Brandon Miller could have just let those two points get away, but that’s not the attitude of this Alabama basketball team.

Every field goal is going to be contested from here on out, and every moment on defense inside Coleman Coliseum now feels something like therapy and a thank you. The students and fans are standing with this team, and helping how they can. That was the message they delivered on Wednesday at Coleman Coliseum, and the team’s effort matched the magnitude of the moment.

Like he has done so many times this season, Miller delivered the signature expression of his team’s experience. He has had plenty of highlights already, but Miller’s chase-down block during Alabama’s 66-63 victory against Mississippi State is the one NBA general managers will remember when draft night comes around.

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Alabama will remember this one differently, though. It was the first home game for the basketball team since the shooting death of Jamea Harris and the murder charge against former Alabama basketball player Darius Miles.

The block came after a mistake by Charles Bediako, who found himself in some trouble with 13 minutes left in the second half of Alabama’s eighth game of the conference schedule. Mississippi State was leading 45-39. Alabama finished the 2021-22 regular season with a record of 9-9 in conference play, losing its first game against Mississippi State, but the heart of this team is made of different stuff. Miller had Bediako’s back.

It was time to cover for his teammate.

It was time to deliver some defensive thunder to go along with all of his electricity on offense.

When players are trapped on the wing or near the corner on defense, they’re taught to kick it back to the top of the key. Bediako tried, but Mississippi State’s Dashawn Davis anticipated the decision and picked it off like a cornerback in football jumping a route. It was a poor pass into traffic, and Davis ran through the steal in stride with a direct path to the basket.

It was a critical play inside a desperate game for Mississippi State, which has a pretty good team this season but doesn’t have much to show for it so far except a solid NET ranking of 62. Alabama is No.3 in NET behind Houston and Tennessee, so a victory for State would have been like a golden ticket for the Bulldogs on Selection Sunday.

Yeah, but no.

Not on this night.

Not against this Alabama.

Not with The Wolf Brandon Miller chasing from behind.

Miller, risking injury, pinned Davis’ layup attempt against the glass. He then came down awkwardly, legs splayed, on account of having to duck his head to avoid the backboard. He’s 6-9 and a shooting guard. He leads the conference in points per game (19.5), three-pointers (64) and three-point shooting percentage (45.1). All that’s great, but it’s the block on Wednesday night in January that could be the difference between going second in the draft and eighth.

And it’s certainly the type of play that could be the difference maker in Alabama being the No.1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament and winning the SEC regular season championship.

The Wolf isn’t letting this team go without and after Miller’s block the Crimson Tide wasn’t losing to Mississippi State despite trailing by double digits in the first half.

Alabama (18-2, 8-0 in SEC play) has won a lot of games this season, but this one was like the lodestone for things magnetic. There will be moments in March decided by effort plays and the cold length of fangs. How Alabama continues to play so well after everything that has happened is something hard for me to understand, but there is no denying the bond between these teammates is uncommon. The basketball fan in me wants to be drawn to the power of this season yet I cannot help but feel sadness pulling me away from the excitement surrounding a historically great team.

Processing the sudden enormity of these days for Alabama has been a challenge over the last few games. Miles was charged with the shooting death of 23-year-old Harris on Sunday, Jan.15. My heart aches for her family. A GoFundMe page has been set up for Harris’ five-year-old son.

How am I supposed to feel about games when weighed against life and death? For students at Coleman Coliseum, the game on Wednesday seemed almost like a balm for what hurts. I salute the student section for packing the house and showing up early. A team, and a community, needs everyone’s support in all ways.

Alabama has now played, and won, three games since Harris’ death. The victory against Mississippi State represented the first home game for Alabama since the shooting that took her life.

I’ve had the great privilege of covering some excellent basketball teams in my career, and this is one. I know the pain of great tragedy, too. Putting these two things together is a shock to the order of everyday life. It’s easy when everything lines up on the level. The measure of us all comes when things are no longer flush.

There is a mountain range stuck in the middle of this season for Alabama like the Continental Divide, and I will not be the journalist who tries to ignore it. The death of Harris near campus chases after this team, and the University of Alabama, like a shadow.

Miles was charged with capital murder. He screamed out through tears the words “I love you more than you know” as he was being transferred by police from one facility to another. So many questions remain unanswered about that night. Coach Nate Oats, with the help of athletics director Greg Byrne and others, has remained strong in the face of devastation. His players are coping together on the court and in locker rooms.

Other teams in the SEC have felt the weight of Alabama’s season, too. Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse, a veteran of the NBA who coaches only because he loves helping young men, said he couldn’t “fathom that we even played this game” after Alabama’s win against the Commodores. That was Alabama’s first game following Harris’ death. The game against Oklahoma on Saturday in Norman will be the fourth.

This might be the best team in the history of Alabama basketball, and it also might be the most tragic. It’s a season like no other, and nothing can block the burden of truth.

Joseph Goodman is a columnist for the Alabama Media Group, and author of “We Want Bama: A season of hope and the making of Nick Saban’s ‘ultimate team’”. You can find him on Twitter @JoeGoodmanJr.