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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. —This spring, Alabama basketball coach Avery Johnson gushed over who he felt could be the next big-time scorer for the Crimson Tide. Fresh off of losing star point guard Collin Sexton to the NBA Draft, Alabama’s excitement turned to Tevin Mack, a transfer forward from Texas who led the Longhorns in scoring during the 2016-17 season.

Wednesday night, Mack was as advertised.

The 6-foot-6 forward scored a season-high 25 points, including five 3s to lead Alabama to a much-needed 89-74 win over Georgia inside of Coleman Coliseum. The victory continues an up-and-down run for the Crimson Tide (14-8, 5-4 in the SEC) which has alternated wins and losses in its past eight games.

Looking to erase the stench of a 21-point loss to rival Auburn, Alabama found itself struggling to put away a lowly Georgia team that came into Coleman Coliseum as losers in six of its past seven games. A slow start accompanied by eight first-half turnovers saw the Crimson Tide take a 41-38 lead into the break. However, just when it looked like Alabama would continue its inability to kill off games, Mack came up with a pair of daggers.

The athletic forward started the second half with consecutive layups to spur a 6-0 run for the Crimson Tide. He then brought Coleman Coliseum to its feet with back-to-back 3s to extend Alabama’s lead to 53-42 with 16:52 remaining. Alabama wouldn’t look back from there, extending its advantage to as many as 18 points en route to a rare comfortable win.

“It was huge for us to bounce back from that loss to Auburn,” Mack said. “To come out here and kind of get some of that rust off us, get a good win and play well as a team. It was important for us to come out here today and do that.”

Mack finished the night 10 of 16, including 5 of 7 from beyond the arc. Kira Lewis Jr. also had a big night for Alabama, matching a season-high with 24 points while doling out seven assists. Dazon Ingram finished with 11 points to round out Alabama's double-digit scorers. As a team, the Crimson Tide shot a season-high 56.89 percent from the floor. Alabama’s previous season-best was 52.8 percent during a 73-64 win against Penn State.

"It's just the aggression," Johnson said. "It's making high basketball IQ plays. When we recruit players, we recruit people first. All of our kids are kids of strong charachter, but we recruit them because of their basketball intellect and we expect them to make high-quality plays for us on both sides of the floor. Tevin and Kira did it tonight."

Galin Smith took a shot to the head while battling for a rebound in midway through the first half. The sophomore forward left the game and did not return. He had six points and two rebounds over eight minutes of play before exiting. Johnson said Smith is in concussion protocol and will be reevaluated Thursday.

Alabama held its own against a physical Georgia team that entered the day leading the SEC averaging 40.9 rebounds per game. While the Bulldogs narrowly won the rebounding battle 38-37, the Crimson Tide held a 48-40 advantage in the paint.

Georgia was led by Derek Ogbeide with 17 points. He was joined in double figures by Rayshaun Hammonds (13 points), Nicolas Claxton (12 points) and Teshaun Hightower (11 points).

Heading into the week, Alabama found itself at No. 46 in the NET rankings used to determine the NCAA Tournament field. After playing three ranked teams in the span of five games, Wednesday’s game against Georgia marked the beginning of a winnable stretch as the Crimson Tide won’t face another ranked opponent until a home meeting against No. 21 LSU on March 2. If Alabama wants to advance to the Big Dance for the second straight year, it will need to take advantage of such an opportunity.

Wednesday, the Crimson Tide did just that.

Alabama will begin a two-game road trip starting at Vanderbilt (9-13, 0-9) on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. CT on SEC Network. The Crimson Tide lost last year’s meeting with the Commodores 76-75 In Nashville, Tenn. Since 1990, Alabama is 1-14 at Memorial Gymnasium.

Vanderbilt has dropped its last 10 games with its last win coming against UNC-Asheville on Dec. 31. Earlier this season, the Commodores saw prized freshman Darius Garland withdraw from school early to prepare for the NBA draft. Vanderbilt is currently led by sophomore guard Saban Lee, who is averaging 13.5 points and 3.9 assists per game.

Following the game against Vanderbilt, Alabama will travel to Mississippi State on Feb. 12.