♦♦ BAMA NATION ♦♦

•2023 Bama Mens-Basketball 2024 • • Bama Basketball Escapes Vandy With Win • Tuscaloosa, AL Alabama’s basketball team surely wanted to win its Southeastern Conference basketball game against Vanderbilt at Memorial Gymnasium Saturday, but there were times you wondered. The Crimson Tide looked for all the world as Bama Coach Nate Oats has proclaimed one of the best teams in the nation, but also looked like a team that limped into the start of SEC play like the team that had lost five games. Finally, by the barest, Alabama was a 78-75 winner over the Commodores, improving Alabama to 9-5 on the season, while Vanderbilt fell to 5-9. Alabama next returns to Coleman Coliseum for its first SEC home game of the season, Bama hosting South Carolina at 6 p.m. CST Tuesday (SEC Network). The Gamecocks opened league play earlier Saturday with a 68-62 upset win over Mississippi State. There were three early ties in the game and Vandy had a couple of leads in those first few minutes of single digit action, but Alabama’s three-point win came with Bama having the lead or tied for all but 12 seconds of the 40 minutes. And yet… With 34 seconds to play, Mark Sears made two free throws and Alabama had a 76-69 lead. An unguarded second chance trey by Jorda Williams cut it to a 4-point lead. Grant Nelson, usually deadly on free throws, made one and missed one with 19 seconds to play. Seven seconds later Jason Riverra-Torres, made a layup. With eight seconds to play, Bama’s Rylen Griffen missed the front end of a one-and-one. With 4.7 seconds to play Vandy made one of two free throws to pull it to within a two-point game. With 1.1 second to play, Griffen made the first of two free throws, making it 78-75, but fouled going for the ball after his miss. With six-tenths of a second to play, Riverra-Torres missed the front end of the one-and-one and Bama had escaped. • CLICK HERE TO ROLL WITH THE TIDE •