tide blows state out of the hump
second half shooting was red hot...

      Tide fans learned late Tuesday that Trevor Releford had suffered an ankle sprain and was highly doubtful for last nights road game with State. I wondered if Anthony Grant wondered if the next thing that might happen to his team was a plague of locusts or frogs raining down from the sky. Things looked bleak.  Instead of falling apart Crimson Tide completely dismantled an average State team 75-43. How good or bad State is hardly matters. When you are on the road without your best player who incidently is the point guard you have troubles. Not last night. Last night Alabama rolled up their sleeves, got down and dirty in the paint, and shots lights out to run the Bulldogs off their home floor at The Hump. If you are an old time Tide fan you know understand the trouble that State has inflicted on us over the years in that place  These were certainly not the best two Tide/State teams to play against one another, but it might very well be the best game any Tide team has ever played against the Bulldogs at their place. Show how did Bama turn adversity into triumph?

       Alabama shot 54% for the night, but was 8 of 13 from downtown. The Tide controlled the boards in the first half. Levi Randolph scored 11 points in the first half and carved out a 30-22 lead. The second half opened with Trevor Lacey make 3 treys and the lead was 39-22. That was the end of a 21 point Tide run going back to into the first half. The rout was on. It got to be as much as 34. Most of the second half Alabama was doubling the State score. State wilted in the face of Alabama's full court press.  Those long bombs from Lacey seemed to take the life out of Mississippi State.

       As Alabama turned up the heat with their press, State unraveled. In the second half it seemed if Alabama shot it was going in the basket. State got almost no second half defensive rebounds because there were not to get. This is the team that Tide fans hoped to see from last years recruiting class. Randolph was great. He helped the Tide build the lead along with a strong first half with Jacobs and Cooper.

Grading the Tide:

Randolph A+  star if the game .Bama's best all around player
Jacobs A+ - Whoa, the big horse can get position and score with his right hand
Lacey  A - doesn't shoot enough but when he does
Steele A, although he didn't score much he had six steals which led to baskets
Cooper A-  He was showing us what he can do.
Pollard B - some floor mistakes, he still looks stiff,  three monster dunks were fab
Obasahan - B+  made some nice passes and eliminated a bunch of errors.
Gueye - B - Big man can't score but boy did he intimate people around the basketball. If I were him  I might forget the 15 footers for a while.

Coaching: A+ - that was some real coaching and his work with Jacobs is paying off.


Coaching