Alabama men’s basketball made it past Vanderbilt at home Tuesday night, beating the Commodores 103-87.
The win comes after Vanderbilt’s upset over No. 6 Tennessee in Nashville on Saturday.
Guard Mark Sears reached a career milestone midway through the first half, recording his 2,500th point. He is the 82nd player in the history of Division I men’s basketball to reach that total.
“I just want to thank all the great teammates that I have,” Sears said. “Without them, I wouldn’t be able to reach that milestone.”
The first three minutes of the contest were relatively quiet. The Commodores built a 7-2 lead and looked to take the crowd out of the game early. Things quickly changed when center Clifford Omoruyi threw down a dunk off a pass from guard Mark Sears, igniting the crowd and sparking a 7-0 run for the Crimson Tide.
Momentum was with Alabama for the next 12 minutes, with the team growing its lead to 28-18 with 7:57 left in half thanks to timely shots made by Sears and defensive stops from forward Jarin Stevenson.
Skilled drives and high-percentage looks from 3 for Sears and guard Aden Holloway opened up the offense, whose performance was crucial to the Crimson Tide going into the locker room ahead by 17 points.
Vanderbilt did not go down quietly, as it came out of the gate on an 11-5 run in the first three minutes of the second half. The run was aided by five missed free throws from the Crimson Tide and three quick triples from Commodore guard Tyler Nickel, shrinking Alabama’s lead to 53-42 after the first five minutes.
Action picked back up for Alabama after Holloway knocked down his third 3-pointer of the night, followed by a triple from guard Chris Youngblood. The threes forced the Commodores to call a timeout to regroup, sending Coleman Coliseum into a frenzy and putting the Crimson Tide up 62-45 with 13:36 left in the game.
The teams continued to trade buckets, but it was the Crimson Tide’s inefficiency at the free throw line and poor defense that made the margin stay put.
Despite the success on the scoreboard, Alabama struggled at the charity stripe line all night long, shooting just 23/34, or 67.6%.
“We didn’t shoot free throws as well as we would’ve liked,” head coach Nate Oats said.
Oats attributed the victory to the performance of players coming off of the bench.
“We got a lot of scoring off the bench. I think the most we’ve had all year,” he said.
Vanderbilt head coach Mark Byington attributed Alabama’s success to its opportunistic play.
“Alabama is as good as anybody at capitalizing on your mistakes,” he said. “You make a mistake in transition, it’s a 3. You don’t cover something right on a ball screen, it’s a dunk. They are as good as anybody at taking advantage.”
Oats was not pleased with his team’s overall composure throughout the whole game though, noting that he would grade the players with a “C.”
“Since I’m a teacher, first half you give it like an A-,” he said. “Then they failed in the second half. So you average out a failing grade and an A- and you come out with a C.”
Oats also criticized the team’s defensive performance in the second half.
Holloway tied for the team’s leading scorer with 22 points off of 4/6 shooting from 3. This was his second highest scoring game of the season. He also added a block and four rebounds.
The other player with 22 points was forward Mouhamed Dioubate, whose point total marked a career record. He also came down with 10 rebounds and had a pair of blocks.
“He’s playing really hard,” Oats said. “When you’re playing hard and giving effort like that, and you put a lot of time into your skill level, things go your way.”
Not far behind was Sears with 21 points, with 10 coming from the free throw line. He also dished out seven assists.
Alabama returns to the hardwood on Saturday at home versus LSU at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game can be streamed on SEC Network.