Vanderbilt Defeats Alabama 69-59

Guest author ThatNickJones returns with his post-game wrap-up. – Ed.

At times, it seemed like nothing was going Alabama’s way against the Commodores. The Tide dropped their second straight SEC game by a final score of 69-59 in Tuscaloosa. Vanderbilt was simply the better team.

Alabama was in control of the game for the first ten minutes of the first half. The Tide was playing great defense, forcing Vanderbilt to turn the ball over, but they couldn’t finish on offense. This would be the story tonight for the Crimson Tide.

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Vanderbilt’s defense inside was just too tough for Alabama. JaMychal Green had issues under the basket all night, due in part to Festus Ezeli. The senior center out of Nigeria gave the Tide all they wanted under the basket.

Anthony Grant said before the game that Tony Mitchell, Trevor Releford and JaMychal Green would have to come up big for the Tide to pull out a win. Alabama’s “big three” had one of their worst games all season, but you have to give Vanderbilt credit, they shut them down. Trevor Releford lead Alabama with 14 points on 5-of-16 shooting. Releford added two late three-pointers and a layup in the last three minutes to boost his scoring totals. JaMychal Green struggled all night. He ended the game with six points on 3-of-7 shooting with eight rebounds and two blocks. Tony Mitchell was held scoreless by the stiff Vanderbilt defense. Mitchell was 0-of-8 shooting and finished with five rebounds and four assists. His play time was limited, especially in the first half, due to foul trouble.

Vanderbilt is known as a scoring team, not for their defensive squad, but they showed up tonight. The Commodores held Alabama to 32 percent shooting and 25 percent from behind the arc. Vanderbilt also out-rebounded the Tide tonight by then boards.

Everyone knew coming into the game that Vanderbilt could score. John Jenkins and Jeffery Taylor had two huge games for the Commodores tonight. Jenkins, one of the best scorers in the country, ended with 20 points. He also added eight rebounds from the guard position. Jeffery Taylor had 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting. Taylor also added six rebounds, including two offensive boards.

Alabama went into the locker room down 26-19 at half. Vanderbilt came out in the second half with a quick three-pointer that killed all of Alabama’s momentum. The Tide looked lost for much of the second half. Most of their time was spent arguing with the referees about offensive fouls and missed calls. Anthony Grant even joined the party, giving the referees a piece of his mind after JaMychal Green was called for his second foul in two possessions. Grant’s effort would earn him a technical foul. It was an interesting sight seeing Grant so angry. He is usually very calm and collected and rarely shows emotion on the bench.

One of the lowest points of the game came in the first half. Andrew Steele set up to take a charge and collided hard with a Vanderbilt player. Steele would come off the floor after being fouled and making one of two from the line. ESPN reported that Steele didn’t participate in the pre-game shoot around due to illness. Let’s hope the injury isn’t too bad. As you might recall, Andrew Steele was just cleared to play earlier this month after suffering a season-ending concussion last year. Anthony Grant had no updates in his post-game press conference. He said that he hadn’t talked to the training staff and didn’t know the extent of Steele’s injury. JaMychal Green also went down after blocking a shot and colliding with a Vanderbilt guard. Green was forced to leave the game, but would return later in the second half.

Moussa Gueye was one of the only shining lights for Alabama tonight. He added five points and two rebounds coming off the bench. Gueye scored the first basket of his Alabama career off a nice put-back in the lane. Anthony Grant said that he was hoping to get Moussa Gueye involved in the rotation tonight and he did. It is great to see Gueye back on the floor after suffering a knee injury in August. Look for him to get more playing time in the games to come. Gueye gives Alabama some much needed depth inside. When he is in the game, it allows JaMychal Green to move to power forward and Tony Mitchell to small forward. Green and Mitchell are much more dangerous when Gueye is in at center, and who wouldn’t pass up having a seven-footer under the basket?

Vanderbilt is a great team. They showed tonight that they have the defense to counter their great scorers. If they can get past the first round, which has proven to be hard in recent memory, the Commodores could make a deep run in March.

Rebounding after this loss is key for Alabama. The Crimson Tide has to travel to Lexington to face No. 2 Kentucky on Saturday. Alabama has shown this season to be a very streaky team, hopefully the Tide can put an end to this losing streak this weekend vs. the Wildcats. If you are Anthony Grant, how do you get the team to respond? Alabama has had offensive issues all year, is there any way to get them ironed out before Saturday?