No. 4 Alabama men's basketball took down No. 14 Mississippi State 88-84 in a thriller on the road. Unlike most of Alabama's wins, this one was close throughout as the Bulldogs never allowed the Crimson Tide to truly pull away.

Led by Chris Youngblood, the Alabama Crimson Tide might have earned their most impressive win to date this season Wednesday night in Starkville.

Alabama was able to escape Starkville with a hair-raising victory over Mississippi State. Check out the photo gallery!

However, there are less difficult things to do than play a ranked Chris Jans team on the road in a midweek contest. Alabama head coach Nate Oats is aware of this, and he expects the No. 4 Crimson Tide (17-3,

Alabama basketball's Mark Sears wasn't the only one to have a bounce-back game as the Tide had a shootout with Mississippi State's Josh Hubbard.

Alabama star Mark Sears returned to the starting lineup and helped lead the No. 4 Crimson Tide to an 88-84 win at No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday night after he was benched for the entire second half in Saturday's win over LSU.

On Wednesday night, a SEC matchup with a lengthy history will officially be renewed once again, as the Alabama Crimson Tide travel west to Starkville, Mississippi for a Top 25 showdown with the Mississippi State Bulldogs.

It's impossible at this point in the season to name any other conference in college basketball that's been better than the SEC this season. Fo