Tolu Smith rubbed his right arm and pondered a question. Why couldn’t eight-seeded Mississippi State upset potentially the best team in the country, let alone Southeastern Conference? The Bulldogs had played Alabama close twice before, nearly upsetting the Tide in January. Smith had just scored a career-high 28 points in the second round of the SEC tournament, too, setting up a quarterfinals rematch.

But Alabama’s star power and depth proved too much for the worn-down Bulldogs. The same Tide team that struggled to end the regular season was left in Tuscaloosa, and Alabama re-emerged in Nashville as the Final Four contender many predicted it could be in its 72-49 rout of Mississippi State at Bridgestone Arena on Friday.

In the last few weeks, Alabama proved it can fend off a lesser opponent when not playing its best. Its defense, ranked fourth in adjusted efficiency on KenPom, has kept the Tide in striking distance after falling into near double-digit deficits for four-straight halftimes. But on Friday, while the defense stayed consistent, Alabama started fast and a few players shot it well from 3-point range. For at least one game, the warning signs that popped up last week were absent.

The 27-5 Tide made four of its first seven attempts from deep, and though it went 1-for-9 to follow up, a nearly seven-and-a-half-minute scoreless stretch by the Bulldogs (21-12) led to a blowout. At the intermission, Alabama had as many 3s (eight) as total Mississippi State field goals.

Minutes before tipoff, coach Nate Oats announced that SEC co-sixth man of the year Jahvon Quinerly would enter the starting lineup for freshman Jaden Bradley. Living up to his moniker of “March JQ” — Quinerly led the Tide to an SEC tournament win two years ago, earning the most-valuable player award — Quinerly orchestrated the offense in the halfcourt and generated fastbreaks.

Quinerly made his first three shots, including a pair of 3-pointers. He dished it inside to Charles Bediako (11 points), who was active throughout the Tide’s 26-6 run before halftime.

Star freshman Brandon Miller grew up about 12 miles away from Bridgestone Arena in Antioch, Tenn., and celebrated his homecoming played like the best talent in the conference would. He hit his first shot after a pump fake and stepback. He wrestled inside, helping limit the Bulldogs’ best player Tolu Smith from ever getting into a rhythm.

Miller finished with 18 points, nine rebounds and five assists. However, Smith, the Bulldogs’ 6-foot-11 leading-scorer, posted 17 points and didn’t score until eight minutes in. Even when Smith snagged one of his 11 rebounds, there was always a white jersey preventing the easy put-back. Aside from Dashawn Davis (13 points), the Bulldogs had no other source for consistent offense.

Like in the team’s initial two meetings, a pair of Tide wins, the rebounding differential was minimal. But a mostly-split crowd watched the Bulldogs score 12 second-chance points of 14 offensive rebounds. Its team field-goal percentage of 31% rivaled its lowest of the year when it made 25.4% against Georgia.

Mississippi State mustered an 8-0 second-half stretch, trimming the margin to 14 while the Tide struggled a bit against the press. But two more 3s, one from Mark Sears on a broken play and another by Noah Clowney, squashed the comeback.

Alabama will await the winner of five-seed Tennessee and four-seed Missouri in tomorrow’s semifinal.

This post will be updated.