Alabama Hosts Vanderbilt in Regular Season Home Finale

Tuesday, March 3

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

7:30 p.m. CT

Alabama

Vanderbilt

Alabama Hosts Vanderbilt in Regular Season Home Finale

3/2/2020 12:41:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Crimson Tide's lone senior Beetle Bolden will be honored prior to the 7:30 p.m. tipoff

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama will play its final regular season home game on Tuesday night when it welcomes the Vanderbilt Commodores to Coleman Coliseum for a 7:30 p.m. tip on SEC Network.

The Crimson Tide's only senior, graduate student Beetle Bolden, will be honored prior to the contest. The West Virginia graduate transfer has played in 25 games this season and 107 for his four-year playing career (played 82 games at WVU). He is averaging 8.2 ppg and is fourth on the team in 3-point shooting (33.0 percent).

With a series sweep last year and the victory over Vandy earlier in the year, the Crimson Tide has now won three straight and four of the last five games played between the two teams. The last time Alabama won four consecutive games over the Commodores came between 1984-1987 when UA claimed seven straight contests in the series.

The Crimson Tide is one game away from becoming just the second team in Southeastern Conference men's basketball history to earn the 800th win in league history. Alabama enters the game against South Carolina with 799 victories and a .562 winning percentage (799-623) which both rank second to only Kentucky.

Promotions

Graduate Senior Beetle Bolden will be honored as part of Senior Night approximately 15 minutes prior to tipoff (7:15 p.m. CT)

The Broadcast

Tuesday's game will be televised on SEC Network with Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Daymeon Fishback (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr., who is averaging 18.1 points, 5.0 rebounds and 5.2 assists on the season, is the only player in the SEC, one of three in power 5 programs and one of only 10 around the nation to average at least 15 points, five rebounds and five assists per game.
Junior Herbert Jones, playing with essentially one hand, is showing why he is a candidate for the SEC Defensive Player of the Year. Since being reinserted in the starting lineup after missing three games with a fractured left wrist (vs. Arkansas, vs. Tennessee, at Georgia), Jones has earned the team's Hard Hat Award in four of the five games and is averaging 7.8 rebounds, 2.4 offensive rebounds, 2.0 steals and 1.4 blocks per game – all team-leading numbers.
Lewis currently has 983 points in his career and is set to join James "Hollywood" Robinson as the only players in program history to reach 1,000 points in just two seasons. Robinson accomplished the feat in his 57th game of his career (25th game of his sophomore season). Lewis will be playing in his 64th career game when the Tide takes on the Commodores on Tuesday night.
UA enters Tuesday's contest ranked No. 2 in the nation in scoring offense (83.2 points per game) and three-point field goals made per game (11.0). Furthermore, Alabama ranks No. 3 in the nation in threes attempted (896) and is No. 4 in three made (318) – both of which are single-season program records.
Alabama enters the contest vs. Vanderbilt owning the No. 42 overall NET Ranking (as of 3/1) and the No. 17 overall strength of schedule. The Crimson Tide leads all SEC teams in strength of schedule, while its NET Ranking is fifth-best in the league.
Alabama has alternated wins and losses over its last six games and continued that trend with a 90-86 victory over South Carolina last Saturday night. The Crimson Tide will be looking for its first back-to-back wins dating back to a four-game winning streak from Jan. 15 through Jan. 25.
Alabama currently ranks second in the league in assists per game both overall (14.6) and in SEC play only (14.5). No Crimson Tide team has led the conference in assists per game in all games or in conference games since the league began documenting the statistic in 1998-99.
UA has had 16 games of 80 or more points and nine games of scoring 90 or more this season. The program record of games of scoring 80 or more points is 17 which was set on three occasions (1986-87, 1978-79 and 1976-77). The 1971-72 team had a school record 12 games of 90 or more points with nine such games occurring in 2001-02 and 1974-75.

