By Parrish Alford

Daily Journal

OXFORD - In going out with the old and in with the interim it's been a weekend project approach - not an extreme home makeover - that has worked for Alabama basketball.

Longtime coach Mark Gottfried resigned on Jan. 26, and assistant coach Phillip Pearson was named as his interim replacement.

Pearson has tried to find the middle ground between massive change and doing nothing different at all.

"To be honest we've fallen somewhere in between. In a situation like ours, even if you wanted to, I don't think you could have a complete overhaul at this point in the season."

Pearson brings the Crimson Tide to Tad Smith Coliseum not falling at all. Alabama (15-12, 5-8 SEC) has won two straight for the first time in SEC play. The Tide is 3-5 under Pearson.

Like Alabama, Ole Miss (15-12, 6-7 SEC) had won two straight before a second-half collapse cost the Rebels in a 77-64 loss at Auburn. The loss also dropped Ole Miss to fourth place in the West.

Tipoff is 3 p.m., and the game will be televised by Raycom.

Pearson has done some tweaking and without specifics cited "a few adjustments to give ourselves a chance to win."

He specifically praised his team's defensive play in its last two games.

Alabama's 88-67 win over Arkansas on Wednesday marked the first time in his eight-game reign that a Crimson Tide opponent has scored fewer than 70 points.

That stat is a little misleading, since Alabama gave up 85 to Mississippi State in an 87-85 two-overtime win.

"We've defended better. Our defensive field goal percentage is in better shape, and we've been able to get baskets out of our defense," Pearson said.

Auburn forced Ole Miss into 23 turnovers and scored 19 points as a direct result. The turnovers were a high for Andy Kennedy's three seasons as Ole Miss coach.

Alabama's defensive resurgence has coincided with stellar offensive play from senior swing man Alonzo Gee, who has scored 51 points and is 8-for-10 from 3-point range in the last two games.

Gee was 0-for-2 behind the arc and scored 15 points when Alabama defeated Ole Miss 76-73 on Jan. 21 in the next-to-last game for Gottfried.

Ole Miss shot 44.4 percent in that game, not bad unless you let the home team shoot 63.6 in the second half, as Alabama did.

"We know they'll come in here with a great deal of confidence," Kennedy said. "And they've got a very talented player who may be playing the best basketball of his career. When Alonzo Gee's going 5-for-6 from 3-point range he creates incredible match-up problems."