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Alabama basketball bounces back with 101-44 victory over Vandy

47377776_10156854436900775_2208546246019252224_nby: Clint Lamb02/01/23ClintRLamb
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Photo courtesy of UA Athletics

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — The Alabama men’s basketball team is now 19-3 (9-0 SEC) after arguably its most dominant performance of the season. Coming off an embarrassing 24-point loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, the Crimson Tide bounced back with a 101-44 victory over Vanderbilt (10-12, 3-6 SEC) on Tuesday night.

Yes, you read that score correctly. The Crimson Tide won by 57 points.

For Alabama, this is the largest victory ever over a conference opponent, and it’s also the first SEC game to be decided by 50 or more points since 2003. That is incredible, especially considering it came just two days after the ugly loss to the Sooners in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge.

This is only the fifth time in school history — and the second time under Nate Oats — that Alabama has started the season 9-0 in conference play, too. Once again, incredible. Five different Alabama players scored in the double-digits too.

Of course, freshman phenom Brandon Miller once again led the way with 22 points to go with eight rebounds, three assists, a block and a steal. The team’s top defender, Nimari Burnett, was second on the team with 16 points. Rylan Griffin (12 points), Noah Gurley (11) and Charles Bediako (10) were the others to get there.

The team hit an impressive 19 three-point attempts while shooting 46.3% from beyond the arc. This performance came after a four-game stretch of hitting under 30% from the three-point line, so that’s certainly an encouraging development. Miller and Burnett combined to hit 10 of those 19.

The defense from Alabama was fantastic, too. With the combined 38 points between Miller and Burnett, it means they almost outscored the entire Vanderbilt squad by themselves. It was just that type of game. The Tide can’t get complacent though.

Alabama is entering a four-game stretch that’ll include three road games, two of which will be against top-25 Auburn and No. 2-ranked Tennessee. First up, the Crimson Tide will head to Baton Rouge to take on the LSU Tigers (12-9, 1-7 SEC), who have dropped eight-straight games after starting the season 12-1.

That SEC West matchup will happen on Saturday with a 3 p.m. CT (4 p.m. ET) tipoff. The game will air on ESPN U. Then, it’ll be a home contest against the Florida Gators before those back-to-back games against Auburn and Tennessee.

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