After completing a two-game homestand with two wins, Alabama men’s basketball (10-7 overall, 3-2 SEC) will be traveling to Nashville, Tennessee, on Wednesday at 8 p.m. to face Vanderbilt (8-9, 0-4). Vanderbilt is currently on a 22-game losing streak in the SEC, dating back to March 3, 2018 against Ole Miss.

Here’s what you need to know heading into Wednesday’s matchup:

Petty nearing a milestone

Junior guard John Petty Jr. is only seven points away from becoming Alabama’s 51st 1,000-point scorer in program history. He would be the first player to complete the milestone in three years since guard Trevor Releford reached 1,000 points in his junior season in 2013.

Averaging 16.3 points per game, Petty is having his best season as a member of the Crimson Tide since he arrived in 2017. He improved his 3-point percentage by 13% this season, having shot 47% from beyond the arc so far.  Petty has also expanded his game to include more than just shooting, as he has led the team in rebounding by averaging 7.2 per game and turned himself into one of Alabama’s leading defenders.

Continuing the reversal of fortunes in Nashville

Memorial Gymnasium, home of the Commodores, has been Alabama’s kryptonite in the past 30 years; the team has a 2-14 regular-season record there since the 1989-90 season. But the Crimson Tide won in Nashville as recently as last season and is seeking its first back-to-back wins in Memorial since the 1985-86 and 1986-87 seasons.

The gymnasium is unique in that the teams’ benches run along the baseline, so at times the coaches can be as far as 94 feet away from their team. This creates communication problems for teams that are not used to the unusual configuration.

“It puts more of a responsibility on us to be leaders and communicate with each other,” junior forward Galin Smith said.

But starting in the 2015-16 season, head coaches have been allowed to walk up the court and be in the coaches’ box along the sidelines. But it is still a challenge, according to coach Nate Oats, as he cannot refer to his assistants like he can in Coleman Coliseum.

“It will be different,” Oats said. “[Assistant coach Antoine Pettway] has been there a bunch, so we have talked about it a bit. The players are still gonna have to play on a regular floor like everywhere else.”

Scouting Vanderbilt

The Commodores started SEC play strong on the road against Auburn, as they were tied with the Tigers with under one minute remaining in the game but ended up losing 83-79.

However, following the Auburn game, it was revealed the sophomore guard Aaron Nesmith, a projected first-round draft pick in the upcoming NBA draft, would be out for the season with a foot injury. At the time, Nesmith led the SEC in scoring with 23.3 points per game and also shot over 50% from the 3-point line.

The absence of Nesmith has greatly impacted Vanderbilt. In the three games which Nesmith has not played, they have averaged 50 points a game and shot 10 of 75 (13.3%) from beyond the arc. Entering the Tennessee game on Saturday, Vanderbilt had made at least one 3-point attempt since the inception of the three-point line in 1986, which was the longest streak in college basketball. The streak came to an end after they shot 0 of 25 from three against the Volunteers.

“We know that they are going to shoot a lot of threes,” Oats said. “We also know that they have probably been in the gym shooting nonstop. If we go 0 for 25, I think our guys would live in the gym until the next game. We don’t anticipate on a 0-for-25 performance for sure. We may see their best shooting performance.”