Alabama men’s basketball jackhammered Mississippi State Saturday at Coleman Coliseum. The Crimson Tide won 99-67 and after the first several minutes, the Bulldogs were never competitive in the game.

The win maintained the Tide’s hold on first place in the SEC. Alabama moved to 16-6 on the season, 8-1 in conference games.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s blowout.

The run

Alabama had no interest in letting Saturday’s matchup turn into much of a game. The Bulldogs played it close early in the first half, but in the late going, Alabama pulled away.

The Crimson Tide closed the half on an 16-2 run, finishing the first 20 minutes up 47-24. Mississippi State couldn’t get anything going during that time frame and finished without a field goal in the final 5:46 of the first.

UA spread the ball around in the first half. Jarin Stevenson led the team with 11 points, but Alabama had four other players with at least six points.

The stretch to end the half fully doomed the Bulldogs. Mississippi State simply didn’t have a counterpunch, and Alabama was in cruise control by the time the teams headed to the locker rooms.

Tolu time?

Mississippi State’s Tolu Smith is one of the top bigs in the SEC. On Friday before the game, Alabama head coach Nate Oats emphasized how important it would be to limit his effectiveness.

“I think if you look over the course of the year and his career, he probably is the best post-up big in in our league,” Oats said. “He causes some issues that you don’t see with other teams.”

Mixed results on that front. On the one hand, Smith finished the game with 23 points, though he fared less well on the boards, grabbing five rebounds.

On the other, Smith wound up being the Bulldogs only viable threat. He had nearly no impact on the momentum of the game either, given how poorly Mississippi State played on defense.

Alabama might not have stopped him. But the Tide made sure what he did didn’t matter.

Statement win

The Bulldogs weren’t one of the top teams in the SEC entering Saturday’s game, coming in with a 3-5 conference record. However, Chris Jans’ bunch wasn’t a slouch either, with league wins over Tennessee and Auburn.

Mississippi even played Alabama tight in Starkville during the first matchup of the home-and-home series. Not so on Saturday.

Alabama was favored, but the Crimson Tide left no doubt which was the better team. SEC play will continue to be tough, but UA has set itself up for success in its stated goal of winning the conference in the regular season.

The question now is whether the momentum will continue into Wednesday. The Crimson Tide is traveling to one of the toughest road environments on its schedule, with Auburn looking to avenge its January loss in the Iron Bowl of Basketball.

The Wednesday matchup is scheduled to tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT. It will be aired on ESPN.