). To take advantage of this, the Tide pressed the entire game, which was mostly effective due to relentlessly pressuring Bost off the ball to the point of denying him the in-bounds pass. When Bost was not allowed to dribble at defenders, the MSU offense suddenly became very static, which made it much easier for us to close down the 3-point shooters. Also I noticed that our guards did a tremendous job switching on outside screens which prevented Bost from penetrating the lane on halfcourt sets. Finally, the Alabama defenders, both in the paint and on the perimeter, kept up an impressive level of intensity for the entire 40 minutes and executed the coaches' defensive game plan to perfection.