Mississippi State @ Bama 5P CST SECN

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RainerSabin/status/825147025704488960

Avery Johnson's nickname is the Little General.

But the Bama basketball coach recently determined that bigger is better.

In an 80-60 victory over Georgia on Wednesday, Johnson rolled out a starting five whose shortest player on the floor was the 6-foot-5 guard Dazon Ingram.

"That's not normal for me," Ingram said with a slight smile. "But we did what we needed to do. It worked so we're probably going to continue to do it."

Perhaps. With a slightly different lineup, Alabama defeated State -- the opponent it will face Saturday at Coleman Coliseum -- in its conference opener earlier this month.

Johnson has been known to tinker with his rotation, which has been in flux since the beginning of the season. But Johnson seemed to push the right buttons with his latest experiment.

Crimson Tide, which have been challenged offensively throughout the season, reached the 80-point threshold for only the third time this season Wednesday. Part of the reason why is that Johnson played forwards Jimmie Taylor and Donta Hall together. Hall stands 6-9 and Taylor 6-10.

Since last season, associate head coach Bob Simon had implored Johnson to deploy both players simultaneously. When John Pelphrey was hired last April to assist Johnson, he also imagined the same pairing.

[jbcarol]

https://twitter.com/RainerSabin/status/825516334251393024