| MBB/WBB 🏀 No. 1/1 Alabama Upended by No. 10/11 Tennessee, 68-59

[UA Press Release]

No. 1/1 Alabama Upended by No. 10/11 Tennessee, 68-59 - University of Alabama Athletics

The No. 1/1 Alabama men's basketball team dropped a 68-59 decision at No. 10/11 Tennessee Saturday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena.

rolltide.com

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The No. 1/1 Alabama men's basketball team dropped a 68-59 decision at No. 10/11 Tennessee Saturday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena. The loss gives the Crimson Tide its first defeat in Southeastern Conference play this season, falling to 22-4 overall and 12-1 in the league.

The Volunteers, which entered the game leading the nation in defensive efficiency, forced the Tide into 19 miscues which resulted in a 26-2 advantage in points off turnovers. As a result, Alabama, which entered the game averaging 83.5 points per game on the year, was held to its lowest point total of the season.

Brandon Miller recorded his sixth double-double of the season, leading the Tide with 15 points to go along with 10 rebounds. Jaden Bradley scored 14 points and had team highs in assists (4) and steals (2), while Nimari Burnett came off the bench to collect 11 points. Noah Clowney finished with seven points and a team-leading 11 boards in the defeat.

Tennessee (19-6, 9-4 SEC) Zakai Zeigler and Santia Vescovi's 15 points apiece, while Jonas Aidoo had 12 points, 11 rebounds and three blocked shots.

HEAD COACH NATE OATS POSTGAME COMMENTS​

"Tennessee proved why they have the No. 1 defense in the country. They did a great job on us, and we turned the ball over way too much. They had nine turnovers, we had 19 turnovers; we scored two points off their turnovers and they scored 26 points off our 19 turnovers, to me that is the biggest area of the game and to me it was their physicality. They got into our guards, and we did not handle it well and we obviously didn't do a good job of preparing our guys to go against the physicality that was going to come with this game. The underneath out-of-bounds where we turned it over, I have to do a better job of getting us ready to play a game like this. We only get them once and if we get them again it will be in the SEC Tournament so hopefully we are better prepared to play against a defense like this because we have seen it. That is the reason why these guys are good and I know their record isn't what everyone thought it was going to be in conference but maybe they have been the unluckiest team I have seen with the last two losses. I don't think I have ever seen a team lose back-to-back games like that, but this is a really good team and they showed it tonight."

TEAM STATS​

• With the defeat, the Tide falls to 1-2 all-time as the No. 1-ranked team in the nation (1-1 in 2002-03)
• Alabama outrebounded Tennessee 43-39, but the Vols owned a 13-8 edge on the offensive glass which helped result in a 14-4 edge in points in the paint
• Of the Tide's 19 turnovers, 12 came in the opening 20 minutes
• In addition to being held to a season low point total, UA finished with additional low marks in field goals made (17) and attempted (48), points off turnovers (2) and second chance points (4, tied)
• Alabama is now 14-13 when playing AP Top-25 teams during Nate Oats' tenure
• The loss snaps UA's three-game winning streak in the series vs. UT and was the Vols' first win over the Tide on its home floor since Jan. 19, 2019 (UT won, 71-68)

FIRST HALF​

• Alabama shot 49 percent from the field while holding UT to 31 percent
• Tennessee used a mini 7-0 spurt to take its largest lead of the half at 26-18 with 4:11 left, however, Alabama did not allow UT to score a field goal the rest of the half
• The Tide finished the opening stanza on an 11-3 run to draw even at 29-all at the half
• Brandon Miller led UA with nine points along with three rebounds
• The Tide outrebounded Tennessee 25-19
• Tennessee attempted 36 shots while the Tide attempted just 21 shots

SECOND HALF​

• Tennessee began the half by scoring seven of the first nine points to take a 36-31 edge and used its defense to keep the lead the rest of the way
• The Vols shot 46 percent in the final stanza and limited the Tide to just 30 percent
• Of Alabama's eight made field goals in the half, six came from beyond the arc (6-of-14)
• Burnett scored nine points to lead the Tide, hitting all three of his three-pointers
• Both Burnett and Brandon Miller recorded four fouls to result in both player fouling out

 

[PurlJam]

It was ugly for sure. CNO spot on about the physicality. If this had been a not in Knoxville game, even Smokie would have fouled out.

 

[Bammerboy321]

Quinerly had 6 turnovers. He played absolutely terrible. Once again, we have no set plays to inbound the basketball. Just dumb.

