Rick Barnes praises Tennessee's effort in Alabama win

No. 10 Tennessee dethroned No. 1 ranked Alabama at home on Wednesday night defeating the Crimson Tide 68-59 in a defensive dogfight. There were similar vibes in Thompson-Boling Arena to those in Neyland Stadium last October when the Vol’s handled the Crimson Tide on the football field, as Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes praised his team for their effort and gave kudos to Alabama after the win.

“I can’t tell you how proud I am of the effort our guys put into the game for 40 minutes defensively, because we won a game against a really number one deserved ranking by Alabama,” Barnes said. They’ve done a great job, Nate’s done a great job with his group of guys.”

The Volunteers played tremendous defense all night holding Alabama to their lowest-scoring performance of the season, and the first time conference’s highest-scoring offense has been held to under 60 points. They forced the Crimson Tide into 19 turnovers and held the SEC’s leading scorer Brandon Miller to 15 points on 36.4% shooting.

“But the fact that again for 40 minutes I thought we played really hard the other night and lost the game, but the one thing I can say, I don’t think these guys have ever come disconnected. And coaching staff did a terrific job of exactly how we wanted to play their ball screens on the side, what we needed to do in the middle, but just some incredible defensive intensity and effort by a lot of guys,” Barnes said. “There wasn’t one guy that went in that game tonight that didn’t help us win, not one guy, and just really proud of the effort.”

Tennessee entered this matchup coming off of two disappointing upset losses, losing back-to-back games that they favored by double-digits. But Barnes believes this made the team even closer on Wednesday night and resulted in an overhaul of team effort from the top to the bottom of his rotation.

“And I can tell you, and you guys might think I’m crazy, after those tough losses these guys stay with it. Like I said, they didn’t splinter, they stayed together, and we knew other guys had to step up tonight and Jahmai Mashack was terrific defensively, Jonas (Aidoo), Santi (Vescovi). And you look at Santi’s and Z’s numbers, they’re outstanding, but just when plays need to be made players made plays,” Barnes said.

Zakai Zigler and Santiago Vescovi finished the night with 15 points and a handful of steals each. And Jonas Aidoo stepped up big in just his second career start for the Vols, recording his first collegiate double-double and locking up the paint all night with three blocks.

It was a total team effort for the Volunteers on Wednesday and one that clearly Barnes was proud of.