Vanderbilt loses to Alabama in disastrous fashion

A night that started with unbridled optimism after news of Liam Robbins’ return ended with an embarrassed Vanderbilt team walking off the floor of Coleman Coliseum after a 101-44 loss at the hands of fourth-ranked Alabama.

Tuesday night’s loss marks the biggest margin defeat of the season for the 10-12 Commodores and extends their losing streak to three games.

Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse summed it up well by calling it an "awful all around night."

That result could’ve been assumed within minutes of the tip, this is one was over well before the second half started.

Alabama countered a 5-0 start by the Commodores with a 21-0 run that was sparked by a Vanderbilt scoring drought that lasted nearly eight minutes.

“We were just a step slow tonight, thought we would have some energy with Liam being back in the lineup, I thought we had a spirited practice last night, I really can’t put my finger on why we were just a step slow tonight,” Stackhouse added.

The Crimson Tide fed off of that momentum and took a 43-15 lead into the break. One that felt insurmountable for Vanderbilt.

Vanderbilt made just five first-half field goals, a mark that was doubled by the Commodores’ 10 first-half turnovers and 10 made 3’s from Nate Oats’ team.

The Commodores’ 15-point performance marked their lowest first-half scoring output of the season.

Things didn’t get any better in the second half for Jerry Stackhouse’s team, who fell by a margin of 57.

Vanderbilt scored a season-low 44 points while shooting 25% from the field and 10% from 3-point range. Those marks paled in comparison to the 59% and 46% that Alabama shot, respectively.

This one will certainly require Vanderbilt to do some soul searching.

Tuesday night was a disaster for Vanderbilt

A team that once hung its hat on its ability to stay in games with the top teams on its schedule certainly didn’t show any reason for that kind of praise in its blowout loss to Alabama.

It felt as if this wasn’t the same two teams on the floor as it was two weeks ago in Memorial Gymnasium. Alabama looked like a national championship caliber team while Vanderbilt looked lost and overwhelmed.

It felt like Alabama was bigger, stronger, more athletic, and was able to get any shot it wanted at any time.

We will learn plenty about this Vanderbilt team by the way it responds to this kind of outing when it plays again on Saturday. We’ll find out how resilient the Commodores really are and whether this is just a result of Alabama being tremendous and Vanderbilt having an off night, or if there’s more to this.

The negativity went beyond the scoreboard, as well.

Tyrin Lawrence didn’t see the floor tonight due to a “coaches’ decision."

“We’re gonna play the guys that do the things right, we’ve been telling some of the same guys the same things for two or three years right now and obviously that message hasn’t resonated, I’m gonna play the guys that do the things the right way,” Stackhouse said.

Stackhouse’s message was sent tonight by his decision to start walk-on guard Miles Keefe along with his decision to sit Lawrence.

Jordan Wright also sat out the second half due to some lightheadedness that he suffered during a collision with Liam Robbins.

Three quick takes:

Despite a few good performances, Vanderbilt is still far away from the top of the league

There wasn’t much reason to think that after a disappointing outing Vanderbilt wouldn’t get the best that the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide had to offer.

It was clear early on that Vanderbilt wasn’t equipped to handle that. Despite the 5-0 run that the Commodores started the game on, it felt like Alabama had everything going for it. Vanderbilt likely felt the opposite way as early as the first half.

At the break, Alabama had twice as many made 3 pointers as Vanderbilt had field goals.

Nate Oats’ team led for 35:33 of 40 minutes, won by nearly 60 points, and left Vanderbilt without much of anything to take pride in from this one.

Tuesday night’s contest was a loud reminder to Vanderbilt that it is still likely far, far away from the teams at the top of its league, even with Robbins in the lineup.

Liam Robbins’ return is the most significant part of Tuesday night long term.

Vanderbilt’s first matchup with Alabama was marked with news that Liam Robbins’ would miss significant time, news that made the rest of the night feel insignificant in comparison.

Despite the disheartening result, the news that the Commodores received made a similar impact, but for a different reason. A better one.

After originally expecting that he would be scratched from the lineup for four-to-six weeks, Vanderbilt received news on Tuesday that after just two weeks Robbins would return to the lineup.

The 7-footer is Vanderbilt’s leading scorer, leading rebounder, and leading shot blocker but may have even more of an impact than the stats show.

Vanderbilt got its heart and soul back on Tuesday.

When the Commodores need a basket to stop a run, it’s Robbins they turn to, when someone got beat off the dribble, it’s Robbins who cleans up their mess around the rim. The senior forward also has a case to be considered the Commodores’ best leader.

In their four games without Robbins, the Commodores went just 1-3 and experienced a small margin for error along with an overreliance on the 3-ball.

Robbins was Vanderbilt’s second leading scorer on Tuesday behind Paul Lewis. The 7-footer scored nine points and grabbed seven rebounds.

Two takes will suffice

There’s no need to overthink this one, outside of Robbins’ injury there weren't many positive things to take from this one.

Vanderbilt looked overmatched in every aspect, it’s only possible to say that so in many ways without sounding like a broken record.

Stackhouse’s team hasn’t had a night as embarrassing as this one, but they’ve left too many nights feeling this way.

Notes:

Alabama had won seven of the last 11 meetings between the teams.

Vanderbilt’s last win over the Crimson Tide came in last year’s SEC tournament.

Alabama won the first matchup between the teams 78-66 this year behind a 30-point performance by Brandon Miller.

Stackhouse went 14 deep with his lineup, that number included three walk on’s.

Miles Keefe earned his first career start on tuesday night, Keefe is the 11th player to start a game for Vanderbilt this season.