No. 24/25 Alabama Heads to Nashville to Face Vanderbilt Tuesday Night

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 24/25 Alabama men's basketball team will play its penultimate road contest of the 2021-22 regular season when it travels to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores Tuesday night at 8 p.m. CT. The contest, which will be televised on SEC Network, will be the only meeting between the two teams in the regular season.

The Crimson Tide most recently had its three-game win streak snapped with a 90-81 loss at then-No. 4 Kentucky last Saturday afternoon. It was the sixth time UA has faced a team ranked in the AP Top-5 this season, which are the most top-five teams played by any team in the regular season since Ohio State faced six top-five teams during the 2012-13 season.

Alabama now turns its attention a Vanderbilt team that has won four of its last seven SEC games after beginning the year 2-5 in league play.

It should be a tightly-contested game if recent history is any indicator as 17 of the last 18 games played between the two teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points. Ten of those contests have been decided by five or fewer points including the Tide's 82-78 victory last season over the Commodores in Tuscaloosa. Alabama and Vanderbilt have split those last 18 games with each winning nine times over the stretch.

The Broadcast

Tuesday's game will be available 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) and Bryan Passink (analyst) on the call, while Tom Stipe (engineer) is turning the dials. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

Despite splitting a pair of contests last week (won vs. Mississippi State, lost at then-No. 4/3 Kentucky) the Crimson Tide remained in the national rankings, moving up one spot from last week in each poll. Alabama Moved from No. 25 to No. 24 in this week's Associated Press Top-25 rankings, while also climbing from the first team let out of last week's poll into No. 25 in the Ferris Mowers USA Today Coaches Poll, both released Monday afternoon.
UA ranks No. 11 in the nation in offensive efficiency by Ken Pomeroy (as of 2/21), which would stand as the program's second-most efficient offense over the last 20 years of KenPom.com's end-of-year ranking (finished No. 9 in 2005). Pomeroy also ranks the Tide No. 12 in average possession length and No. 17 in adjusted tempo.

According to the other metric rankings, Alabama is ranked in the following (as of 2/20): No. 19 KenPom.com, No. 20 ESPN.com BPI, No. 20 Sagarin and No. 22 in the NCAA NET rankings. The Tide's "Best" NET wins (Quad 1) include: Gonzaga (No. 1), Houston (No. 4), Baylor (No. 6), Tennessee (No. 11), LSU (No. 16), Arkansas (No. 23) and at Florida (No. 47).
The Crimson Tide owns a 5-4 record vs. teams ranked in the AP Top 25 this season. The five ranked wins is tied for second-most in the nation (Texas Tech), trailing Marquette (6) by one and stands the second-most in a single season, one shy of matching the 2017-18 squad that finished with six top-25 wins. Furthermore, the nine top-15 opponents matches Oklahoma for the most by any team in the nation.
All five of UA's ranked wins came against top-15 teams, giving Alabama the national lead in top-15 wins (5). The Crimson Tide has defeated then-No. 3 Gonzaga (91-82 in Seattle), then-No. 14 Houston (83-82), then-No. 14 Tennessee (73-68), then-No. 13 LSU (70-67) and then-No. 4 Baylor (87-78).
Alabama owns a record of 3-2 in games that have come down to a single possession (3 or fewer points) and is 4-4 in two possession contests (4-6 points) on the year.
The Tide's schedule ranks No. 1 in the nation in every major rating system including: Average Opponent NET Ranking, KenPom.com, ESPN BPI, Sagarin Rankings and RealTimeRPI.
NET RANKING FACTS: Alabama has a NET Ranking of No. 22 in the nation as of 2/21 which is fifth-best in the SEC... UA is the only team in the nation to have defeated four teams among the NET Top 11 (No. 1 Gonzaga, No. 4 Houston, No. 6 Baylor and No. 11 Tennessee)... Of the four games remaining on the regular-season slate, two are Q2 opponents, including Tuesday night's contest at Vanderbilt, and one is Q1... UA is tied for the fourth nationally in total number of Quad 1 with seven (only three teams have more)... Alabama is the only team in the nation to have not played a Quad 4 opponent.
UP NEXT: Alabama begins its final homestand of the year when the Crimson Tide welcomes the South Carolina Gamecocks Saturday evening at 5 p.m. CT on SEC Network. It will be the only contest between the teams during the regular season, as Alabama will recognize the 2022 Senior Class following the contest.

