NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Shan Foster scored 27 points and Vanderbilt beat No. 10 Alabama 94-73 on Wednesday night with its best shooting game this season.
The Commodores hit a season-high 15 3-pointers in 28 attempts and shot 58 percent overall in pulling off their second home upset of a ranked team in eight days. They beat then-No. 16 Tennessee 82-81 on Jan. 10.
Vandy (12-6, 2-2 Southeastern Conference) never let Alabama (14-3, 1-2) get close after the opening minutes in handing the Tide a ninth straight loss in Nashville. Alabama hasn’t won in Memorial Gym since 1990 under coach Wimp Sanderson.
Alabama’s other conference loss this season was 88-61 at Arkansas.
The Tide missed its first four shots and last led 14-12 after a basket by Richard Hendrix. That was it as Vanderbilt just kept hitting shots in taking a 54-37 halftime lead and the Commodores were up by as many as 25 points in the final minutes.
Derrick Byars scored 15 points for Vanderbilt, while Ross Neltner added 14 and Alex Gordon and Dan Cage each had 12.
Mykal Riley led Alabama with 21 points, while Jermareo Davidson added 18, Hendrix 14 and Alonzo Gee 11. Ronald Steele, who had been averaging 10.5 points, had only five.
Vanderbilt, which has beaten three straight ranked teams including a Dec. 9 win over then-No. 25 Georgia Tech, needed this victory badly. The Commodores had lost two road games to start SEC play, and three of their next four are on the road at No. 25 Kentucky, No. 16 LSU and top-ranked Florida.
Alabama had won seven of eight with all five starters averaging in double figures. But the Tide had not played since downing then-No. 13 LSU 71-61 on Jan 9.
Gordon hit a 3 that put Vandy up to stay at 15-14 with 14:00 left in the first half. Davidson hit two jumpers that kept Alabama within 19-18, but the Commodores went on a 9-2 run highlighted by George Drake’s dunk.
The Commodores, who had only one turnover through the first 18 minutes, pushed their lead into double digits.
With Vandy leading 40-30, one sequence summed up Alabama’s night. Gee missed two straight shots inside, and Davidson also missed two before Byars hit a 3 on the other end for a 43-30 lead.
Vandy was 21-of-31 from the field, including 9-of-15 from 3-point range, in the first half.
The Commodores cooled off a bit in the second half but not enough to let Alabama back in the game. Foster’s fifth 3-pointer put Vandy up 68-46 with 15:06 to go.
The Tide pulled within 76-67 on a basket by Hendrix. Vandy answered with its 14th 3, this one by Byars to push the lead back to double digits on the next possession, as the Commodores scored the next 16 points to seal the victory.
