For the third time this year, Alabama men’s basketball will face Mississippi State.

The nine-seed Bulldogs took down No. 8 Florida on Thursday afternoon in the second round of the Southeastern Conference tournament. The final 69-68 score was decided in overtime after the lead changed multiple times in the final minute of regulation and the extra period.

Mississippi State (21-11, 8-10) led by 14 in the first half, outshooting the Gators in a defensive slog. Forward Tolu Smith led all scorers with 28 points. He also grabbed 12 rebounds as the Bulldogs’ attempted more shots (64 to 62) and made free throws than Florida (17 to 10).

Alabama beat Mississippi State first on Dec. 28, 78-67, in Starkville and again on Jan. 25 in Tuscaloosa, 66-63. The teams’ next meeting will be tomorrow at 12 p.m. CT as the top-seeded Tide (26-5, 16-2 SEC) start the quarterfinal quadruple-header in Bridgestone Arena.

In the initial matchup, Mark Sears led Alabama with 20 points and three assists as the Tide never trailed after halftime. In the rematch, Alabama continued a season-long trend of falling behind by the intermission and storming back midway through the second half. Jahvon Quinerly scored a team-high 14 points with four assists and four rebounds. Coach Chris Jans and co. entered the postseason 7-3 in their last 10 games and holding off the Gators could spark momentum for an upset bid.

“We went right in and just started checking off everything that was wrong,” Oats said after Alabama’s one-possession win in January. “Like, it was so much wrong that we just had the whole list — we were definitely a little animated with some of the screw-ups and why they did it, but it wasn’t necessarily a butt-chewing. I think this team is a pretty mature group that knew they weren’t playing as hard and as well as they needed to.”

Alabama arrived in Nashville, Tenn., on Wednesday. It held practice Thursday morning but did not make coach Nate Oats or players available for interviews. The Crimson Tide enter the postseason amid a slump for 3-point range, which Oats addressed yesterday. (Star freshman Brandon) Miller also made his first comments since the public learned of his involvement in the Jan. 15 fatal shooting of Jamea Harris.

The winner of tomorrow afternoon’s contest will play either 13-seed Ole Miss, five-seed Tennessee or four-seed Missouri on Saturday.

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Nick Alvarez is a reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].