Weatherspoon Scores 20, Men’s Hoops Falls to Alabama, 90-69

Wednesday, January 8

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

6:00 PM

Mississippi State

9-5 (0-2SEC)

Alabama

8-6 (1-1SEC)

Mississippi State

Alabama

Weatherspoon Scores 20, Men’s Hoops Falls to Alabama, 90-69

January 08, 2020 | Men's Basketball

Box Score WATCH: Postgame Presser Box Score (PDF)Quotes (PDF)

by Mikaela Elizondo, Graduate Assistant/Communications

TUSCALOOSA, Alabama – Nick Weatherspoon poured in a season-high scoring output with a game-leading 20 points, but the Mississippi State men's basketball team suffered a 90-69 setback to Alabama during Wednesday's SEC road opener at Coleman Coliseum.

The Bulldogs (9-5, 0-2 SEC) have dropped their first two SEC contests for the second consecutive season. Mississippi State was able to rip off 10 conference wins and returned to the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2008-09 a season ago.

Weatherspoon's 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting was his second-highest scoring performance of his career, just two shy of his career-best of 22 which came against No. 22 Arkansas on Jan. 2, 2018. He registered 14 of his 20 points during the second half coupled with four rebounds and two assists.

Reggie Perry and Robert Woodard II pumped in 14 points apiece. Perry grabbed five boards, handed out two assists and recorded two steals, while Woodard II hauled down nine rebounds which brought him one shy of his fourth double-double of the season.

Tyson Carter worked his way to nine points and secured two assists. The nine points enabled Carter to move past W.D. Stroud (1961-62-63) and into a tie for 32nd place with Tyrone Washington (1996-97-98-99) on MSU's all-time list.

Iverson Molinar added seven points whereas Abdul Ado and D.J. Stewart Jr. rounded out the scoring for the Bulldogs with three points and two points, respectively. Ado collected eight rebounds and pair of blocks.

For the contest, MSU hit 26-of-69 shots from the field (37.7 percent), 4-of-15 shots from 3-point range (26.7 percent) and 13-of-21 shots from the foul line (61.9 percent).

Alabama (8-6, 1-1 SEC) held a 42-38 rebounding advantage. The Bulldogs had nine assists and 11 turnovers, while the Crimson Tide had 14 assists and 10 turnovers.

Alabama shot 28-of-57 overall (49.1 percent), 10-of-24 on three-pointers (41.7 percent) and 24-of-34 at the charity stripe (70.6 percent). The Crimson Tide had five players in double figures and received 18 points and six rebounds from John Petty Jr. followed by 17 points, eight rebounds and four assists from Kira Lewis Jr.

FROM THE BENCH WITH COACH HOWLAND
"Alabama was really hard to defend tonight. We had a hard time staying in front of the ball. They really hurt us in transition. There were times we weren't communicating well enough, especially early in the game. I give them credit, [Kira] Lewis [Jr.] and [John] Petty [Jr.] were terrific, as they have been all year long. They run a style where Lewis is really able to penetrate and create so much by his quickness and speed. It makes it very difficult because they spread you out so wide."

"[Alex] Reese is a really hard guy to match up with because he spaces the court so well. We have to knock down all the shots. We got some good looks in the second half. We need to execute better offensively. Their defense definitely caused our problems. That's two games that in a row now that we haven't shot about 40 percent after really having a good field goal percentage and efficiency rating coming into the conference. Again, give Alabama credit, they are a really good team. They really spread the floor out and have good shooters."

"I talked a lot yesterday before we played this game about using the shot fake because everyone is playing him [Tyson Carter] for the three. He had some good looks tonight that he missed, but he'll come out of it. He's a shooter. He shoots well. He's just got to fight through it mentally. This happens sometimes. I thought he did a very good first half, and he ended up playing a lot of minutes for us."

MOMENTS THAT MATTERED
Mississippi State grabbed a 5-2 edge with 16:54 remaining behind four quick points courtesy of Reggie Perry who drained a three-pointer for the Bulldogs first basket.

Alabama answered with 11 consecutive points of its own over the next 2:52 off the clock. The flurry was capped by a traditional three-point play from James Bolden to make it 13-5 with 13:33 to go.

Trailing 22-14 at the 9:36 mark, the Bulldogs dialed up 14 of the next 19 points over a 4:56 span to regain a 28-27 advantage with 4:19 left. Tyson Carter ignited the rally with a trey and a pair of transition layups.

The Crimson Tide fired back with 11 of the next 13 points to regain an eight-point edge, 38-30, with 2:10 remaining. Alex Reese drove baseline for a one-hand dunk to highlight the run.

Alabama would take a 42-34 lead into the locker room. Perry headlined the Bulldogs with nine points during the opening 20 minutes.

The Crimson Tide kept the momentum out of the locker room and extended their lead to 51-36 during the opening 2:46 of the second half.

Down 56-44 at the 14:26 mark, Robert Woodard II canned a trey coupled with back-to-back Nick Weatherspoon layups. The second layup resulted in an old-school three-point play which pulled the Bulldogs within 58-52 with 13:06 to go.

Six points would be the closest Mississippi State would get as Alabama picked up 12 of the next 13 capped by consecutive triples from Kira Lewis Jr. and John Petty Jr. to balloon the margin to 70-53 with 8:11 left.

The Crimson Tide's largest lead was 23 points inside the game's final minute as Alabama clinched the fifth straight victory for the home team in the all-time series.

UP NEXT
Mississippi State caps a two-goad road trip with a stop at LSU on Saturday. Tip time is on-tap for 7 p.m. CT from the Pete Maravich Assembly Center. The game will be televised by ESPN and carried online courtesy of the Watch ESPN platform.

Visit www.HailState.com for the latest news and information on the men's basketball program. Fans also can follow the program on its social media outlets by searching 'HailStateMBK' on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.