Alabama basketball delivers bounce-back performance vs Vanderbilt
By WVUA-23 Sports Reporter Grace Brister
Alabama basketball bounced back from its biggest loss of the season to take its biggest Sountheastern Conference win in program history by closing out the Vanderbilt Commodores, 101-44.
In the Tide’s previous game against Oklahoma, Alabama came up short losing 93-63. However, Head Coach Nate Oats said that his message to the team resonated with the players.
“Just lose yourself in the game and the offense will take care of itself,” Oats said. “The more you worry about whether your shots going in, how many shot attempts you get, to me, that stuff backfires….”Lose yourself in the game, trust your work that you put in.”
Alabama responded and set a season high of field goal percentage, three point percentage and assists percentage. Freshman Forward Brandon Miller led the team with 22 points.
“They answered the bell after the Oklahoma game,” Oats said. “I thought it was a great way to respond. You can control your effort. We tell guys all the time. You can control your attitude, your preparation, you effort.”
Alabama Sphmore Guard Nimari Burnett was right behind Miller with 16 points for the Tide.
“We needed that loss,” Burnett said. “It revealed some things about us, and we had a good comeback today.”
Inside of Coleman Coliseum, Alabama holds a perfect 11-0 record. The Tide is halfway through SEC play sitting at 9-0 with nine more conference games to go.
Oats said that his favorite part about his teams improvement is the effort they brought.
“This is the only time you guys are together,” Oats said. “What do you guys wanna be about? ‘Alright, let’s be about this.’ If we lose because we just couldn’t make shots, we can live with that. We can’t live without playing hard, though.”
Miller said he was pleased with the effort his team brought to the court.
“I feel like with our guys diving on the floor making all the effort plays, I think that brings energy to the team to go out and get another win against a good team,” Miller said.
The Tide will face LSU in Baton Rouge Saturday, Feb. 4. at 3 p.m.
