Alabama will have to beat Missouri for a shot at the SEC Tournament championship. The four-seed Tigers knocked off No. 5 Tennessee, 79-71, in the quarterfinals on Friday afternoon.

About half an hour before tipoff in Bridgestone Arena, the Tide punched its ticket in a 72-49 blowout over Mississippi State. Alabama committed a season-low seven turnovers and improved offensively compared to its recent play. Both the Tide and the Tigers will have a quick turnaround for tomorrow’s 12 p.m. CT start on ESPN.

Guard D’moi Hodge scored 24 points in the winning effort, hitting four 3-pointers in 34 minutes. Huntsville native Kobe Brown, who missed the first game against Alabama with an ankle injury, contributed 24 points and nine rebounds.

“I’m excited,” Brown said. “I hate that I had to miss the first game but the situation was what it was and coach made his call so I had to respect it.

“I just come in and play with the team, whatever (the defense) gives me. I try be as versatile as possible so I try to do whatever the defense allows me to do.”

Alabama blew out Missouri in the team’s lone meeting this season. Forty-nine combined points from Mark Sears, Noah Clowney and Brandon Miller were enough to build a 10-point halftime lead which doubled into an 85-64 final in Mizzou Arena. The Tide converted 25 free throws.

“We had different guys step up. …(Rylan Griffin) makes three 3s when we need it. Hit the big one in the second half when it was starting to get uncomfortably close in my opinion,” Oats said after the Jan. 21 matchup. “…Brandon didn’t score, I mean, you say Brandon didn’t score a ton he still ends up with 15 points, that’s pretty good for most guys.”

Played a week after the Jan. 15 fatal shooting on the Tucaloosa strip which involved three players, — former player Darius Miles and Michael Davis were indicted in capital murder charges during the Tide’s early game — Oats praised Missouri for removing a fan who appeared to yell something related to Miles’ arrest from the Tigers’ student-section.

The winner of tomorrow’s contest will face either Arkansas, Texas A&M, Vanderbilt or Kentucky.

“It’s gonna be different,” Missouri guard Sean East II said. “Also, they going to have to prep for us a little bit more and then we’re going to show what we learned since we played them.

“They’re a fast-paced team. They like to get up 3s. They set a lot of ball screens with peels. They actually rebounded well too, they got (Noah) Clowney, a few other people down there that’s pretty good post players. We just gotta play our game and limit everything we can.”

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