About Alabama

Three UA players average double digits, while six average 8.0 ppg or better on the year to lead the Alabama offense. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. (18.1 ppg) tops the team and ranks fourth in the SEC in scoring average, while freshman Jaden Shackelford (15.0 ppg) ranks second on the squad and 12th in the league. Combined the duo produces the second-highest combined points by any two players on the same team in the SEC (33.1 ppg).
Lewis, a two-time SEC Player of the Week (1/27 & 2/17), leads the SEC and ranks 13th nationally in minutes per game (37.29), while also leading UA and ranking among the league leaders in scoring, assists (3rd - 5.2 apg) and steals (t3rd - 1.9 spg). A first-team All-SEC preseason honoree, he also tops the team in field goals made (190) and attempted (415), and is shooting 45.8 percent from the field, 37.1 percent from beyond the arc and 78.6 percent from the charity stripe.
Junior John Petty Jr., who has been sidelined with an elbow injury suffered early in the contest at Mississippi State, is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. Despite missing the South Carolina game, Petty leads the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (45.0 percent, 85-of-189) and ranks second in threes made per game (3.0), while ranking sixth and 19th nationally in the categories, respectively. Additionally, he leads the squad and is 12th in the conference in rebounding (6.6 rpg) and tops UA in threes made while ranking second in steals (1.1 spg) and minutes (33.5 mpg) per game.
Shackelford, who was named the USBWA National Freshman of the Week on Feb. 18, is tied for second on the team and 12th in the SEC at 15.0 ppg. He also ranks third in the league three-point percentage (.362) and threes made per game (2.7), while also topping the squad in threes attempted, as 218 of his 332 field goal attempts – approximately 66 percent – have come from beyond the three-point line. Juniors Alex Reese (9.3 ppg) and Herbert Jones (8.4 ppg) and graduate senior Beetle Bolden (8.1 ppg) contribute offensively as well.
Jones, who has been sidelined multiple games and is currently seeing limited action despite a fractured left wrist, is the team's best defender. He leads the squad in Blue Collar Points (555.5), Hard Hat Awards (15), charges taken (22), deflections (79) and floor dives (29). Bolden has also missed time (four games) throughout the year with a variety of ailments, is one of the best perimeter defenders on the team and ranks fourth on the squad in three-point field goal percentage (.330).
As a team, Alabama has outscored the opposition by +4.1 points (83.2-79.1) and is shooting 44.1 percent from the field, 35.5 percent from beyond the arc and 69.3 percent from the foul line. The Tide averages 40.0 rebounds per game which is second-best in the SEC and 18th-best in the nation. The Crimson Tide has collected 16 games of 80 or more points and has hit 90 or more points nine times.
Through its 16 SEC contests, Alabama leads the league in scoring offense (83.9) and threes made per game (11.2), while ranking second in assists (14.6), assist/turnover ratio (t1st - 1.1) and defensive rebounds (27.6). Additionally, the Crimson Tide ranks among the top five teams in league play in rebounding offense (3rd - 39.7), scoring margin (3rd - +3.5), three-point field goal percentage (3rd - .345), offensive rebounding (3rd - 12.1), blocked shots (4th - 4.4) and three-point field goal percentage defense (5th - .290).

About Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt comes into Tuesday night's contest looking for its second league win on the year. Most recently, the Commodores dropped their seventh consecutive contest when it fell at Ole Miss, 86-60, last Saturday afternoon. With the loss, Vanderbilt fell to 9-20 overall and 1-15 in league play.
Behind Alabama, Vandy has the second-most games missed due to injury, illness or suspension in the SEC. Vanderbilt lost its leading scorer in Aaron Nesmith for the season with a foot injury. At the time of his injury, Nesmith led the conference in scoring (23.0 ppg), three-point field goal percentage (60-of-115, 52.2 percent) and threes made per game (4.3). Additionally, the Commodores are playing without leading rebounder Clevon Brown (6.0 rpg), who has only played nine games on the year.
Junior Saben Lee is averaging 17.5 ppg, including 18.9 ppg in SEC play, and leads the team in assists (4.2 apg), steals (1.5 spg), minutes (32.6) and field goals made (170) and attempted (362). Freshman Scottie Pippen Jr. is the only other VU active player to average double figures, checking in at 11.5 ppg, while also topping the team in three-point field goal percentage (37.2 percent, 32-of-86) while ranking second in assists (3.6 apg) and steals (1.0 spg) a game.
As a team, Vanderbilt is shooting 42.5 percent from the field, 33.1 percent from beyond the arc and 68.9 percent from the charity stripe. The Commodores being outscored by 3.7 points a game (70.8-74.5). In league play, Vandy is being outscored by 12.1 points per contest (63.9-76.0) while shooting 38.7 percent from the field and 28.5 percent from deep.
Vandy head coach Jerry Stackhouse is in his first year at the helm of the program. He was announced as the 28th men's basketball head coach in program history on April 8, 2019.

Alabama-Vanderbilt – Series Notes

Alabama and Vanderbilt will play for the 142nd time in series history when the two teams square off on Tuesday night. It's the ninth-most games against any single opponent in the UA record books. The Crimson Tide owns a 72-69 edge in the all-time series, including three straight wins over the Commodores.
It's the second meeting between the teams this season. The two teams squared off back on Jan. 22 in Nashville, Tenn., when the Crimson Tide captured a 77-62 win over the Commodores. The 15-point margin of victory was the largest inside Memorial Gymnasium since 1985 and the second-largest win margin at Vanderbilt in series history. A full recap and box score from that contest can be found on page 10.
With a series sweep last year and the victory over Vandy earlier in the year, the Crimson Tide has now won three straight and four of the last five games played between the two teams. The last time Alabama won four consecutive games over the Commodores came between 1984-1987 when UA claimed seven straight contests in the series.
Sixteen of the last 18 games played between the two teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points, with nine of those contests being decided by five or fewer points.
Alabama has a record of 45-19 when playing Vanderbilt in Tuscaloosa, including a 27-11 mark at Coleman Coliseum. However, the Commodores have won three of the last six games over the Crimson Tide under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum.
There has been 11 overtime contests in series history, with Vanderbilt winning seven of those games (7-4).
The series began during 1923-24 campaign.

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