Live Updates: No. 24 Alabama Basketball at Vanderbilt
After the worst defensive performance of the season against Kentucky, Alabama head coach Nate Oats issued a challenge, literally, to his team.
During Monday's media availability, Oats made it quite clear that if a player does not play hard on defense, he will not play in Tuesday night's game against Vanderbilt. Only time will tell if the players are up to the call.
Memorial Gymnasium is the site of Alabama's Tuesday matchup with the Commodores, who haven't lost at home in the month of February. Vanderbilt is one of the last few teams in the SEC that Alabama has yet to face. It will be the lone regular season meeting between the two programs. Coming into the matchup, Alabama averages 80.4 PPG while Vanderbilt averages 69.3 PPG.
The Crimson Tide (17-10, 7-7 SEC) is looking to get back on a winning streak against Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC) when the game tips off at 8 p.m.
Follow along for live updates, stats and analysis throughout the game.
Second Half
Final: No. 24 Alabama 74, Vanderbilt 72
- Alabama inbounds the ball and runs out the clock to hang on 74-72. Tide picks up its third SEC road win.
- Alabama leads 74-72 with 4.8 seconds left and the ball.
- Pippin hits two more free throws with 24 seconds left to cut the deficit to 73-72. Pippin has now attempted 18 free throws in the game (13 in the last four minutes of the game.)
- 28.4- Quinerly is fouled with a 71-70 lead. He makes both free throws to give Alabama a 73-70 lead, and Vanderbilt takes a timeout.
- 1:11- Pippin nails two free throws to cut the Alabama lead to 71-69.
- 1:42- Charles Bediako fouls out.
- Jaden Shackelford hits a three for Alabama's first made field goal in five minutes of game time. Alabama leads 71-65.
- 2:04- Vanderbilt has cut it to a one-possession lead for Alabama, 68-65
- Vanderbilt has scored six points at the free throw line in the last minute of game time and has cute the Alabama lead to 66-62 with just under three minutes to go.
- 3:49- Pippin scores his first points of the half on a free throw after having 13 points in the first half.
- Alabama is up 66-56 at the final media timeout. The Crimson Tide has done a much better job limiting turnovers in the second half.
- JQ keeps it going with a nifty layup under the basket assisted by Davison to go up 64-53 at the next to last media timeout of the half.
- Jahvon Quinerly is heating up for the Tide. He has 11 points in the second half and is 3-3 from beyond the arc. The most recent 3-pointer puts Alabama up 62-53, and Jerry Stackhouse takes a timeout for Vanderbilt.
- Alabama gives all-out effort to grab an offensive rebound on a missed free throw, and it pays off. Keon Ellis is fouled on a 3-pointer and makes all three to push the Alabama lead to 53-47.
- 9-0 run for Alabama is ended by a Vanderbilt dunk, but the Crimson Tide still holds a 49-47 lead.
- The Crimson Tide has found some momentum. Alabama is on a 13-3 run over the last 4:12 and leads 48-45 at the under-12 timeout with Rojas shooting a free throw when we come back.
- Alabama gets two offensive rebounds on one possession. The second one results in a putback from Gurley, and he is fouled. He makes the free throw, and Alabama retakes the lead at 46-45 for the first time since the score was 5-4.
- Jahvon Quinerly hits a 3 to cut the Vanderbilt lead to 42-40, but then the Tide immediately gives one up on the other end to push the Commodore lead back to five.
- At the under-16, Vanderbilt leads 42-35. Alabama has made just one of its five shots from the floor to open the second half.
- 17:14- Bediako picks up his fourth foul.
- Noah Gurley gets a fortunate roll off the back of the rim for a 3-pointer to cut the deficit to 40-35.
- More fouls and turnovers by Alabama to open the second half As Vanderbilt pushes the lead to 40-32.
First Half
Halftime: Vanderbilt 37, No. 24 Alabama 32
- Davison leads Alabama in scoring and rebounding at the half with nine points and seven rebounds. On the negative side, he turned the ball over five times.
- Another poor shooting night from three for the Tide in the first half. Alabama went just 3-15 from beyond the arc.
- Before the game, Oats talked about limiting Vandy at the free throw line and slowing down Scotty Pippen Jr. Vanderbilt got to the line 18 times in the first half, and Pippen has 13 points.
