No. 4 Alabama handles Vanderbilt in home win

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — No. 4 Alabama took care of business on Tuesday night, beating Vanderbilt at home by a final score of 103-87. The game moves the Crimson Tide’s overall record to 16-3 with a 5-1 mark in league play.

The Crimson Tide was undermanned for the third consecutive game, missing Derrion Reid due to a lower body injury. Alabama went with its typical starting unit of Mark Sears, Labaron Philon, Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Nate Oats spoke all week about not wanting to have a repeat of the home Ole Miss loss from a week ago. It wasn’t the best start on that front, with the Crimson Tide trailing 7-2 in the opening minutes. That gap was closed down to 7-6 at the first media timeout, though, with Alabama forcing Vanderbilt into four straight misses headed into the break.

The strong defense continued over the next 4-minute stretch, as entering the under-12 timeout, the Commodores had made just one of their last nine attempts from the field. Alabama found some success inside and on the offensive glass, extending its lead to six. It was a 15-4 run since Vanderbilt took a 7-2 lead.

Alabama got some nice contributions in the first half from both Sears and Stevenson. By the under-8 the Tide lead had been extended to double figures, leading 28-18. Alabama didn’t take a ton of 3-pointers early, using its size advantage to get quality looks on the interior.

The Tide kept pushing its lead as the half drew near to its end, with Aden Holloway showing out both with his interior finishing skills and his outside shooting. Mo Dioubate made some nice plays inside, and at the under-4 Alabama’s lead was all the way up to 16 points.

The Crimson Tide held a 19-point halftime lead after one more push before the break. It was a strong performance defensively, holding Vanderbilt to 33 percent from the floor in the first half. The game’s top scorer at halftime was Holloway, who had 16 points on perfect 6-for-6 shooting from the floor. Sears was next with 10, while Dioubate had nine points and six rebounds.

Vanderbilt came out of halftime firing, and knocked down three 3-pointers all in the first few minutes to put a dent in Alabama’s lead. The Crimson Tide was outscored 11-5 over the first four minutes of the second half until a Dioubate and-1 put an end to the run.

Another Vanderbilt three after the Dioubate bucket cut the Alabama lead down to 10, with the Commodore bench getting into it. The Tide answered with a quick 7-0 over less than a minute of game time, as Holloway and Youngblood each knocked down a three on back-to-back possessions producing the loudest crowd pop of the night.

Alabama continued to hold its lead around the 15-to-17-point area as the second half continued, with Holloway and Dioubate maintaining their elite performances as the stars of the show for the Crimson Tide. Entering the under-8 timeout Alabama led 79-62, with a Holloway three pushing him over the 20-point mark for the second time this season.

Dioubate surpassed 20 points in the game, easily breaking his career-high of 14 points from last season. Vanderbilt made one last push towards the end of the game, making 5-of-6 3-point looks over a stretch, cutting the lead as low as eight points. It never got closer than that, though, as Alabama knocked down free throws to close the game.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Aden Holloway — 22 points, 4 rebounds

Mo Dioubate — 22 points, 10 rebounds

Mark Sears — 21 points, 7 assists

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama will play a second straight home game on Saturday, welcoming LSU to Coleman Coliseum. The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m. CT and will air on SEC Network.