STARKVILLE, Miss. – Chris Youngblood was a man possessed in his second start of the season. The fifth-year guard shot the lights out from 3-point range, scoring 23 points and connecting on 7 of 10 shots from beyond the arc in No. 4 Alabama’s 88-84 win over No. 14 Mississippi State on Wednesday. Youngblood’s timely 3s lifted Alabama past a ranked top-15 SEC opponent on the road for the third time this season.

After the game, Youngblood said that “humbly speaking” he was pretty sure he had connected on 70% of his shots from deep before. It’s an understandably confident response from a veteran guard who has been an elite scorer for four seasons and is finding that same level with Alabama.

“You just don’t really think about it, you know,” Youngblood reflected after the game. “You make the goal to go shot for shot, don’t really think about the next shot or the last shot. I missed two free throws in a row. That was crazy, but just keep it going.”

Youngblood’s outstanding evening from 3 was reminiscent of another sharpshooter who was supposed to dominate for the Tide this season. Fellow fifth-year guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. was shooting 42.2% from 3 through Alabama’s first eight games before a ruptured Achilles ended his season.

Wrightsell’s injury was a major blow for the Tide, especially its output from deep. Alabama has had some good shooting games without Wrightsell but entered Wednesday shooting just 32.5% from 3 as a team.

However, Youngblood’s best display in an Alabama uniform had shades of Wrightsell’s shotmaking as he hit timely 3 after timely 3 to bury the Bulldogs. Alabama coach Nate Oats is hoping Youngblood has turned a corner, and he might not have to worry about replacing the shooting output Wrightsell was supposed to provide this season.

“Would’ve been nice to have them together,” Oats said after the game. “We’d be shooting the ball from 3 a lot better as a team if we had them both this year. That was the original plan. Now, Latrell went out and Chris is finally getting back to where he’s feeling comfortable. His ankle’s feeling close to 100%. Yeah, I’d like for him to shoot it — Trelly shot it really well last year and in the games he played this year. Chris is getting more comfortable shooting it well.

“We need guys to kind of complement Mark [Sears]. Mark can make plays, get guys open. We need guys to knock down shots and hopefully, this is Chris’ coming out party here because he looked pretty good on both ends of the floor.”

There’s plenty of evidence Youngblood can be the answer to any of Alabama’s shooting struggles. He shot north of 40% from 3 in each of his last three seasons before arriving at Alabama. Youngblood’s scoring ability was a big factor in him winning Co-American Athletic Conference Player of the Year and why Alabama plucked him from the transfer portal this offseason. His latest performance upped his 3-point percentage to 35.2% this season.

Youngblood wasn’t the only one of Alabama’s guards embraced his inner Wrightsell on Wednesday. As a team, Alabama shot 15 of 31, 48% from deep which is by far its best outing of the season. In addition to Youngblood’s seven makes, Sears and sophomore forward Aden Holloway combined for six 3s.

“We weren’t really trying to do anything special,” Oats said of the Tide’s shooting performance. “They do a good job. They turned us over 14 times. Their defense was good. They kind of forced turnovers. We were trying to get the spacing right we didn’t do that like we needed to all the time. The ball was moving. I thought guys hit shots — you know, Youngblood’s open, he didn’t pass up open looks.”

Alabama’s guards took another huge step in collectively finding their rhythm and hit 3s at the same clip and efficiency that Wrightsell did Alabama in his first eight games this season and throughout last. Oats is continuing to hold the team’s best shooters to a high standard to do so.

“I thought Holloway passed some open ones up,” Oats said. “Him, Sears, Youngblood can never pass up an open shot, ever. Youngblood didn’t. I don’t think Sears did either. He didn’t get very many open ones with the way they were guarding him. But guys being confident, stepping up, making big shots was big for us.”

Alabama will look to replicate its elite shooting against Mississippi State when it returns home to take on Georgia on Saturday. The Tide and Bulldogs will face off at 3 p.m. CT inside Coleman Coliseum. The game will be broadcast on ESPN 2.