- Alabama had 12 turnovers in the first half, and they were costly. Vanderbilt converted those turnovers into 21 of its 37 points.
- A steal and slam from Davison cuts the deficit to 35-28.
- Former walk-on Drew Weikert hits a 3-pointer to extend the Vanderbilt lead to 35-26.
- A 3-pointer from Jaden Shackelford cuts it to 29-26, but Scotty Pippin Jr. quickly answers with a three of his own to push the Vanderbilt lead back to six at 32-26.
- With four minutes to go in the first half, Vanderbilt has already attempted 16 free throws and holds a 29-23 lead over Alabama.
- 5:35- Darius Miles picks up his third foul. No points for Miles, but like previously mentioned, he's made several effort, blue-collar type plays tonight.
- And Alabama immediately turns it over out of the timeout for the ninth of the first half.
- At the under-8 media timeout, Vanderbilt leads 22-16. Alabama is playing better defense, but has made just five shots from the floor. Tide is not defending well without fouling and still turning it over too much.
- 8:47- Right after hitting a 3-pointer, Ellis picks up his second foul. Vanderbilt has already shot 12 free throws.
- 9:49- Miles picks up his second foul.
- Keon Ellis grabs an offensive board and puts it back up to cut the deficit to 13-9.
- At the under-12 media timeout, Alabama trails Vanderbilt 13-7. The Crimson Tide is shooting 2-11 from the floor. Darius Miles has made several blue collar plays so far with an offensive rebound, two blocks and drawing the charge right before the timeout.
- Alabama playing super sloppy on offense with six turnover in the first six minutes of the game. Vanderbilt is on a 9-0 run out of the TV timeout and now lead 13-5.
- Darius Miles and Jusaun Holt enter the game for the Crimson Tide coming out of the timeout.
- At the first media timeout, Alabama leads 5-4. Davison has the first five points for the Tide. Neither team shooting well from the floor early on.
- 16:09- Charles Bediako already picks up his second foul, and Gurley comes back in.
- Noah Gurley turns the ball over and is quickly pulled from the game for James Rojas by Nate Oats.
- JD Davison answers with a 3-pointer of his own to tie the game at 3-3.
- Alabama wins the opening tip, but turns it over on the first possession. Liam Robbins make them pay and hits a 3-pointer for Vanderbilt to take the early 3-0 lead.
Pregame
- Tonight's officials:
- Joe Lindsay
- Tony Greene
- Patrick Evans
- JD Davison will be making his fifth start of the season. Noah Gurley has started three of the last four games at the four.
Alabama Starting Lineup vs. Vanderbilt
Alabama Athletics
Photo | Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Alabama Athletics
Photo | Petre Thomas-USA TODAY Sports
Alabama Athletics
How to Watch:
Who: No. 25 Alabama (17-10, 7-7 SEC) at Vanderbilt (14-12, 6-8 SEC)
When: 8 p.m. CT, Tuesday
Where: Memorial Gymnasium, Nashville, Tenn.
TV: SEC Network
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
Last time out, Alabama: A career-high 28 points from Keon Ellis was not enough for Alabama basketball as it fell on the road at Kentucky, 90-81. The Crimson Tide was 9-of-22 from beyond the arc in the first half, with Ellis hitting five 3-pointers to give Alabama a 13-point lead with just over five minutes left in the first half. However, Kentucky conducted a 15-2 run to close out the half, taking the lead in the final seconds. The Wildcats continued to pummel the Crimson Tide in the second half, ultimately leading to Alabama's downfall.
Last time out, Vanderbilt: The Commodores downed the Texas A&M Aggies at Memorial Gymnasium, 72-67. Scotty Pippen Jr. led Vanderbilt with 24 points, followed by Jordan Wright with 15 and Liam Robbins with 14. The Commodores also stole the basketball 13 times, giving the team its first win since Missouri back on Feb. 8.
The series: Tuesday marks the 82nd meeting between the Crimson Tide and the Commodores, a series that dates back to Feb. 20, 1924. All-time, Vanderbilt holds a 42-39 edge over Alabama. The Crimson Tide, however, have won five of the last seven meetings between the two programs.
