Alabama basketball falls short against Tennessee

The Alabama men’s basketball team came up short against a top-5 Tennessee team in Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night. The Crimson Tide entered as four-point favorites over the Vols, and while they certainly proved they belonged in the conversation as the top team in the SEC after a back-and-forth game that finished at 81-74 in favor of UT, the performance wasn’t enough to take sole ownership of the SEC standings.

The loss moves Alabama’s record to 20-9 (12-4 SEC).

How It Happened

Alabama’s defense came to play in this one. The Vols only shot 36.4% from the field and 30.0% from three-point land while only scoring 81 points. The problem is that the Crimson Tide offense struggled mightily as well against a very stingy Tennessee defense.

UT got up double digits in the first half on multiple occasions, but UA continued to battle back and even went on a 12-0 run to close the first 20 minutes with a 41-39 lead. About five minutes into the second half, it started to feel like Alabama might start taking control of the game and even got up 58-51, but a 14-4 run in favor of Tennessee allowed them to retake the lead with just under six minutes to play.

From there, it went back and forth in the closing minutes, but UT scored 11 of the last 16 points to come away with a seven-point victory.

Players of the Game

Mark Sears put up his usual 20+ point game while adding six assists, two rebounds and a steal. That’s worth a mention, but you have to give Nick Pringle credit for his performance down low. The 6-foot-10, 230-pound big scored 13 points, which means that he’s been in the double digits in four-straight games (and five of his last six). Not only that, but he added a team-high nine rebounds, a block and a steal with finishing with a 100% field goal percentage.

Key Stats

Alabama shot just 24.3% from beyond the three-point line after only hitting nine of 37 attempts. Obviously, that type of shooting performance fell way short of the team’s season average, and with the way this team likes to play, it’s not a result that’s going to help win a game, especially at home. The only player who was better than 25% from beyond the arc was Grant Nelson, and he only finished 1-for-3 (33.3%).

This just wasn’t Alabama’s night on the offensive end. You have to wonder how much a guy like Latrell Wrightsell Jr. would’ve helped, as he’s been on fire from deep over the last several games. Hopefully, he’ll be back in the lineup sooner rather than later. He gives the team another sharp-shooting option for when others are struggling.

What’s Next

Alabama still has a chance to finish strong in the regular season. On Tuesday, the Crimson Tide have a tough road matchup against No. 24 Florida before wrapping up their regular season schedule with a home matchup against Arkansas next Saturday. Tipoff for that game against the Gators is set for 6 p.m. CT (7 ET), and it will air on ESPN.

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