No. 4/4 Alabama Faces Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium
1/16/2023 2:02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide looks to improve to 6-0 in SEC play
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama men's basketball enters the week ranked No. 4/4 in the AP Top-25 Poll and the USA Today Coaches Poll and will begin its two-game roadtrip this week, starting at Vanderbilt on Tuesday at Memorial Gymnasium. The Tide are looking to improve to 6-0 in Southeastern Conference play for the second time under head coach Nate Oats while the Commodores face their fourth straight ranked opponent.
The Alabama-Vanderbilt matchup features two of the best shot blockers in the SEC, as Vandy's Liam Robbins ranks No. 2 in the conference with 2.9 blocks per game while Alabama's Charles Bediako's 1.9 blocks per contest ranks No. 4 in the SEC.
The Broadcast
Tuesday's game is set for a 7:30 p.m. tipoff and will be aired on the SEC Network with Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Carolyn Peck (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
- Alabama has five Quad 1 wins this season, which is tied for third-most in the country behind Purdue and Kansas (6 wins)
- Alabama is looking to improve to 6-0 in SEC play for the second time under Coach Oats. Prior to Oats' arrival, the Tide had not started SEC play 5-0 play since the 1986-87 season
- Alabama has won all five SEC games by double-digits and by a scoring margin of +22.8, that is the highest scoring margin in program history during the Tide's first five games of SEC play
- Alabama is ranked No. 4 in the AP Top-25 Poll for the second time this season, its highest AP ranking since 2006-07 (Ranked No. 4)
- After recording 16.9 turnovers per game during non-conference play, the Tide is now averaging just 11.2 turnovers during SEC games
- Alabama is 14-12 against AP Top 25 teams during Nate Oats' tenure
- Alabama has posted five wins over top-25 opponents in back-to-back seasons for the first time in program history, going 10-5 over the span
- Brandon Miller was named NCAA March Madness' Player of the Week and for the fifth time this season has been named SEC Freshman of the Week
- Miller is averaging 19.5 points per game, the most by any freshman in the country and No. 30 overall
- Miller is the only freshman in the country to rank in the top 70 in points and rebounds per game (No. 75)
- Miller is one of 11 players in Division I, the only player in the SEC and the only freshman in the country that has scored 330 points and recorded 140 rebounds this season
- Noah Clowney ranks No. 68 in the country at 8.3 rebounds per game, which is third-best among freshman in the country
About Vanderbilt
- Vanderbilt plays its fourth-consecutive ranked opponent
- Vandy is 7-3 at home this season, including an 85-82 win over South Carolina and most recently a 97-84 win over No. 15 Arkansas
- Fifth-year senior Liam Robbins has racked up 276 career blocks - fourth among active Division I men's basketball student-athletes.
- Vanderbilt has three active student-athletes who have scored 1,000 points in their NCAA career: Liam Robbins (Drake, Minnesota, Vanderbilt); Ezra Manjon (UC Davis, Vanderbilt); Emmanuel Ansong (Wheeling, Green Bay, Vanderbilt)
- Vanderbilt has had eight student-athletes score 10 or more points in a game this season (Stute, Wright, Robbins, Lawrence, Manjon, Shelby, Smith, Thomas)
- Last season, Myles Stute led the SEC in three-point shooting (43.2 percent). This season, Stute has four or more 3-pointers in five games including seven in a win at Temple, and is shooting 43.3 percent (42-for-97) on the season from 3-point range, good for No. 30 in the nation and second in the SEC.
- Vanderbilt boasts four student-athletes who have played 100 career games or more (Emmanuel Ansong, Quentin Millora-Brown and Liam Robbins, Jordan Wright)
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