Sears leads Alabama against Mississippi State
Alabama Crimson Tide (10-5, 2-0 SEC) at Mississippi State Bulldogs (12-3, 1-1 SEC)
Starkville, Mississippi; Saturday, 8:30 p.m. EST
BOTTOM LINE: Alabama visits the Mississippi State Bulldogs after Mark Sears scored 31 points in Alabama’s 74-47 victory over the South Carolina Gamecocks.
The Bulldogs have gone 6-1 at home. Mississippi State ranks seventh in the SEC with 9.7 offensive rebounds per game led by Jimmy Bell Jr. averaging 2.7.
The Crimson Tide are 2-0 against SEC opponents. Alabama ranks fourth in the SEC with 39.9 rebounds per game led by Grant Nelson averaging 5.5.
Mississippi State scores 75.3 points per game, 1.4 more points than the 73.9 Alabama allows. Alabama has shot at a 49.2% rate from the field this season, 9.9 percentage points higher than the 39.3% shooting opponents of Mississippi State have averaged.
The Bulldogs and Crimson Tide meet Saturday for the first time in conference play this season.
TOP PERFORMERS: Bell is averaging 8.6 points and 8.2 rebounds for the Bulldogs. Josh Hubbard is averaging 14.5 points over the last 10 games for Mississippi State.
Aaron Estrada is averaging 13.3 points, 5.1 rebounds, 3.9 assists and 1.5 steals for the Crimson Tide. Sears is averaging 20.8 points, 3.2 assists and 1.9 steals over the last 10 games for Alabama.
LAST 10 GAMES: Bulldogs: 7-3, averaging 74.9 points, 37.4 rebounds, 15.7 assists, 9.4 steals and 3.4 blocks per game while shooting 46.3% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 66.1 points per game.
Crimson Tide: 6-4, averaging 87.1 points, 40.2 rebounds, 16.4 assists, 7.6 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 46.6% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 75.0 points.
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The Associated Press created this story using technology provided by Data Skrive and data from Sportradar.