No. 4 Alabama men's basketball took down No. 14 Mississippi State 88-84 in a thriller on the road. Unlike most of Alabama's wins, this one was close throughout as the Bulldogs never allowed the Crimson Tide to truly pull away.

The Alabama Crimson Tide picked up an impressive road win Wednesday night, defeating Mississippi State in Starkville by a final score of 88-84.

Sammy Jackson, 59, was a star basketball player at Headland High School near Dothan who made all-conference playing for the University of Montevallo.

Alabama guard Chris Youngblood led the the Crimson Tide past the Bulldogs 88-84 in front of a hostile Starkville crowd.

Alabama, which is 6-1 in the SEC and only a half-game behind league-leading Auburn (6-0), leads the country in scoring. It leads the conference in rebounds, shot attempts, made 2-pointers and made free throws per game.

However, there are less difficult things to do than play a ranked Chris Jans team on the road in a midweek contest. Alabama head coach Nate Oats is aware of this, and he expects the No. 4 Crimson Tide (17-3,

Mississippi State basketball suffered another loss to a top-10 team, but one of the positives that emerged was Josh Hubbard, who scored 38 points.