Alabama wins in Vanderbilt’s Memorial Coliseum are rare, so Riley Norris punctuated Saturday’s with flare.

Nailing a 3 late in the 77-67 win, the graduate senior backpedaled to the defensive end. For just a second, he played the air guitar in a moment that quickly went viral on Twitter.

It was not a tribute to Nashville’s musical roots, as some sports writers might have confused initially. This started in December when Laker Lance Stephenson got a technical foul for dropping the pretend guitar on the Hornets. It’s bounced around the NBA ever since and a few Alabama players wanted to adopt it in SEC play.

“We were talking about doing it like after the first 3, hit the air guitar,” a smiling Norris said Monday. “But nobody did it. So, I was like, perfect timing. I got the last 3 in, so why not?”

Junior Dazon Ingram didn’t see it happen in real time but caught it on video after the game.

“I didn’t expect Riley to do it, of all people,” Ingram said. “I was surprised.”

Why surprised?

“I just felt like Riley isn’t that type of guy,” Ingram said.

Riley Norris celebrates the Nashville way. pic.twitter.com/XnBCCZEFrP — Michael Casagrande (@ByCasagrande) February 10, 2019

Alabama coach Avery Johnson didn’t hate the moment for his team at it won consecutive games for the first time in a month. It enters the 8 p.m. CT Tuesday trip to Mississippi State (16-7, 4-6 SEC) with a shot at a three-game streak not achieved since December.

Johnson said he preaches the hard work of the game but knows there’s more to it than that.

“I like when they’re having fun,” he said. “Sometimes our team is a little too stiff. If they’re doing that not all the time but some of the time, having fun among themselves and not trying to show up the other team, I think it’s a good thing for us.”

Alabama (15-8, 6-4 SEC) is getting a lot out of its elder statesman in Norris.

The last Alabama player who saw action in the Anthony Grant era is like the Hunter Renfrow of Crimson Tide basketball. A fifth-year senior who began with the team in 2014 is on a particular hot streak lately.

He’s hit double figures in three of the last five games including the 15-point night in Nashville on Saturday. Shooting percentages are up to 48.1 in this span compared to 43.3 percent for the season.

And for a player known mostly as a perimeter shooter, Norris has been making things happen in the paint. Defenses have been closing out on him harder around the arc, so he’s pump faking and taking it to the rim.

“You want to make it a numbers game where we’re playing 4 on 3,” Norris said. “So, you want to make the right pass. Basically, it’s just a read.”

That comes with experience, something Norris has in abundance.

And teammates don’t let him forget it.

“It’s mainly me,” Ingram admits without shame.

The mature Albertville native is cool with it.

“I hear it a lot around the locker room,” Norris said. “The old man, always getting treatment and stuff. You have to keep your body in shape, especially when you’re old.”

Johnson can relate with Norris perhaps as well as anyone on this Alabama team. He can call the super senior at midnight and “have a very, very intelligent conversation,” Johnson said.

“I can talk to him at a different level,” Johnson said. “Riley can get coached harder than anybody on our team times five.”

Sometimes that can fly under the radar, but the SEC Network cameras captured his six-string celebration for the world Saturday night. Walking into interviews Monday, he smiled expecting that to be a topic.

“There are so many cameras and so many people watching,” Norris said. “After the game, I saw a video. It was all over Twitter. I thought it was pretty funny.”

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.