SAD NEWS: Alabama coach has dismissed a player due to the….

The No. 24 Alabama Crimson Tide avoided elimination from the SEC standings on Wednesday by overcoming a scare in Athens. On Saturday, the Tide host a formidable Mississippi State Bulldogs squad at Coleman Coliseum, continuing the hectic schedule.

“This is a big game at home. Hopefully, the venue will be fully booked and buzzing much like it has been. I think the student section has been fantastic, as have our fans. Thus, it is now February. It’s almost the last stretch, and playing well in February is a must if we want to try to win the league. We must begin the month strong. Mississippi State University is an incredible team. In our league, there are just three teams.

They’re capable of beating anybody on any given night because they’re so tough and physical and play defense at an elite level. They’ve got some big time scorers. I believe they’re the only team with two top 10 scorers in the SEC with Tolu [Smith] and [Josh] Hubbard both being in the top 10. Hubbard’s been playing really well for a freshman. Tolu is maybe the best big men in the league, one of the top couple bigs in the league. We’ve got our hands full. We’ve got to be better defensively. We’ve got to have a better start. We can’t plan on getting down 17-2. I think six of our eight SEC games we’ve been down at the first media timeout. We’ve been preaching the starts. We had a better one against LSU and it went obviously really south against Georgia. It’s going to be a tough game. Mississippi State’s well coached, play hard, tough, physical and they’ve got some big time scorers that we’ve got to do a good job on.”