Tide wins at Vandy 78-66 in first game since Darius Miles' arrest

Alabama freshman Brandon Miller recorded his fourth double-double to lead No. 4/4 Alabama to its sixth consecutive win to start Southeastern Conference play, defeating Vanderbilt 78-66 Tuesday night at Memorial Gymnasium.

With the win, Alabama improved to 16-2 overall and 6-0 in SEC play, making it the second time UA has achieved the feat under head coach Nate Oats and seventh time in program history. Meanwhile, Vanderbilt falls to 9-9 on the year and 2-3 in the league.

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Playing in front of his hometown fans, Miller, a native of Antioch, Tenn., delivered one of his best performances this season with a game-high 30 points and 10 rebounds. Jaden Bradley and Noah Gurley each added 12 points in the win, as the Crimson Tide improved to 16-2 on the season.

The game ended a chaotic, emotionally draining 72 hours for the Crimson Tide. Sunday afternoon their teammate Darius Miles was arrested on a capital murder charge in the shooting death of Jamea Harris early Sunday morning on the Strip. Miles was removed from the team roster and removed from campus. Oats said his team showed mental toughness to persevere and get the win over the Commodores, but said there were some tears shed in the locker room after the game.

"I didn't see a ton of emotion pregame necessarily," Oats said. "I did see some guys break down postgame. I think they've been bottling some stuff up. We got a job to do. Gotta get to the game and then we took care of business and then it's like a big relief, the game's over and we can let out a sigh of relief. But I think the guys need time. They're gonna need a lot of time. The guys have been using the resources of the school and the counselors. I think more will see some counselors tomorrow, but it's a hard situation for the guys to go through. So I thought pregame guys got themselves locked in and ready to go, It's like let's use basketball as a little bit of a release, if that makes sense. Then I think postgame got a little more emotional than pregame."

Oats said he has shared scriptures with the team, like Romans 8:28, which says "And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose."

"It obviously looks like there's no good in it," Oats said. "But we're trying to use it to bring the team closer together. It's a tragic situation. We feel awful for any part of what anybody in our program had to do with it, but we're trying our best to learn within the group, make better choices. Praying for Jamea and her family, her son especially. It's heartbreaking. She left a five-year-old here, so the whole situation needs a lot of prayer."

The team was scheduled to fly back to Tuscaloosa right after the game, but due to fog no planes were able to fly into the Tuscaloosa Airport, so the team had to drive back from Nashville.