Alabama Thumps Missouri to Remain Unbeaten in SEC Play

The Missouri Tigers and Alabama Crimson Tide squared off in SEC basketball play on Tuesday night. The Crimson Tide, led by Rylan Griffen and Aaron Estrada, outscored the Tigers by 16 in the second half to win, 93-75.

Mizzou’s Struggles

The Tigers had a promising start to the season, starting 7-2 before a loss to No. 2 Kansas sent the team spiraling. Since the loss to the Jayhawks on Dec. 9, Missouri has gone just 1-7, including Tuesday’s loss to the Crimson Tide.

Missouri has been struggling in SEC play this season, dropping its first three conference games heading into the matchup with Alabama. The Tigers opened their conference slate against Georgia on Jan. 6 with a 75-68 loss. They then went on to play Kentucky just days later, falling 90-77. Mizzou’s most recent game ended with a close loss against South Carolina, 71-69, on Jan. 13.

The road won’t get much easier, with games against four ranked teams still looming on Missouri’s schedule.

Alabama Leads After Tight First Half

The game was kept close in the first half. Missouri took an 8-5 lead in the first few minutes of the game, but never was able to regain the lead after that, even though they kept the game within one or two possessions for much of the game.

At halftime, Alabama led 36-34.

https://twitter.com/AlabamaMBB/status/1747420774950936934

Alabama Pulls Away in Second Half

With just over 13 minutes to play, the Tigers trailed by just one. However, a trio of threes, two of which came from, Rylan Griffen, saw the Crimson Tide begin to pull away. Alabama ended the game on a 21-9 run to advance to 4-0 in conference play with a 93-75 victory.

Free-throw shooting was crucial for Alabama, going 20-for-21 from the charity stripe. In terms of scoring, Griffen scored a career-high 21 points, which was tied with Aaron Estrada for the game-high.

With the win, Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats collected his 200th career win. The Crimson Tide move to 12-5 overall on the season and currently sit atop the SEC standings. Meanwhile, Missouri falls to 8-9 overall and 0-4 in conference play this season.

4-0 start to SEC play 😎#RollTide | #BlueCollarBasketball pic.twitter.com/kFnL4DxCQD

— Alabama Men’s Basketball (@AlabamaMBB) January 17, 2024

Looking Ahead for Both Sides

Alabama will now turn its attention to No. 6 Tennessee for a tough road test in Knoxville on Saturday.

On the other hand, Missouri will take on the Florida Gators on Saturday night from the O’Connell Center. Coverage will start at 7:30PM.