The Alabama Crimson Tide won their ninth straight game on Saturday night, defeating a big, tough, Mississippi State squad by a score of 81-73 in a hard fought contest that went down to the last minute of play before being decided. Bama has grown accustomed to blowing teams out, so a close game should be a great learning tool. The Tide was still without starting center Jordan Bruner - out after knee surgery - but also was without one of his main back-ups, James Rojas to the dreaded “unnamed medical condition.” The Bulldogs are one of the biggest and most physical teams in the league, so Bruner and Rojas were especially missed.