No. 10 Tennessee takes down No. 1 Alabama, 68-59

Alabama’s run at the top of the rankings didn’t make it past Rocky Top. No. 10 Tennessee took down the top-ranked Crimson Tide 68-59 at Thompson-Boling Arena Wednesday night, a little more than 48 hours after Alabama jumped up to No. 1 in the Associated Press Top 25.

It was the sixth time the Vols beat a No. 1-ranked team in program history, in 20 attempts, and their second in as many tries, after beating Gonzaga in Phoenix in 2018.

Tennessee (20-6, 9-4 SEC), bouncing back from three losses over its last four games, including two-straight buzzer-beating losses, got 15 points and eight assists from Zakai Zeigler, sophomore center Jonas Aidoo had a double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds and Santiago Vescovi scored 12 of his 15 points in the second half. Uros Plavsic had 10 points and four rebounds and Olivier Nkamhoua added nine points and four boards.

The Vols played shorthanded without senior wing Josiah-Jordan James (ankle) and freshman wing Julian Phillips (hip), a duo that averages a combined 48.8 minutes per game.

Alabama (22-4, 12-1) got 15 points and 10 rebounds from five-star freshman Brandon Miller. Jaden Bradley scored 14 points, including 10 from the free-throw line, and Nimari Burnett had 11. The Crimson Tide’s 59 points were a season low and came on 35.4 percent shooting.

Tennessee had 26 points off 19 Alabama turnovers, while the Crimson Tide had just two points off eight turnovers from the Vols. Alabama won the rebounding battle 43-39, but Tennessee had 13 offensive rebounds and 14 second-chance points to four for the Tide. 

Aidoo put back a Zeigler miss in the paint with 3:04 left to get the lead to six. Zeigler drove and finished high off the paint at the 2:12 mark to make it an eight-point Tennessee lead.

Vescovi had eight points in the first nine minutes of the second half and Nkamhoua hit two free throws with 8:08 left to build a 51-43 Tennessee lead, matching the biggest of the game to that point.

It was a 7-2 Tennessee run to start the second half to give the Vols a five-point lead after Vescovi made his first corner three of the half. He hit again from the corner with 11:18 left to get the lead to seven.

Miller picked up his third foul at the 8:08 mark, sending Nkamhoua to the line after a Jonas Aidoo block on the other end. Plavsic stretched the lead to nine with 5:20 to go after drawing Miller’s fourth foul, then finishing at the foul line for the three-point play.

Zakai Zeigler paced Vols with 9 points, 4 assists in first half

It was a tie game, at 29-29, at halftime after an intense, physical first half. 

Zeigler had nine points and four assists, going 3-for-6 from the 3-point line, and Tennessee scored 17 points off of 12 Alabama turnovers. Still, the Crimson Tide tied the game on a Jaden Bradley free throw with 29 seconds left before the break.

The Vols shot 29.7 percent from the field in the first half, going 11-for-37 from the field and 4-for-13 from the free-throw line. Key scored four points int he first half, going 1-for-8 from the floor after scoring 37 points over his previous tow games on 12-for-25 shooting.

Tennessee’s biggest lead of the first half was eight points, after a three from Zeigler and back-to-back buckets in the post from Uros Plavsic. 

Alabama closed the half on an 11-3 run to tie the game. Miller scored nine points before halftime, going 2-for-5 from the floor, 1-for-3 from the 3-point line and 4-for-4 at the foul line.

Up Next: No. 10 Tennessee at Kentucky, Saturday, 1 p.m. ET, CBS

Tennessee is back on the road for back-to-back games starting at Kentucky on Saturday, a 1 p.m. Eastern Time start at Rupp Arena in Lexington. The game will be broadcast by CBS.

Kentucky won 63-56 in Knoxville on January 14, starting a run of four Tennessee losses over nine games. Head coach Rick Barnes has not been swept by Kentucky in a season during previous seven years at Tennessee.

The Vols are at Texas A&M on Tuesday, a 7 p.m. ET start at Reed Arena. Television designation for the game has yet to be determined, but will be on either ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU.

Tennessee has two home games left, against South Carolina (February 25) and Arkansas (February 28) before closing the regular-season schedule at Auburn on March 4.