Alabama Basketball: Tide ends skid dropping Vandy in T-Town

Alabama basketball ended a skid and notched a win Saturday night beating the SEC win-less Vanderbilt Commodores in Tuscaloosa.

One win does not cure all ills but Alabama basketball stopped a slide and edged forward Saturday with win No. 16 on the season. The Crimson Tide took down the weakest team in the SEC, the Vanderbilt Commodores by a score of 68-61.

A few days ago, following the Tide’ third consecutive loss, Avery Johnson said, “this book hasn’t been written yet.” That was a fair assessment from a coach with no give-up in him. Saturday night’s win was not a new chapter. It was more of a segue, a topic changing transition piece in a conversation.

The new conversation will commence Tuesday night in Columbia, S.C. A brief preview of the South Carolina game is included at the bottom of this post.

On Saturday night, Alabama basketball was a desperate team but it did not play with desperation. It played better, with energy and enthusiasm in the first half. The intensity was high on defense. The spacing and passing were sharp on offense. The first thought of some Crimson Tide fans was “where has this team been?” For most, the second thought was remembering the quality of the opposition.

Still, the Tide looked good. Donta Hall was a rim protector with two spectacular blocks early. Except for John Petty, the other starters shot well in the first half. Hall, Lewis, Ingram and Mack combined to shoot 50 percent in the first half.

At the 6:51 mark, after a Kira Lewis three, the Tide went up by 22 points. The halftime score was 35-20 in favor of the Tide. Hall, Lewis and Ingram kept up their offensive proficiency in the second half. The defensive intensity ebbed a bit, but the Tide pushed the lead out to 23 points at 11:17, after another Lewis 3-pointer. The game was effectively over at that point.

The Dores did not give up. The Tide not unsurprisingly, let off the gas. Vandy got the lead to eight at 5:44 and it bounced around from eight to eleven points until the final spread of seven.

It was a big win for the Crimson Tide only because it was a must win. And it showed some glimmers of upside. Dazon Ingram played perhaps his best game of the season, scoring 13 points on 5-for-8 shooting, attacking the basket. He also pulled down 10 rebounds and made six assists. Donta Hall was more active on both ends of the court with 14 points and 11 rebounds. Kira Lewis was superb on offense, shooting 7-for-13 and scoring 19 points. Of course, some of the reason for the offensive success was the defensive vulnerability of Vandy near the basket.

The Frank Martin orchestrated defense will be very different Tuesday night. At Christmas, South Carolina was 4-7, with losses to Stony Brook, Providence, Wofford, Wyoming, Michigan, Virginia and Clemson. They then won five straight, followed by losing five of their next eight games. Talk about up and down has faded some, with two wins out of their last three games.

At 14-13, the Gamecocks have enough good wins to hold a slim chance for a NCAA bid. Before Saturday’s loss to Mississippi State, South Carolina had a NET Ranking of 81. Counting a couple of SEC Tournament wins, they will need to finish no less than 5-2 for a NCAA bid. Which means they cannot lose at home to Alabama on Tuesday night. It will be a battle. Frank Martin’s defenses are determined and tough. The Crimson Tide will have a challenge.

Alabama basketball fans, let’s enjoy this one and hold on to hope. Winning on Tuesday would move the Tide off a play-in game fate. Maybe Avery’s written book line will become prophetic.