For the second time this season, Alabama Basketball is home to a Southeastern Conference team that defeated the Crimson Tide on the road but is playing well while Bama is trending downward.
Alabama (18-3, 8-0 SEC) hosts Vanderbilt (10-11, 3-5) Tuesday at 7:30 p.m. CST at the Coleman Coliseum (SEC Network).
In recent history, Tide and Commodores have played close games, the last five contests having been decided by an average of 6.4 points per game, Bama winning 3, Vandy 2. Two weeks ago in Nashville, Alabama, they went down 78-66.
The big, bad news of the weekend is that Bama, the nation’s runner-up, went into Norman Saturday and was co-ranked by Oklahoma, 93-69, the worst loss suffered by a Tide team under coach Nate Oats blistered. But there were signs, most notably a battle for the home win in the dying moments against Mississippi State, 66-63, a team that had defeated Alabama 78-67 in Starkville.
On Monday after practice, Oats said, “We need to play a lot better than we did in the last game against Vanderbilt and a lot better than we did on Saturday.” He said that had to start with defense and he wanted his players on offense “to be in the flow.” are”.
Oats saw Alabama headed in the wrong direction ahead of Saturday, but his warning to the team apparently fell on deaf ears. He said, “I hate that it takes a loss” to get the team’s attention. It should have come from the tight call against the state of Mississippi.
Oats suggested bench players had shown in Monday’s practice that maybe they should be in the top five. He told his team “there won’t be a four-minute warm-up” that the starters need high energy from the opening peak. In the last three games, Bama-Bank has averaged a contribution of 30 points per game, with guard Jahvon Quinerly averaging 13 points in that stretch. Freshman guard Rylan Griffin was the top scorer on the Tide in Oklahoma at 15.
However, if the Tide stays at their recent top five, it will be 6-3 rookie guard Jaden Bradley (8.1 points per game, 3.4 assists), 6-1 junior guard Mark Sears (14 ppg), 7: 0-runner-up center Charles Bediako (5.1 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 1.7 blocked shots), 6-10 freshman forward Noah Clowney (10.1 ppg – but in a big shooting slump -), team-leading 8.5 rebounds) and 6-9 freshman forward Brandon Miller (team-leading 19 ppg, 8.1 rpg), including 30 points in the win at Vanderbilt.
Miller is one of nine players in Division I, the only player in the SEC and the only freshman in the country to have 400 points and 170 rebounds this season.
At the last meeting with Vanderbilt in Nashville, just before the tip, it was announced that the Commodores’ top scorer (13.2 ppg) and rebounder (5.9), 7-0, 250-pound senior Liam Robbins, injured and for the season is cancelled.
Bama’s defense was particularly good against dangerous Vandy forward Myle Stute (6-7, junior, averaging 10.4 ppg and 5.3 rpg), holding him to three points.
In addition to mare, trainer Jerry Stackhouse is expected to have 6-4 junior guard Thyrin Lawrence (10.7 ppg), 6-6 senior forward Jordan Wright (10.8 ppg), 6-0 junior guard Trey Thomas (6.8 ppg) and 6 start -0 senior guard Ezra Manjon (8.7 ppg, 3.1 assists). However, Vanderbilt had nine different starters this season and 6-10 forward Quentin Millora-Brown started in 17 games, but with just 3.4 points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
Unlike most teams, Vanderbilt does better in the SEC game (75.1 ppg) than in the pre-conference (69.8 ppg). Among the most notable accomplishments in college basketball that year was the Commodores, who scored 63 second-half points in a win over Arkansas.
Here is how the teams perform statistically:
Alabama averages 82.5 ppg, opponents 69.9, a margin of 12.6. Vanderbilt scores 71.9, its competitors 70.6 plus 1.3. The Tide gets 45.3 RPG, allowed 38.1, plus 7.2. Vandy grabs 36.8, his opponents 35.1, a margin of 1.7.
Bama has a slim 75-71 record in the series, including 46-20 at Tuscaloosa and 27-13 at Coleman Coliseum.
