Alabama basketball narrowly escaped last time it played Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide went to Starkville and let Bulldog guard Josh Hubbard go for 38 points, but managed to win the game 88-84.

The two teams face off again on Tuesday, this time in Tuscaloosa. During his Monday press conference, UA head coach Nate Oats emphasized the need to do better on Hubbard.

“We didn’t play particularly well,” Oats said of the first game against MSU. “Particularly on the defensive end, especially with Hubbard. He dropped 38 on us. Giving up too many career highs to guys. Gotta find a better matchup, find a better plan, do a better job with him, because he killed us.”

The Bulldogs enter the game ranked No. 24 nationally. Mississippi State is coming off a loss to Oklahoma.

Hubbard isn’t the only player to pick up a career scoring high against Alabama this season. Mark Mitchell did it recently, putting up 31 in Missouri’s win against the Tide, but the trend dates back to when Treysen Eaglestaff of North Dakota scored 40 in December.

“I would hope that there’s a sense of urgency to not give Hubbard another career high,” Oats said. “Maybe we’ll get somebody else(‘s career high) in the SEC Tournament, NCAA Tournament, who knows? But yeah, 38 is far too many so we gotta get anybody that’s matched on him to do a significantly better job than what they did the first time.”

Alabama bounced back from two consecutive losses to beat Kentucky on Saturday. The Crimson Tide is unlikely to win an SEC regular season title this year, but still has seeding for the SEC and NCAA tournaments on the line during its last four games.

Oats has been frustrated with his team’s defense at times this season, but said he hoped the Tide wouldn’t give up the same production to Hubbard. However, he was careful not to put an overemphasis on the guard, with Mississippi State bringing several other scoring threats to Tuscaloosa.

“Are our guys smart enough to make the right personnel adjustments and not let somebody else get off?” Oats said. “You can always make sure somebody doesn’t score. Steph Curry, somebody played a triangle-and-two, and put two guys on him the whole time when he was in college.

“He didn’t score, but the team got drilled. You can always make sure somebody doesn’t score, but you can’t swing the pendulum that far. You’ve got to make it tougher on him without making it too easy for the rest of the team, they have some other guys that are more than capable of scoring.”

Alabama and Mississippi State are scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. CT Tuesday. The game will be aired on ESPN2.