Sixth-seeded Alabama will take her first step toward defending her Southeastern Conference tournament title when she takes on 11th-seeded Vanderbilt in the second round on Thursday night in Tampa.
The Crimson Tide (19-12) had a first-round bye while Vanderbilt (16-15) registered an 86-51 win over 14th seed Georgia on Wednesday.
The winner will face third seed Kentucky (25-6), who had a double bye in the quarterfinals on Friday.
The Crimson Tide has been inconsistent this season with games considered by Kenpom, ESPN BPI and Sagarin Rankings as the nation's toughest schedule.
Alabama has won over five ranked teams, including the then No. 3 Gonzaga.
"We're trying to keep everything that happened in our last regular season and focus on SEC tournaments, post-season play," said Alabama guard Jahwon Quinrelli. "I feel like people who haven't been in this situation before don't really know how it feels to be in this situation. So the upper class people have to set a good example for young people and that Have to make sure people are ready to play season after season."
The Crimson Tide, which ended the regular season with losses to Texas A&M and LSU, is led by one of the most prolific trios in the nation.
Jaden Shackelford (16.6 points per game), Quinrelli (14.3) and Keon Ellis (12.1) took 54 percent of the team's 80.1 points-per-game average, 71 percent of its 3-pointers, and 51 percent of its field goals . And 51 percent of it was free throws.
Vanderbilt is led by Scotty Pippen Jr., who scored a game-high 14 points in 23 minutes in a one-off victory over Georgia, giving them an SEC-leading 20.3 points per game.
Jordan Wright, the only other Commodores who averaged double digits in scoring at 11.7 points per game, added 11 against Georgia, while Miles Stutt and Shane Dezzoni added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
"Scotty has picked up the slack - there's no doubt about it," Vanderbilt coach Jerry Stackhouse said in his postgame interview. "It's a team effort, and we know it's Scotty's team and what he brings is huge, but we are a team."
A blow from Georgia's Vanderbilt, which saw the Commodores lead 37 in the second half, enabled Stackhouse to rest their starters. None of the Commodore starters played more than 24 minutes of Stuot.
Alabama defeated hosts Vanderbilt 74–72 at the teams' regular season meeting in Nashville on February 22.
Pippen was very good, finishing with 26 points, six assists and six steals. But Quinarley scored 19 for the Crimson Tide, who had double the points of Noah Gurley (11 points), JD Davison (10) and Ellis (10) as Alabama rallied from an eight-point, second-half deficit.