Crimson Tide to Face Vanderbilt on ESPN2
2/4/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Feb. 4, 2009
ALABAMA (13-8, 3-4 SEC) at VANDERBILT (13-8, 2-5 SEC)
Thursday, February 5
Tipoff: 6 p.m. (CST)
TV: ESPN2
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network
The University of Alabama men's basketball team makes a brief foray north of the state line to take on Vanderbilt Thursday evening at Memorial Gymnasium before a national television audience on ESPN2. Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. CST.
Both teams enter the contest fresh off a win as Alabama defeated Georgia, 75-70, on Saturday while Vanderbilt earned an 82-75 win at Auburn. With the wins, both teams improved to 13-8 with UA now standing at 3-4 in SEC play and Vanderbilt at 2-5.
"They [Vanderbilt] had a great win over the weekend at Auburn, and I thought they played very well," said UA interim head coach Philip Pearson. "Jermaine Beal is a player for them who shoots the ball extremely well and obviously he and A.J. Ogilvy are two big concerns for us on Thursday night."
Pearson leads the Crimson Tide to Nashville after collecting his first win at the helm of the squad on Saturday and hopes to guide the Tide to its first road win of the season Thursday.
Thursday's game is the 127th in the series that dates back to 1924 with UA holding a 65-61 lead in the series. Two of the last three meetings have gone to overtime as have eight other games in the all-time series. The Commodores have held serve within the unique dimensions of Memorial Gymnasium, winning nine-straight at home against the Crimson Tide.
Freshman JaMychal Green aims to continue his strong play on Thursday after averaing 17.7 points and 7.3 rebounds over the past three games. On Saturday, he got his third double-double of the season with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. In the game prior to that at Arkansas, he scored a career-high 24 points.
Alonzo Gee scored a team-high 20 points in Saturday's win over Georgia and remains the team's top scorer and rebounder with 14.4 points per game and 7.3 rebounds per outing. Gee has scored in double-figures in 18 of his last 19 outings.
VU is allowing 63.4 points per game, but exactly 10 more points per game in SEC action and has been outscored by an average of 6.9 points in its seven SEC outings. A.J. Oglivy leads the team in scoring and rebounding with 14.4 points and 6.7 rebounds per game. Jeffery Taylor is second in both categories with 12.7 and 6.5 while Jermaine Beal and Brad Tinsley are the squad's three-point threats, connecting on 43.5 and 40.2 percent of their attempts, respectively.
Thursday's game is the first of a two-game road trip that wraps up on Sunday at LSU with a noon game. Alabama defeated LSU, 65-69, in the teams' first meeting on January 11 in Tuscaloosa. That loss remains LSU's lone SEC loss this season.
