Miller scores 30 points as No. 4 Alabama beats Vandy 78-66

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Freshman Brandon Millerscored 30 points as fourth-ranked Alabama beat Vanderbilt 78-66Tuesday night for their seventh straight victory two days after ateammate was charged with capital murder.

Reserve junior forward Darius Miles was charged Sunday, a dayafter Alabama already had announced he would miss the rest of theseason with an ankle injury. Coach Nate Oats said Monday that theTide was going through a “kind of grieving process.”

The Crimson Tide (16-2, 6-0 SEC) rebounded well against a teamthat beat them in the conference tournament last March. All six SECwins have come by double digits, though Vandy threatened late witha 13-2 run.

Jordan Wright missed a 3 with 36 seconds to go with Vandy down70-62. The Crimson Tide finished off the win at the free throw lineknocking down all eight attempts, and Miller had six of those.

Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley each added 12 points as eightAlabama players scored. Gurley capped the win with a dunk in thefinal seconds.

Vanderbilt (9-9, 2-3) now has lost three of its last four — allagainst ranked opponents. The Commodores now are 3-15 against Top25 teams overall in coach Jerry Stackhouse’s fourth season.

Tyrin Lawrence led Vanderbilt with 20 points, Wright added 15and Ezra Manjon had 11.

Alabama opened the game scoring the first six points and went up13-3 on a free throw by Noah Gurley. Vanderbilt answered back andtook its lone lead at 22-21 on a 3-pointer by Malik Dia. Then theCrimson Tide took control, finishing the half on a 15-4 run for a36-26 lead at the half.

The Tide just kept scoring. Miller capped a 32-8 run with a3-pointer with 12:44 remaining for Alabama’s biggest lead at 53-30.Vanderbilt couldn’t have been much colder, missing 10 of its first11 shots for the half. Wright’s 3 with 12:28 to go was theCommodores’ second made bucket of the second half.

BIG PICTURE

Alabama showed off its speed and shooting to remain undefeatedin league play. This is just the Tide’s second 6-0 start in the SECunder Oats in his fourth season. Alabama had not opened SEC playundefeated this far into league play since a 5-0 start in the1986-87 season.

Vanderbilt wasn’t helped by not having fifth-year forward LiamRobbins out with an injured ankle. He had 18 points in lastweekend’s win over then-No. 15 Arkansas. Robbins will miss four tosix weeks. The 7-footer ranks fifth nationally blocking an averageof 2.94 shots per game and was eighth with 50 total blocks. Hesaved a pair of victories blocking potential game-winners at thebuzzer against Temple and Pittsburgh and is a big reason theCommodores rank 19th averaging 5.3 blocked shots a game.

POLL IMPLICATIONS

The Crimson Tide positioned themselves to potentially gain morevotes winning their first game since Miles’ arrest.

UP NEXT

Alabama continues a two-game road swing Saturday atMissouri.

Vanderbilt visits Georgia on Saturday.