NASHVILLE, Tenn. – The Alabama men’s basketball team began SEC play with a 78-75 win on the road against Vanderbilt Saturday afternoon at Memorial Gymnasium. The Crimson Tide (9-5, 1-0 SEC) were led by Mark Sears scoring a game-high 21 points.
Alabama’s backcourt excelled on offense as Rylan Griffen (16 points) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (11 points) each joined Sears in double figures with the trio accounting for 48 of UA’s 78 points and seven of its 12 made three-pointers in the victory.
The Commodores (5-9, 0-1) had three players score double-figures led by Jason Rivera-Torres and Tyrin Lawrence each scoring a team-high 20 points.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
“Obviously, it was not one of our better performances, but we will take a road win to start conference play. We did a really good job building an 18-point lead but (Jerry) Stackhouse called a timeout and they went on a 9-2 run so we have to do a better job responding in that situation. We talk about starts in games as well as the way we close a half, and I didn’t think we did a great job of closing either half. We didn’t score in the last four-plus minutes of the first half and the same for the second half. We have a lead and almost gave it up, so we got to do a better job of figuring out a closing group. As a team, we have to be better on Tuesday, but it’s a road win is a road in the SEC and we will take one today.”
TEAM STATS
- Nate Oats is now 4-1 in SEC openers, including winning four straight
- Oats improves to 10-0 in games played in Nashville, including a perfect 4-0 at Vandy
- Mark Sears recorded his sixth 20-point game of the season and has scored in double-figures in every game this season
- Alabama shot 49 percent (26-53) from the field and 40 percent (12-30) from three-point range
- Aaron Estrada filled the stat sheet with five points to go with a team-leading six assists and seven rebounds
- The Crimson Tide had six players grabbed four or more rebounds
- UA scored 20 fastbreak points while limiting Vanderbilt to just eight points
FIRST HALF
- The game was tied 11-11 the 15:34-mark and Alabama went on a 22-4 run to take a 33-15 lead, its biggest lead of the half
- After calling a timeout after Alabama’s run, Vanderbilt went on a 9-2 run closing the gap on Alabama’s lead
- Rylan Griffen kickstarted Alabama’s offense, scoring seven points in the first five minutes of the game
- The Commodores ended the half on a 9-0 run, not allowing the Crimson Tide to score for the final 4:40 of the first half to trim the lead to only four, 40-36
- Griffen and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. led Alabama in scoring with 11 points each in the first half.
- UA’s bench outscored Vanderbilt’s 20-6 in the first half
SECOND HALF
- Mark Sears led Alabama with 14 points in the second half
- After outscoring Vanderbilt’s bench in the first half, Vanderbilt outscored Alabama’s bench 17-7 in the second half
- Jason Rivera-Torres (17 points) and Tyrin Lawrence (13 points) were responsible for 30 of Vanderbilt’s 39 points in the second half
- Alabama’s largest lead of the second half was 13 points (56-43) with 12 minutes left in the game, and the Tide held an 11-point lead with 3:30 remaining
- The Commodores outscored 14-6 to end the game and result in the final score
UP NEXT
- Alabama will return home for its first league home game as UA welcomes South Carolina Tuesday night
The Crimson Tide will tip-off against the Gamecocks at 6 p.m. CT with the contest airing live on the SEC Network
