The Coleman Coliseum audience had been treated to a show and Brandon Miller nearly finished it in style.
Early in the second half, Miller corralled a loose pass and turned the court up. The climax was complete, but a foul on the same Vanderbilt player who lost ball halted Miller’s drive just as the freshman knocked the ball off the board for a possible alley-oop for himself. The Alabama fans in attendance braced themselves for a roar, but then sighed. The NBA scouts giggled at the display of athleticism.
It would be one of the few moments when things went wrong for the country’s No. 4 team on Tuesday night. Days after Nate Oats received a much-needed wake-up call, he suffered a blowout.
The Tide (19-3, 9-0 Southeastern Conference) crushed the Commodores 101-44. It was the program’s largest win in SEC history, matching last year’s overall wins on the last day of January.
The game was tied four minutes into the competition at 5 apiece. It quickly turned into a nearly 20-point lead with seven minutes remaining in the first half after a strenuous game. A pair of white jerseys dived on loose ball, sparking a Miller 3 and the game-winning 30-5 run. It was the kind of performance Oats was looking for after showing the team a series of Vanderbilt highlights before the game.
“That’s what tonight is about,” Oats said of the hustle play. “(Noah) Clowney has done it a few times. We kind of challenged all our guys. … If we’re workers and we make games like that, we get rewarded at the other end.”
Miller and Nimari Burnett combined for 38 points, with the latter initiating the game-winning 30-5 run by forcing a few turnovers and hitting a pair of 3s. Mark Sears (eight assists) and Jahvon Quinerly (seven assists) kept creating space inside and subsequently 3-pointers found space behind the arc.
Alabama dominated with 19 3-points and 48 bank points. It was the deepest balls since the 20 converted against LSU on Jan. 14, setting a season-high in 3-point field goal percentage (46.3).
A couple of screens ahead of the ball drew multiple looks in front of Vanderbilt’s bench. Perhaps it was a familiarity — Alabama beat Vandy on the street two weeks ago — but the Tide’s onslaught met little resistance.
“I feel like our whole team could really spin it. It just really brings the energy we need,” said Miller, who wore the team’s hard hat after the game.
Meanwhile, the Commodores (10-12, 3-6) shot 25% from the ground and 3-30 from deep despite one of their best players, seven-foot Liam Robinson, returning from a two-week injury. Oats later mentioned that “any decent-sized team in Alabama could go to work,” but Clowney and Charles Bediako answered all questions, at least for one night. They forced Robinson to miss his first five shots and held Vanderbilt to 18 points in the paint after 15 offensive rebounds.
Alabama pressed in half-court, forcing the Commodores to beat them from dribbling. Freshman guard Paul Lewis led the visitors with 10, but Vanderbilt eventually settled for shots that kept getting farther from the rim. The second half turned into a track meeting as the Tide Alabama generated breakaway alley-oops, two of which were ended by Miller and Bediako.
“They rang the bell after the game in Oklahoma,” Oats said. “Obviously respect Vanderbilt a lot so it’s unfortunate for them that they were the team that watched the Oklahoma game but I told our guys that somehow we showed them what we are.”
Nick Alvarez is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @nick_a_alvarez or email him at [email protected].
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Alabama Vanderbilt Basketball January 31, 2023