When Alabama visits Ole Miss Wednesday night in the teams’ only regular-season matchup in Southeastern Conference play, both schools will be looking for a better offensive output than the previous one.
Currently descending in the SEC standings, the Crimson Tide (14-9, 4-6 SEC) lost their second straight game against a ranked team Saturday, falling 66-55 to No. 5 Kentucky.
One of the nation’s leaders in three-point attempts, Alabama put up 30 shots from long distance against the streaking Wildcats. However, only three found the mark — just 10 percent efficiency.
“It was a frustrating shooting night for us. It’s hard to win games going 3 of 30 from three,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “I thought we had some good looks.”
The off-night on the offensive end produced a number of season-low benchmarks: fewest points in a game (55), field goals made (18), field-goal percentage (28.1 percent) and threes made (3).
The Crimson Tide’s offense entered the game 12th in the country in scoring but could not make a dent in Kentucky’s defense.
“I thought we played hard on defense for the most part,” said Oats, whose squad lost 100-81 at top-ranked Auburn Tuesday. “Otherwise, we would have gotten blown out, but our offense really failed us tonight.”
Ole Miss (12-11, 3-7) went through a similar cold spell in its road defeat against Florida.
The Rebels led at halftime but could not hold withstand a fierce rally by the Gators in a 62-57 overtime setback.
With Jarkel Joiner (back) returning to the lineup for the first time since Jan. 8, the Rebels held a 30-21 edge at the break and appeared set to tie Florida in the standings.
But coach Kermit Davis’ crew went without a field goal in the first 10:15 of the second half and scored only 18 points in the 20 minutes.
In all, Ole Miss shot 32.8 percent from the field and 27.6 (8 of 29) from deep.
“That was a tough loss,” Davis admitted. “We win that game, then we’re tied with Florida and really think we get ourselves back in the middle of some postseason conversations.”
Alabama owns a 124-58 advantage in a series that dates back to 1921, and has notched four consecutive wins
–Field Level Media
