No. 4/5 Alabama drives off Vanderbilt 101-44 in biggest SEC win in program history

by

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The No. 4/5 Alabama men’s basketball team recorded its biggest SEC win in program history with a dominant 101-44 win over Vanderbilt Tuesday night at the Coleman Coliseum. With the 57-point win, Tide improved to 9-0 in conference play, 19-3 overall and 11-0 playing in Tuscaloosa.

Alabama dominated both ends of the court in the opening period and went into halftime with a 43-15 lead. Vanderbilt (10-12, 3-6 SEC) opened the game by scoring the game’s opening five points, but the Tide responded with 21 straight points to take control of the game.

The Tide shot 59 percent (36-61) from field and 46 percent (19-41) from field, while the Commodores shot just 25 percent (16-64 from the bottom and 15 percent (3-30) from deep) were held.

The Tide let five players score double digits, led by Brandon Miller at 22, he surpassed 20 points for the eighth time in a game this season. Nimari Burnett (16), Rylan Griffen (12), Noah Gurley (11) and Karl Bediako (10) Miller joined to lead the offensive effort.

HEAD COACH NATE OATS POST-GAME COMMENTS


"I thought our guys answered the bell after the Oklahoma game – it was a great way to respond. I was expecting a lot from us. It was just unfortunate for them that they were the team that followed the Oklahoma game. I told our guys we've kind of shown who we are and I think we're a tough, hard-nosed, blue collar, gritty team. Vanderbilt's tough, we showed a little highlight of Vanderbilt's tough plays before the game, like this is a game where we're going to try to be the tougher team. I think our guys answered the bell. They get the message. They really coached each other over the last three days, to be honest, they're a great group that kind of talked amongst themselves. This is who we want to be, this is what we got to do to get better. They did just about all that tonight. We were obviously aided by good shooting night and they didn't shoot it well, which happens. And I think for the most part we played pretty hard and locked into the defensive end tonight. So, it's good to see the improvement."

TEAM STATISTICS

  • Alabama is 9-0 in conference play for the second time in the past three seasons

  • The 57-point win surpassed Alabama’s previous program-best win, which came on February 15, 1947, against Ole Miss

  • Alabama handed out 29 assists across 36 brands, the second most assists in a game in school history. It was the most assists since 25 assists against Alabama A&M (11/17/17) and just one short of a school record 30 against East Tennessee State (12/1/04).

  • Alabama now has four 30+ point wins this season, matching the total from the 2020-21 season

  • The Tide’s Tuscaloosa average win percentage this season is +25.7, including a +23.0 win percentage against league games

  • Alabama has now 100-plus points in four games this season, which is the most in a single season since it set a school record five times in the 1971-72 season

  • Brandon Miller earned his eighth 20+ game of the year with his 22 points against Vandy and led the Tide in scoring for the 12th time this season

  • The Tide shot 59 percent (36-61) out of the field, keeping the Commodores at just 25 percent (16-64).

  • UA had a 48-20 advantage in bank point and a 27-2 advantage in fast break points

FIRST HALF

  • Alabama ended the half with a commanding 43-15 lead, the first time since November 29, 2016, the tide had held an opponent to 15 points or fewer in a half

  • After Vanderbilt scored the first five points of the half, Alabama responded with a 21-0 run to build a comfortable 21-5 lead with 10-16 remaining

  • Alabama continued the Commodores’ defense throughout the rest of the half while continuing to shoot over 50 percent from the field and from the three-point line to extend its lead

  • Alabama shot 52 percent (10-19) from three in the first half Nimari Burnett and Brandon Miller makes three apiece

  • The Tide shot 57 percent (15-26) from the field in the opening phase, the Commodores only made 15 percent (5-33)

  • Burnett was perfect in the half from the field, including 3-of-3 from across the arc to lead all scorers with 11

  • The Bank of the Crimson Tide outscored the Commodores 23-5

  • Markus Sears dished out six assists in the first half and led The Tide to 13 total in the opening stanza

SECOND HALF

NEXT

  • Alabama will travel to Baton Rouge, La., to face the LSU Tigers on February 4th at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center

  • The competition begins at 3:00 p.m. CT and will be broadcast live on ESPNU

Gallery: (1/31/2023) 1/31/23 Vandy in Alabama

For the latest information on the team, follow AlabamaMBB on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook. For general esports news, follow @UA_Athletics on Twitter and Instagram and Alabama Athletics on Facebook.

Source

Related Posts: