Alabama on the road at Vanderbilt (3:00 SEC Network)

[pmull]

[/ The Alabama men's basketball team will begin a two-game road swing when it travels to Nashville, Tenn., to take on the Vanderbilt Commodores on Saturday afternoon. The contest is set to tipoff at 3 p.m. CT and will be televised on the SEC Network.

“I have not had much of a chance to watch Vanderbilt just yet,” UA head coach Anthony Grant said following Thursday night’s contest vs. Arkansas. “They are extremely well-coached and I know (sophomore guard) Kedron Johnson is having a great year for them. They have a lot of new faces from last year’s team, but that’s also mixed in with some veteran guys who played for them some last year. Without looking at their schedule, it seems like they’ve improved as the season has progressed. Anytime you go on the road, it’s going to be a tough environment to play in. They will be hungry for a win. We have to take both the good and the bad for the (Arkansas) game and mentally lock in tomorrow and get  ready from a mental standpoint to go play the game. We’ll be ready to go.”

The Crimson Tide (13-7, 5-2 SEC) enters the game tied for third overall in the latest SEC standings after hanging to defeat Arkansas, 59-56, on Thursday night. The victory was the Tide’s fifth triumph in its last six contests, with the lone loss coming in a one-point defeat at Tennessee on Jan. 26.quote]

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[pmull]

Alabama always struggles with Vandy in Nashville. Memorial Coliseum's unigue raised floor and benches on the endlines under the baskets cause visiting team problems. Vandy leds the series 66-65 and has won the last three and four of the last five.

This is not a good Vandy team. They are 8-11 overall and 2-5 in SEC play. The SEC wins are against bottom feeders USCe and the barn. Their RPI is 140.

Bama is a bubble NCAA Tournament team and can not afford to lose games it should win. This is a game Bama should win. A win keeps us in the top four of the SEC and in touch with the leaders. A loss will drop us to the middle of the SEC pack. Our RPI is a respecable 59 but we need to get into the 40's to have a chance at NCAA Tournament post season play. We need wins and this is a good opportunity to get one.

I think we will play well today. CAG should be able to get the teams attention after bad second halfs in the loss to UT and the close home win to Arky. It is a quick turnaround with the late Thursday night game. That leaves very little time to prepare and rest up so that is a concern. Howerver, we have the better team and should win.

Roll Tide.

[pmull]

Alabama has not beaten Vandy in Nashville since 1990. 

[BAMAWV]

BAMA down 5 --11:56

4 turnovers.

[BAMAWV]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

[Catch Prothro]

Nice win by the Tide.  Finally!!

The game was frustrating, until the final 7 minutes, when the Tide went on an 18-3 run to win by 4.

[N.AL-Tider]

Quality win for sure.  Really great defense and just enough offense to keep it close until the end when the defense seemed to turn it up just a notch and the offense came back to take the win away from Vandy.

Congrats Bama.

[BAMAWV]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

CAG must have heard me. He sat Gueye the second half and the Tide overcame an 11 point deficit to grab the road win. RTR

[Jamos]

It was another close one but it was a big win for them as stated above, it was a road win. The pressure defense again proved to be the key to this win as Vandy made way too many mistakes in the last 10 minutes of the game.

I think this win was a monumental win for the Tide, being that they had not won there since 1990. When I saw CAG hugging the assistant coaches after the game, I knew this win had a special meaning. Roll Tide!!

[Catch Prothro]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

CAG must have heard me. He sat Gueye the second half and the Tide overcame an 11 point deficit to grab the road win. RTR

Yeah, the guy serves one role, under the basket, for blocks and rebounds.  Occasionally, if he is standing in the exact right spot, he can make a basket, but don't expect him to dribble, or adjust to the basket.

Still, Bama doesn't have anyone else who can protect the rim right now -- so he's all we got this year. 

[Catch Prothro]

Quality win for sure.  Really great defense and just enough offense to keep it close until the end when the defense seemed to turn it up just a notch and the offense came back to take the win away from Vandy.

Congrats Bama.

The announcers talked about how this could be a monumental game for Bama, if it could carry that defensive intensity, that fight-to-the-end momentum through the rest of the season.  Vandy made mistakes, but Bama also played really great D down the stretch.

And it was a big win for Bama, finally beating Vandy in Nashville after a 22 year drought.  It was great seeing CAG and his assistants celebrating when Bama put it out of reach.

