Alabama's 6-game winning streak snapped with loss at No. 6 Tennessee
The Alabama men’s basketball team saw its six-game winning streak end on Saturday in Knoxville in a 91-71 loss to No. 6 Tennessee. The Crimson Tide lost its first conference game of the season, dropping to 12-6 (4-1 SEC) on the year, while the Vols moved to 14-4 (4-1).
HOW IT HAPPENED
Tennessee scored the first five points of the game and held the lead for the rest of the game. The Volunteers used a 6-0 run to take a 16-7 lead before Mouhamed Dioubate scored a layup off of the bench. The UT lead grew to 30-16 after a Jordan Gainey three, and while Alabama appeared on its way to trimming the home team’s edge, the Vols maintained a double-digit lead for the rest of the half and went to the locker room at halftime in front, 50-37.
Mark Sears, who tweaked his ankle in the last game, opened the second-half scoring with an easy layin, but Tennessee’s momentum from the first half carried over after intermission. The Vols increased its lead to 18, 59-41, after a 6-0 run, and while Alabama countered with an Aaron Estrada bucket, the Tide trailed by at least 16 points – and by as many as 27 – the rest of the way. Alabama dropped to 0-4 against top-10 opponents for the 2023-24 season.
PLAYERS OF THE GAME
Sears led Alabama with 22 points but was the only Crimson Tide player that scored in double figures. Estrada and Nick Pringle each finished with eight points. Dalton Knecht led all scorers with 10 points, continuing his strong play of late – Knecht was coming off back-to-back games with 35-plus points. Three other Tennessee players tallied double-digit points – Jonas Aidoo (19), Gainey (15) and Santiago Vescovi (10). Gainey made a game-high three 3s.
KEY STATS
Alabama turned the ball over far too much, finishing with 15 more than the Vols (22-7). UT scored 23 points off of those mistakes. The Tide didn’t shoot poorly from the field (45 percent, 25-56) but struggled from beyond the arc (19 percent, 4-21). The rebounding totals were pretty even, 37-34 in favor of Alabama, but Tennessee had an edge in second-chance points (17-12). The Vols had 21 assists compared to seven turnovers. UA finished 10-22.
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QUOTE FROM OATS
“That was as dominating a performance somebody has put on us in a long time around here. They’re good, they’re tough, they’re physical and we weren’t ready for it. I didn’t do a good enough job prepping them for their aggressiveness. I mean, they forced 22 turnovers. They scored 23 points off our turnovers. They scored 17 second-chance points. When you give up 40 points off turnovers and second-chance points, you’re not going to win very many games.
“You’ve got to give them a ton of credit. Coach (Rick) Barnes’ teams always play hard. They’re one of the best teams on defense every year, and they dominated us in a big way. We’ve got to go back and figure out how to get a little tougher, take care of the ball a little bit better. And obviously, we weren’t great on defense either. So disappointing.
“Good thing is it’s one game. I told our guys when we lost up here last year and still won the league. We’re going to have to get a lot tougher. They exposed some of our softness. I thought after this game, we did get a lot tougher and played a lot better after we lost up here last year. So hopefully, that same thing happens. We’ll see if some guys show some character and come back ready to play a little tougher brand of basketball.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Alabama will return to Tuscaloosa, Ala., to face the Auburn Tigers on Wednesday, Jan. 24. The rivalry game at Coleman Coliseum will tip off at 6:30 p.m. CT and is set to air on ESPN.
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