Alabama-Vanderbilt: When Will Tide Learn To Win the Close Ones?

The Alabama Men's basketball team battled the Vanderbilt Commodores at Coleman Coliseum tonight in a game that went down to the last six seconds. Jeffery Taylor (6'7", 205) was fouled by true freshman Tony Mitchell (6'6", 185) with the score tied, sending the Vanderbilt sophomore to the line.

Mitchell short-armed the first, hitting the front of the rim and sank the second free throw after a timeout by Anthony Grant to give Vandy a one-point, 65-64 lead. With six seconds left, after a clean inbound play, Anthony Brock took the ball the length of the floor missing a short jumper from eight feet.

Brock was off on the shot, in part related to contact by the Vandy defender. The ball hit the rim and fell away from the basket. Although JaMychal Green grabbed the rebound, he could not position himself well enough to get a shot off before the buzzer.

Coach Anthony Grant would not comment on the last six seconds, indicating that he was emotional and needed to review the tape before he could be sure of what to say about the outcome. Mikhail Torrence indicated that it was the shot they wanted and "Brock makes that shot 9 out of 10 times."

With just under five minutes to play, A.J. Oglivy took a controversial charge on Mikhail Torrence that sent the 6'11" junior to the line. Ogilvy took the charge with four fouls. The replay showed his feet moving while Torrence was in the air. In fact, the official seemingly pointed at Ogilvy indicating a block but later said his motion was indicating that Ogilvy was to go to the line for a 1-1.

Alabama jumped out to an early 14-5 lead, led at the half 35-28 and maintained the lead throughout most of the second half. With 14:36 to go in the game, Alabama led 43-36. Vandy made a move and tied the score 53-53 at the 7:48 mark.

Alabama continued to battle the Commodores, pushing the lead to two, three, and four points in the last five minutes of the game. With 1:48, the Commodores tied the game once again at 62-62. A short jumper by Jermaine Beal put Vandy in the lead with 45 seconds left in the game.

JaMychal Green tied the score once again at 64-64 with two made free throws at the 35-second mark. Tony Mitchell subbed in for Charvez Davis. The Tide played excellent defense, keeping the ball on the perimeter for 27 seconds. But with eight seconds left, Taylor took the pass and turned to drive to the basket.

Mitchell grabbed Taylor around the waist and was called for the personal foul. The rest is history.

The men's basketball team fought valiantly but suffered a loss. They did not finish against an average Commodore team. They have made great strides in how they compete, they have improved their defensive play but the result was the same.

Having said this, they are playing with more intensity this year and defense is much improved. I know these players have the skills to get the job done now, but for some reason, other teams are still ahead on the learning curve.

Loses to Purdue and Kansas State, both highly regarded team that will make an NCAA championship run were hotly contested by the Crimson Tide. In fact, I think they should have beaten Purdue. It didn't work out. They played well against K State but really had no chance to win.

The players on the court and on the bench have bought into the Grant system. They will have to improve execution, particularly at the end of the game. Substitution of Mitchell late in the game was the right move. He just made a critical, critical mistake.

Critical mistakes make the difference in these kinds of games. It is up to the Alabama players to force the opponent into mistakes rather that commit them. It will happen. Give it time, Bama fan. Lots of good days ahead.

I suspect Alabama will gradually show improvement and will start winning these close games near mid-season. If not, it will be a long year. They have the potential to win the west. There is certainly no dominant team in the western division. But they will have to win games like this, particularly at home to contend.

Anthony Grant has now suffered his first SEC loss, at home. The Tide will travel to Fayetteville to face the Arkansas Razorbacks on Saturday.

P.S.

Since this site is not as popular as other college basketball sites, I would appreciate any feedback regarding quality of my writing and content of the piece. I hope to help make the Alabama basketball site appealing and fun to visit. I am sure the other writers will appreciate the same with their contributions.

I appreciate all feedback and will answer any questions to the best of my ability. If I don't have the answer, I will call a friend who does and get back asap. I look forward to the season with great anticipation and hopefully with good returns.

Roll Tide