TAMPA — Alabama will get a rematch with the Tennessee Vols Friday. Just five days after the Crimson Tide knocked off Tennessee in Knoxville in the final game of the regular season, Alabama will have a chance to keep its NCAA hopes alive with another close encounter of the creamsicle orange kind in the second round of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at the St. Pete Times Forum.
Alabama (18-13) extended its season one more game with an 82-75 win over Vanderbilt (19-12), which will be heading to the NIT. Alabama’s only hope of making it to the NCAA Tournament is to win the SEC Tournament, but the Crimson Tide is on a roll and looking like a very dangerous team.
This game wasn’t as close as the score would indicate. Alabama built a 16-point (56-40) lead in the second half and went on cruise control the rest of the way. Vanderbilt spent the rest of the game digging out of that deep hole, cutting the lead down to five with 10 seconds left in the game but the outcome was never in doubt.
Alonzo Gee, who led all scorers with 25 points, scored eight of Alabama’s first 20 points in the second half to help the Crimson Tide extend its lead from 36-30 at the half to that 56-40 margin on a sweeping jumper across the lane with 11:20 remaining in the game. Gee went 9-12 from the field and 7-8 from the foul line in a dominant performance.
Mikhail Torrance added 20 for Alabama while freshman center JaMychal Green finished with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
The difference in this game was Alabama’s great free throw shooting — 25-28 including 10-10 in the final 1:03 — and Vanderbilt’s inability to shoot consistently from the three-point line. Vanderbilt launched 30 from beyond the arc and hit 10. Alabama, on the other hand, attempted only five three-pointers the entire game, getting one from Anthony Brock in the first half.
Alabama also dominated the boards, winning the rebounding battle by a 41-33 margin.
Brad Tinsley, whose three-point shooting made it closer in the final minutes of the game, finished with 20 points to lead Vanderbilt while fellow freshman Jeffery Taylor scored 17.
The one player that had to make a difference for Vanderbilt to have a chance to win was a no-show. A.J. Ogilvy, who lit up LSU last week for 33 points, scored eight points and grabbed eight rebounds.