Rick Barnes shares secret to forcing Alabama turnovers

Tennessee managed to knock off No. 1 Alabama 68-59 on Wednesday night and the one key ingredient to the recipe was forcing Alabama turnovers.

The Crimson Tide finished with 19 turnovers, just two shy of their season high. For Volunteers coach Rick Barnes, forcing turnovers wasn’t an option. If you don’t do it, Alabama will eat you alive.

“If you don’t try to guard them, they’re shifty, they’ve got wiggle to them and they’ve got post guys that can shoot it,” Barnes said.

So how exactly did Tennessee manage to coax so many cough-ups from Alabama? They simply extended the defense and stayed locked in throughout the contest.

“It’s all being locked in,” Barnes said. “They make you guard from really two steps outside of the 3-point line. If you’re not out there, because they’re confident, they’re going to shoot it. And if you get out there and you’re not ready to guard the downhill drive they’re going to get to the rim and score it or spray it.”

All but three of the 12 players that Alabama had in the game turned it over at least once, and guard Jahvon Quinerly turned it over a whopping six times.

Still, Barnes came away seemingly praising the Crimson Tide even after forcing 19 Alabama turnovers.

“They’ve got a lot of things, so if you’re not really locked in and if you expose the rim to ’em, you get your hips turned and open the door, they’re downhill,” Barnes said. “When they get downhill they’re great with that hook pass off the baseline. They read it well because they’re obviously a very heavy ball screen team. And they do a great job of getting to the rim.”

Tennessee will look to continue to build on the momentum after taking down the nation’s top-ranked team.

The Volunteers won’t get much of a breather, set to hit the road to face Kentucky at 1 p.m. ET on Saturday with a broadcast on CBS.