[pmull]

Big win for Bama. Congrats to the players and coaches for grinding out the win and breaking the Memorial Magic curse. Wimp was the coach the last time we beat Vandy in Nashville.

It was an ugly win but we will take it. We were very slow and out of sync in the first half. I don't know how much of that was Vandy / Memorial Coliesum or a hangover from the late Thursday night win. Vandy shot lights out in the first half. They shot 58% from the field. They were 71% from 3 pt.

The first half and the first 13 minutes of the second half was all Vandy. Vandy was shooting the ball well and getting every call from the refs. The refs had me frustrated sitting at home. It had to affect the players.

With about 7 minutes to play Vandy had an 11 point lead, it's biggest of the game. At that point Bama started playing with a sense of urgency. We also started hitting shots. Andrew Steele came up big in this stretch. He hit three 3's and had a season high 13 pts. No shot was bigger than Trevor Lacey's three with under 1 minute to play. Vandy was leading by 1 and Bama ran a set play to get Lacey the shot. He drained it. Bama finished the game on an 18-3 run.

Vandy had 31 rebounds to our 27 but we had 10 off rebounds to their 6. Our pressure was key in the game. Vandy turned the ball over 17 times. We had 9 turnovers. We took 50 shots to Vandy's 39.

Releford did not play the last few minutes. CAG said on his post game radio interview that he took a blow to the head. He had a cut on his forehead and some swelling. CAG thinks he will be OK.

CAG was extremely happy to get the win. He was as laughing and having fun with Chris Stewart during the post game interview. He is normally very conservative. He gave Steele a lot of the credit for his play and leadership in those closing minutes.

The win takes us to 6-2 in SEC. We are tied for second place with Ole Miss and Kentucky. Florida sits alone in first at 8-0.

We travel to the barn on Wednesday.

[pmull]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

Gueye is not one of the better post players in the league but he and Jacobs is all we got. Jacobs is a better scorer, Gueye is a better defender. He had 2 pts, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot in 23 minutes. He committed 1 foul. There were several drives to the basket where the Vandy player stopped and looked to pass rather than attempt a shot over him. He is fifth in the league in blocked shots.

I can't argue he stands flat footed at times and has hands made of stone. However, he is slowly improving. He is not fouling as much and rebounding much better.

[Jamos]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

Gueye is not one of the better post players in the league but he and Jacobs is all we got. Jacobs is a better scorer, Gueye is a better defender. He had 2 pts, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot in 23 minutes. He committed 1 foul. There were several drives to the basket where the Vandy player stopped and looked to pass rather than attempt a shot over him. He is fifth in the league in blocked shots.

I can't argue he stands flat footed at times and has hands made of stone. However, he is slowly improving. He is not fouling as much and rebounding much better.

^^^THIS^^^

I agree that Gueye is not what we would like to have under the basket but Jacobs frustrates me more than Gueye. Gueye screws up a lot but it's not because he isn"t trying, Jacobs has the skills but seems to be too lazy to use them.

For what it's worth, the pilot of the University's airplane told me recently that CAG uses the plane on recruiting trips more than the football coaches, so he is looking for help. Bama has 2 slots to fill this spring.

[BAMAWV]

TIDE down 8 at the half.

Gueye has no ball skills, whatsoever! I appreciate the project CAG is attempting but this is getting ridiculous. He is a flat footed hat rack. JMHO!

Gueye is not one of the better post players in the league but he and Jacobs is all we got. Jacobs is a better scorer, Gueye is a better defender. He had 2 pts, 4 rebounds, 2 steals and 1 blocked shot in 23 minutes. He committed 1 foul. There were several drives to the basket where the Vandy player stopped and looked to pass rather than attempt a shot over him. He is fifth in the league in blocked shots.

I can't argue he stands flat footed at times and has hands made of stone. However, he is slowly improving. He is not fouling as much and rebounding much better.

^^^THIS^^^

I agree that Gueye is not what we would like to have under the basket but Jacobs frustrates me more than Gueye. Gueye screws up a lot but it's not because he isn"t trying, Jacobs has the skills but seems to be too lazy to use them.

For what it's worth, the pilot of the University's airplane told me recently that CAG uses the plane on recruiting trips more than the football coaches, so he is looking for help. Bama has 2 slots to fill this spring.

Seems CAG has FINALLY come around to my way of thinking on Gueye. Yes he gets a few rebounds, but they are ones that bounce right to him. But he seems somewhat coachable, in that he no longer camps directly underneath the rim as much. LOL

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