About Alabama

Alabama is in its 109th season of basketball in 2021-22. The Tide's first season of hoops came in 1912-13. There was no season in 1943-44 due to World War II.
The Crimson Tide is led by three players who average double figures in Jaden Shackelford (17.1 ppg), Jahvon Quinerly (13.9 ppg) and Keon Ellis (11.7 ppg). The trio combines to account for 54 percent (42.7 of the 80.4 points per game average), 68 percent of the three-pointers made (172 of 249), 51 percent field goals made (388 of 761) and 52 percent of the total free throws made (207 of 400).
The Tide's youth has also shined this season. A pair of freshmen in guard JD Davison and center Charles Bediako have both been impressive during their rookie campaign. Davison, a consensus five star and McDonald's All-American, ranks second on the team in assists (4.0 apg) while also ranking among the team leaders at 8.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per contest. Bediako has been a strong inside presence, collecting 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds and a team-leading 1.7 blocks a game. Meanwhile, sophomore Juwan Gary has also been impressive in his second year at UA, averaging 7.3 points and 3.8 rebounds per game.
As a team, the Crimson Tide is averaging 80.4 points per game while shooting 44.6 percent from the field and 31.0 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, Alabama is giving up 76.0 points per game while allowing the opposition to shoot 43.2 percent from the floor and 32.7 percent from deep. UA is the top three-point shooting team in the SEC, connecting on 249-of-804 treys this season for an average of 9.2 threes made per game – all of which leads the league.
Alabama was picked to finish second in the league in voting by a select panel of both SEC and national media members. Kentucky was the preseason favorite to win this year's regular season title, followed by the Tide, Arkansas, Tennessee and Auburn to round out the top five. Both Quinerly and Shackelford were named to the SEC Preseason First Team.
The Tide holds an all-time record of 1,733-1,077-1 (.616), which includes an 821-634 (.565) record in SEC play. By capturing its 800th SEC win, Alabama joined Kentucky as the only two teams in conference history to reach the milestone. UA also became the third team in the SEC and 34th team in NCAA history to reach 1,700 program wins. Only Kentucky and Arkansas have more wins than the Crimson Tide.

About Vanderbilt

Vanderbilt improved to 14-12 overall and 6-8 in SEC play following a 72-67 home victory over Texas A&M last Saturday. It marked the fourth Commodores' win over their last seven games after beginning the league slate with five losses across their the opening seven contests.
Vandy began league play by dropping its first three home games against SEC foes, however, has turned things by winning four consecutive games inside Memorial Gymnasium.
Junior guard Scottie Pippen Jr. is having a season that has led to him being considered for this season's SEC Player of the Year. Pippen leads the conference in scoring average at 19.5 points per game while also ranking among the SEC leaders in minutes played (32.2, 5th), steals (1.9, 9th), assists (3.8, 10th) and field goal percentage (42.6 percent, 10th). He also tops Vandy in field goals made (159) and field goals attempted (373).
Junior guard/forward Jordan Wright also averages double-figures at 12.3 points per contest while also topping the team with 6.1 rebounds a game. Together with Pippen, the duo's 31.8 combined scoring average places them as the top scoring tandem in the SEC. Meanwhile, sophomore guard Myles Stute ranks seventh in the SEC at 2.1 threes made per game while adding 8.5 ppg. He also leads the Commodores in three-point shooting (43.5 percent, 54-of-124).
As a team, Vanderbilt is outscoring the opposition by 2.7 points per game (69.3-66.7) while shooting 41.9 percent from the floor and 32.8 percent from beyond the arc. Defensively, the Commodores are allowing teams to shoot 42.1 percent for the field and 30.2 percent from deep. In SEC games, Vandy is second in both three-point field goal percentage defense (.291) and three-point field goal shooting (.359).
Vanderbilt head coach Jerry Stackhouse is in his third season at the helm of the program and owns a record of 34-49 (.410) and a 12-36 (.250). After totaling six league wins across his first two seasons, head coach Jerry Stackhouse has matched that total this season at 6-8 in the conference which is good for 10th in the league standings. Additionally, the 14 wins on the season are the most by the Commodores since the 2016-17 campaign.

Alabama-Vanderbilt Series Notes

Alabama and Vanderbilt will play for the 144th 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. With wins in four of the last five contest between the two teams, the Crimson Tide now owns a 73-70 edge in the all-time series.
The two teams played only once last season, with the Crimson Tide taking a narrow 82-78 victory in a contest that featured nine ties and 12 lead changes throughout. Tyler Barnes earned his first career start in that Senior Day contest, while Jaden Shackelford (27) and Jahvon Quinerly (15) combined to score 42 of the Tide's season high 57 points off the bench. A full box score from that contest can be found below.
The victory was the Tide's fourth over the last five games played against Vanderbilt. The stretch includes two consecutive wins inside Memorial Gymnasium, where Alabama holds a record of 23-44 when playing Vanderbilt in Nashville. Despite the consecutive wins, UA has only won three times at Vanderbilt since 1990 (58-54 on Feb. 2, 2013, 77-67 on Feb. 9, 2019 and 77-62 on Jan. 22, 2020), going 3-13 in its last 16 games in Memorial Gym.
Seventeen of the last 18 games played between the two teams have been decided by 10 or fewer points, with 10 of those contests being decided by five or fewer points.
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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