The iron was unkind to the Crimson Tide on Wednesday night at Memorial Coliseum in Nashville.
Alabama shot 37 percent (26-for-70) from the floor and 23 percent (9-for-40) from behind the arc on the way to a 96-90 loss to the undefeated Vanderbilt Commodores.
Despite being down 13 points in the first half, the Tide clawed its way back into a game that saw 10 lead changes and five ties.
In the end, the Crimson Tide didn’t have an answer to sophomore guard Tyler Tanner. Tanner paced the ‘Dores with 29 points on 8-of-15 shooting.
“I have to give Vanderbilt a lot of credit; they were ready to go and we weren’t. I have to do a better job of making sure our guys are ready at the beginning. We had four turnovers out of the gate and I think Labaron (Philon Jr.) had three of them,” said Alabama head coach Nate Oats in his postgame news conference.
Alabama (11-4, 1-1 SEC) was led by Amari Allen’s career high 25 points. The Tide had three others in double figures, including Aden Holloway (22 points), Philon Jr. (18 points) and Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (13 points).
All five starters for Vanderbilt (15-0, 2-0 SEC) had double figures in the contest, but the red-hot Tanner posted 23 in the second half scoring column. “I thought Tyler Tanner was great; our guards couldn’t stay in front of him and he got by us pretty much any time he wanted…He’s one of the better guards in this league. If they end up winning the league championship, he’ll probably end up being league MVP and he deserves it,” Oats added.
Alabama will try to regroup on Saturday versus the Texas Longhorns at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised on ESPN.
“We’re going to have to play a lot better to beat a lot of teams in this league,” Oats said. “So we have to get back, regroup, get some guys healthy and then give a lot better effort on Saturday.” TG
