Alabama Travels to Face Vanderbilt on Wednesday Night - University of Alabama Athletics
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will hit the road for two of its final three games in the month of January beginning with a trip to Nashville,
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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will hit the road for two of its final three games in the month of January beginning with a trip to Nashville, Tenn., to take on Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. The contest, which will be televised on SEC Network, is scheduled to tip off at 8 p.m. CT.
The Tide and Commodores will play twice this season (Vanderbilt plays at Alabama on March 3 in the final regular season home game), marking the first time since the 1988-89 and 1989-90 seasons that teams will square off twice in the regular season in consecutive years.
UA swept Vanderbilt last season, taking a 77-67 decision in Nashville on Feb. 9, 2019, followed two weeks later by a 68-61 victory in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 23. It was the Crimson Tide's first back-to-back wins in the series dating back to the 2013 and 2014 seasons. The last time UA won three straight games over Vandy came over 30 years ago when it won seven consecutive in the series from 1984-1987.
The Broadcast
- Wednesday's game will be televised on SEC Network with Roy Philpott (play-by-play) and Mark Wise (analyst) on the call.
- The radio broadcast can be heard on the 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.
- The Tide has won eight of its last 11 games following the 88-74 win over Missouri last Saturday night. The three losses over the 11-game stretch have been by a combined 17 points. Two of the three defeats have come against ranked competition while all three coming on the road. UA fell to then-No. 21 Penn State (lost 73-71 after owning a nine-point second half lead), at Florida in double overtime (lost 104-98 despite holding a 21-point first half lead) and at then-No. 14 Kentucky (lost 76-67, within a possession with two minutes remaining).
- Alabama's John Petty Jr. became just the fifth player in program history to make at least 200 treys for his career (207) and is just 57 treys away from becoming the program's all-time leader in three-pointers made for his career. Moreover, the junior guard needs only seven points to become the 51st UA player in program history to reach the 1,000-point mark for his career, and the 32nd to do so in just three years.
- The Crimson Tide enters Wednesday night's contest ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring offense at 83.5 points per game and is No. 3 in three-point field goals made per game at 10.5. UA also leads the SEC in threes made (179), threes attempted (500) and three-point field goal percentage (.358).
- Alabama enters Wednesday's game having played the toughest strength of schedule in the SEC. According to the latest KenPom.com rankings (as of 1/20), the Crimson Tide owns the No. 20 overall strength of schedule, which leads the SEC, and the No. 55 non-conference SOS, which ranks second just behind Florida (No. 45).
- Over the first eight games of the year, Alabama averaged 18.5 turnovers compared to 14.0 assists per game. That equated to a 0.76 assist/turnover ratio. In the last team's last nine games, those numbers have seen a dramatic improvement. Over the span, the Tide is averaging just 12.6 turnovers compared to 14.7 assists – a 1.17 assist/turnover ratio.
- Alabama set a program record when it scored 90 or more points in five consecutive contests, beginning with a 105-point outing against Samford on Dec. 18 and ended on Jan. 8 vs. Mississippi State. The Crimson Tide went 4-1 during the stretch, with the lone loss coming in double overtime at Florida on Jan. 4 (lost, 104-98). For some perspective, the Tide had just one 90-point game a year ago and have had only 10 total 90-point contests – three of which went into overtime – in the last 12 years dating back to the 2008-09 season.
- The Crimson Tide has had 11 games of 80 or more points and five games of scoring 90 or more this season. The program record of games of scoring 80 or more points is 17 which was set on three occasions (1986-87, 1978-79 and 1976-77). The 1971-72 team had a school record 12 games of 90 or more points with nine such games occurring in 2001-02 and 1974-75.
- Four Alabama players average double figures, while six average 8.9 points per game or better through its 17 contests played. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. (16.4 ppg) and junior John Petty Jr. (16.3 ppg) are tied atop the squad in scoring average, while ranking sixth and seventh, respectively, among the league's scoring leaders. Combined the duo produces the fourth-highest combined points by any two players on the same team in the SEC (32.7 ppg).
- Lewis leads the SEC and ranks 10th in the nation in minutes per game (37.2), while also leading UA and ranking among the league leaders in assists (t6th - 4.7 apg) and steals (5th - 1.8 spg). A first-team All-SEC preseason honoree, he also tops the team in field goals made (102) and attempted (237), and is shooting 43.0 percent from the field and 31.6 percent (24-of-76) from beyond the arc.
- Petty is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. He ranks second in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (47.5 percent, 58-of-122) and is third in threes made per game (3.4), while ranking third and 11th, respectively, in the categories nationally. Additionally, he leads the squad and ranks ninth in the conference in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and also tops UA in threes made and attempted while ranking second in steals (1.1 spg) and minutes (34.0 mpg) per game.
