Friday, March 14th, 7:30 p.m. (et).

FACTS & STATS: Site: Georgia Dome (26,000) -- Atlanta, Georgia. Television: Local. Home Record: Alabama 13-5, Mississippi St. 12-3. Away Record: Alabama 1-9, Mississippi St. 7-4. Neutral Record: Alabama 3-1, Mississippi St. 2-2. Conference Record: Alabama 5-11, Mississippi St. 12-4. Series Record: Alabama leads, 110-69.

GAME NOTES: The Mississippi State Bulldogs are the top seed from the SEC West Division, and they will take on fifth-seeded Alabama tonight in the quarterfinal round of this year's conference tournament. Alabama jumped out to a 46-23 halftime lead over Florida yesterday and went on to win by an 80-69 final. The Crimson Tide have six SEC Tournament titles to their credit, the second-most among all active league members. Still, they have not captured the crown since 1991. The team is just two games over .500 this season, and despite a 5-11 league record during the regular season, yesterday's effort should be a source of confidence. The Bulldogs captured the more recent of their two SEC Tournament crowns in 2002, but the program is just 20-45 all- time in this event. MSU has been rather quiet in posting a 21-9 record this season with a 12-4 mark against SEC competition. The club closed out the regular slate with wins in four of its final five contests. Mississippi State won both regular-season meetings with Alabama this year, but the Tide still owns a 110-69 advantage in the all-time series.

The Crimson Tide has plenty of talent in the starting lineup, including big man Richard Hendrix who was fourth in the conference during the regular season in scoring (17.7 ppg) and tops in rebounding (10.1 rpg). He also blocked 59 shots and dropped a stellar 60.2 percent of his field goal attempts. Alonzo Gee was netting 14.6 ppg for the Crimson Tide prior to the start of this event, and Mykal Riley came in netting 14.5 ppg. Against the Gators last night, Riley tied a school-record with eight three-pointers and finished with 26 points. Hendrix tallied 22 points for the Crimson Tide, who went on runs of 14-0 and 11-0 in the first 11 minutes of the contest to jump out to a seemingly insurmountable 42-14 advantage. Gee pitched in 13 points for 'Bama, which earned a 45-29 rebounding advantage.

The Bulldogs, who have won four of their last five games, are led by two of the top players in the conference, Jamont Gordon and Charles Rhodes. Gordon is a tremendously versatile performer who is posting 17.5 ppg, 6.3 rpg and 143 assists. As for Rhodes, who has emerged as a star in recent weeks, he checks in with 16.8 ppg and 7.7 rpg. The Bulldogs lead the league by a wide margin in field goal percentage defense, as they are surrendering just 36.9 percent shooting to the opposition. They lead the conference in blocked shots and are second in rebounding margin. Speaking of blocks, the man most responsible for MSU's top spot on the league chart is Jarvis Varnado, the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. He has a staggering total of 144 rejections to his credit, and he is also ripping down 7.9 rpg to go along with 7.8 ppg.

With Gordon, Rhodes and Varnado in the mix, it is hard to pick against Mississippi State. Expect a well-rested group of Bulldogs to win this quarterfinal matchup.

Predicted Outcome

Mississippi State 75, Alabama 66