Saban, speaking on ESPN’s College Gameday, relayed the story that Simpson told him about the encounter.
“Your man Diego has all the confidence in the world,” Saban told fellow panelist Pat McAfee. “I talked to Ty Simpson. Ty Simpson said after Alabama beat Vanderbilt, shaking hands with Diego, he says, ‘We’ll see you again.'”
Vanderbilt lost, 30-14, in Bryant-Denny Stadium on October 4. Before the game, Pavia was spotted practicing his victory kneel-down on the field.
Said Saban on the Pat McAfee Show on October 24: “I love Diego, but that would have been a catastrophic player-coach relationship moment before the game.”
The Commodores took a second loss last Saturday in Austin to Texas, 34-31, but have a 7-2 record entering Saturday’s game against Auburn in Nashville.
ESPN’s analytics give Vanderbilt a 20.3% chance of making the College Football Playoff. After hosting Auburn, the Commodores have a bye week before wrap up their regular season by hosting Kentucky then playing at Tennessee.
A rematch against Alabama would almost certainly need to come in the playoff; with two SEC losses, Vanderbilt is unlikely to reach the SEC championship game.
Nate Oats said the tougher team would win Saturday’s game in Madison Square Garden, and Alabama’s coach had to be thrilled with the grit his team showed to earn a win over a top-five team in St. John’s.
The No. 15-ranked Tide allowed an 11-point lead in the second half to slip away and trailed the Red Storm with less than six minutes remaining. But Alabama — which was dealing with multiple players in foul trouble and others shaking off injuries — clamped down in the final minutes to earn a 103-96 victory.
The road win over the No. 5-ranked opponent was Oats’ eighth against an Associated Press top-five team since he became Alabama’s coach in 2019, and the third on the road.
“[They’re] one of the best teams in the country,” Oats said postgame of St. John’s. “They’ll be one of the best teams when it comes down to it. Whether we won or lost, this was gonna be great for us. I think our guys stepped up to the challenge.”
Alabama held Big East preseason player of the year Zuby Ejiofor to six second-half points after he scored 21 in the first half. Ejiofor completed a double-double with 10 rebounds, including five offensive, but Oats credited Alabama for limiting the damage by the rest of the St. John’s roster.
Alabama’s backcourt trio of Labaron Philon (25 points), Aden Holloway (21 points) and Latrell Wrightsell, Jr. (17) combined to score 63 points while making 8-of-22 three-pointers. But it was hardly smooth sailing, with Philon picking up his fourth foul with 6:38 remaining and Holloway fouling out with 3:22 left. Wrightsell, who was playing in his first regular-season game since an Achilles injury last November, limped to the bench in the second half but later returned.
Forward Taylor Bol Bowen, a transfer from Florida State who was called out by Oats for his lack of rebounding in Monday’s season-opening win over North Dakota, responded by scoring 17 points with nine rebounds, two blocks and two steals. Bol Bowen won the “hard hat” award for his blue-collar points.
“He was 100% the X-factor in this game,” Oats said. “If Taylor doesn’t bring it like he brought it, we have no chance of winning this game.”
Freshman guard Amari Allen played 24 minutes for the Tide, leading the team with 10 rebounds. Overall, Alabama out-rebounded St. John’s, 43-42.
“Amari was huge,” Oats said. “For a freshman, his first week of college basketball to step up and play like he did in the Garden, he’s got himself a great career ahead.”
Alabama committed only seven turnovers as a team, which had been a point of emphasis by Oats after two exhibition games and the season opener.
“Our backcourt had two turnovers on the day,” Oats noted. “I thought our guards did an unbelievable job handling the pressure, handling the press — they’re super physical in the half-court.”
Fouls were an issue all game for the Tide, which committed 16 in the first half and 11 in the second half. St. John’s was whistled for 17 fouls in the game while making 28 of its 40 free-throw attempts.
“The only thing really standing out that we gotta really work on is guarding without fouling,” Oats said. “It’s hard to win a game when the other team doubles you up at the free-throw line. They had 40 free throws; we only had 22. It’s a huge discrepancy. We made tough plays, we’re just gonna have to figure out how to do it without fouling moving forward.”
Oats began his tenure at Alabama by winning five of his team’s first nine games against top-five opponents, but had lost nine of the previous 11 entering Saturday.
Alabama and St. John’s will complete their two-game series with a game next season in Birmingham’s Legacy Arena after Saturday’s game on one of St. John’s home courts.
“I thank Coach Pitino for giving us the opportunity,” Oats said. “This the Mecca of college basketball. This is my first time coaching in here. He doesn’t have to play a tough schedule — we’ve obviously been pretty good these last five years or so.”
Alabama returns home to host Purdue on Thursday night at 6 p.m. CT. The Boilermakers (2-0) were ranked No. 1 in both major polls this week, with polls set to be updated Monday.
“We’re a little overlooked right now,” Oats said. “That’s fine. I think we were overlooked Brandon Miller’s freshman year — we ended up being the No. 1 overall seed that year. I think we’re probably better off being an underdog. We’ll probably be an underdog at home against Purdue. The way they handled us last year up there.
“We were an underdog here. We may be an underdog at home. We’ll probably be an underdog in Chicago against Illinois. Great. We put together a tough schedule. We’re gonna test ourselves early. We’re gonna see what we’re made about.”
