Alabama Falters Again in Oxford

Mississippi has rarely played better in recent years than when Alabama comes to town -- and the Crimson Tide has rarely played worse.

Aaron Harper scored a career-high 28 points to lead Mississippi to a 76-57 victory over No. 15 Alabama on Tuesday night at Oxford, Miss., the third straight season the Crimson Tide has been blown out at Tad Smith Coliseum.

“Before you ask, I can’t explain it,” Mississippi Coach Rod Barnes said of his team’s homecourt success against Alabama. “This is a great win to beat a team that was No. 1 in the country.”

Alabama, which fell to 12-4 overall and 2-3 in the Southeastern Conference, couldn’t overcome off nights by both of its stars. Reigning SEC player of the year Erwin Dudley scored 13 points, and leading scorer Maurice Williams had another poor showing in his home state with nine points on four-of-11 shooting.

Justin Reed and David Sanders had 15 points each to complement Harper’s nine-for-15 shooting for Mississippi (11-4, 2-2).

The Crimson Tide fell to 0-3 away from home in the SEC and lost its fifth straight at Tad Smith, including embarrassing losses the previous two seasons by margins of 34 and 28. Alabama has lost three of four overall.

“I wish I had some magic formula I could just whip out, but sometimes you find yourself in a place you don’t want to be,” Alabama Coach Mark Gottfried said. “That’s where we are right now.”

No. 13 Oklahoma State 67, Baylor 64 -- Tony Allen scored 17 points, the last by converting a three-point play with 38.6 seconds left in overtime, and the Cowboys (15-1, 4-0) held off the Bears (9-6, 0-4) in a Big 12 Conference game at Waco, Texas, to extend the nation’s longest winning streak to 13 games.

Oklahoma State blew a 10-point lead in the second half but managed to pull out the win after Allen took a pass from Melvin Sanders and made a nifty move along the baseline for the go-ahead basket. He added the free throw to make it 66-64.

No. 14 Indiana 69, Ohio State 51 -- Relying on tough defense and 15 points from Marshall Strickland, the Hoosiers (14-3, 4-1) defeated the Buckeyes (8-8, 1-4) in a Big 10 Conference game at Bloomington, Ind., to earn a split in the season series.

Indiana won its third straight game, all without leading scorer Bracey Wright, and its 10th in a row at home. Wright sat out because of a nerve injury in his back.

No. 16 Notre Dame 71, Providence 65 -- Chris Thomas scored 23 points and Matt Carroll had 21 to lead the Fighting Irish (15-3, 3-1) over the Friars (9-7, 2-3) in a Big East Conference game at Providence, R.I. It was Notre Dame’s first road victory this season.

No. 21 Missouri 64, Iowa State 59 -- Ricky Clemons, coming off a one-game suspension after being charged with choking a 20-year-old woman last week, scored six of his 15 points during a 13-0 run in the final minutes to lead the Tigers (11-3, 2-1) over the Cyclones (10-5, 0-4) in a Big 12 game at Columbia, Mo.