- Freshman Jaden Shackelford and junior Herbert Jones also average in double figures at 12.2 and 10.1 ppg, respectively. Shackelford is second on the team in threes attempted as 109 of 167 field goal attempts – approximately 65 percent – have come from beyond the three-point line. Jones is the team's best defender, leading the team in Blue Collar Points (358.5), Hard Hat Awards (10), charges taken (14), deflections (55) and floor dives (22). Graduate senior Beetle Bolden (8.9 ppg) and junior Alex Reese (9.6 ppg) also contribute on offense.
- As a team, the Tide has been outrebounded in just five of its 17 games played this year and owns a +2.2 advantage on the glass (41.4-39.2). The 41.4 rebounds per game leads the SEC and is 11th-best in the nation. Alabama has outscored the opposition by +5.9 points (83.5-77.6) and is shooting 43.9 percent from the field, 35.8 percent from beyond the arc and 71.9 percent from the foul line.
- Alabama's pace of play ranks among the national leaders as of Jan. 20. The Crimson Tide averages 78.1 possessions per 40 minutes ranks third-best in the country. Furthermore, UA's average possession length on offense is at 15.1 which ranks as the 11th-fastest in the nation.
- In 17 contests this season, the Tide has posted more than 30 shots from beyond the arc 10 times while Alabama has attempted more than 65 shots from the field in nine separate contests and scored 80 or more points a total of 11 times.
- Vanderbilt comes into Wednesday night's contest looking for its first league win on the year following a 66-45 home loss to rival Tennessee last Saturday to fall to 8-9 on the year and 0-4 in SEC play. The Commodores finished 0-25 from beyond the arc in the contest snapping their streak of 1,080 consecutive games with at least one made three-pointer. Entering the contest, the Dores were just one of three D-I teams to have made at least one 3 since the inception of the 3-point line in 1986 (UNLV and Princeton).
- Vandy, which has not won an SEC game since March 3, 2018 (lost 22 straight league contests), lost its leading scorer in Aaron Nesmith indefinitely to a foot injury. At the time of his injury, Nesmith led the conference in scoring (23.0 ppg), three-point field goal percentage (60-of-115, 52.2 percent) and threes made per game (4.3).
- Junior Saben Lee is averaging 15.2 ppg and leads the team in assists (4.8 apg) and steals (23). Against Tennessee, Lee became the 49th member of Vanderbilt's 1,000-point club and now has 1,011 points for his career. Freshman Scotty Pippen Jr. also averages in double figures at 11.1 ppg, while senior forward Clevon Brown, who has been sidelined with an undisclosed injury and only played nine games this season, averaged 9.0 points and team highs of 6.0 rebounds and 2.0 blocks a game.
- As a team, Vanderbilt is shooting 44.6 percent from the field, 34.7 percent from beyond the arc and 67.4 percent from the charity stripe. The Commodores are outscoring the opposition by 1.3 points a game (74.1-72.8).
- Vandy head coach Jerry Stackhouse is in his first year at the helm of the program. He was announced as the 28th men's basketball head coach in program history on April 8, 2019.
- Alabama and Vanderbilt will play for the 141st time in series history when the two teams square off on Wednesday night. It's the ninth-most games against any single opponent in the UA record books. With a series sweep last year, the Crimson Tide now owns a 71-69 edge in the all-time series, including wins in three of the last four games played between the two teams.
- It's the first of two meetings the rivals will play this season. The squads will face one another in the Crimson Tide's final regular season home contest, which will take place on March 3 inside Coleman Coliseum (7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network).
- It marks the second time in two seasons that the rivals will play one another twice – something that has not been done since facing each other twice during the regular season during the 1988-89 and 1989-90 campaigns.
- Alabama swept Vanderbilt last season, taking a 77-67 decision in Nashville on Feb. 9, 2019, followed two weeks later by a 68-61 victory in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 23. It was the Crimson Tide's first back-to-back wins in the series since doing so in 2013 and 2014. The last time UA won three straight games over Vandy came over 30 years ago when it won seven consecutive in the series from 1984-1987.
- Sixteen of the last 17 games played between the two teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points, with nine of those contests being decided by five or fewer points.
- Alabama has a record of 22-44 when playing Vanderbilt in Nashville. The Tide has only won twice at Vanderbilt since 1990 (58-54 on Feb. 2, 2013 and 77-67 last season), going 2-13 in its last 15 games in Memorial Gym.
- There has been 11 overtime contests in series history, with Vanderbilt winning seven of those games (7-4).
- The series began during 1923-24 campaign.