The officials absolutely fucked us. Screw the foul disparity, the two charges they called on us were flat out awful calls. Then when Clowney and Gurley got completely shoved underneath all night, Alabama responded with the same physicality on the other end and immediately was called. Those charges flipped the game.

Road games in the SEC I guess.

 

[Bammerboy321]

We have to hope come NCAAT time, that we don't get matched up with a Virginia or UCLA. Physical defensive teams that are patient in their halfcourt sets give us tons of trouble. It's been our Achilles heel all season.

 

[Bammerboy321]

Lastly our defense was great all night. We matched their physicality.

 

[#80]

This happens on the road in conference we were due a game like this and TN was desperate. We are 12-1 time to reset and take care of business.

 

[Brandon Van de Graaff]

The officials absolutely fucked us. Screw the foul disparity, the two charges they called on us were flat out awful calls. Then when Clowney and Gurley got completely shoved underneath all night, Alabama responded with the same physicality on the other end and immediately was called. Those charges flipped the game.

Road games in the SEC I guess.

I don't mind them "letting them play"... but things about got out of hand in the 1st because they had no control of the game. Then it seemed they tried to reel it back in some but the calls became wildly inconsistent. Not exaggerating, maybe the most egregious no call I've seen all year was when that Serbian oaf intentionally blasted Qunierly in the face with his arm, well after the whistle, and nothing. No foul, no review, nothing.

 

[BamaFan334]

I don't mind them "letting them play"... but things about got out of hand in the 1st because they had no control of the game. Then it seemed they tried to reel it back in some but the calls became wildly inconsistent. Not exaggerating, maybe the most egregious no call I've seen all year was when that Serbian oaf intentionally blasted Qunierly in the face with his arm, well after the whistle, and nothing. No foul, no review, nothing.

I can't get over the one foul call against us when our guy was literally shoved to the ground and they call a foul on us about a half foot behind where that happened, just terrible.

 

[#80]

Officials did not cost us this game 26 pts. off 19 TO's got us beat. Shit happens when you go on the road.

 

[SnakeDoc]

I can't get over the one foul call against us when our guy was literally shoved to the ground and they call a foul on us about a half foot behind where that happened, just terrible.

That one was egregious.

 

[alabama mike]

Another team that is physical and we do not answer the challenge. Tough, in your face defense by the Vols, 19 turnovers by us, offensive put backs by UT and that equals a loss by us.

 

[24and7]

Please keep us out of #1!!

 

[Rolltide24]

Please keep us out of #1!!

I think we did a pretty good job of resolving that problem ourself!

It’s killing me that UT owns us this school year. Killing me. Ugh! They just have our number.

 

[mando]

Lastly our defense was great all night. We matched their physicality.

Most of the game I agree but we did give up 40 points in the 2nd half.

 

[mando]

I think we did a pretty good job of resolving that problem ourself!

It’s killing me that UT owns us this school year. Killing me. Ugh! They just have our number.

I believe we will get another shot and things will turn out differently. Heck this game would be different w/o 19 turnovers. Crazy stuff.

This is 2023 and the football game was 2022 so maybe they didn't own us in 2022..

Once again, we have no set plays to inbound the basketball.

This has been a problem off an on all year. Oats keeps putting short guards to inbound and they defend with a tall guy. Then for some reason the person they are screening to free up has to go a long way to free up. If they switch there does not appear to be a 2nd go to person. Just makes me shake my head.

 

[tider79]

I think we did a pretty good job of resolving that problem ourself!

It’s killing me that UT owns us this school year. Killing me. Ugh! They just have our number.

Both home games for them,,,will be much different next year

 

[SoCalPatrick]

No one is talking about how Tennessee was mugging Alabama on inbounds plays.

 

[alabama mike]

No one is talking about how Tennessee was mugging Alabama on inbounds plays.

No doubt about it, it was a physical game. As Jay Bilas said, " if you are looking for a whistle in this game, you had better go buy one." Bottom line, we do not play well with a team that gets physical. That is a huge concern come tournament time due to the fact refs let them play. Big 12 is athletic and physical and the Big 10 is physical. At some point, we are going to face some of those teams.

 

[BamaFan334]

No doubt about it, it was a physical game. As Jay Bilas said, " if you are looking for a whistle in this game, you had better go buy one." Bottom line, we do not play well with a team that gets physical. That is a huge concern come tournament time due to the fact refs let them play. Big 12 is athletic and physical and the Big 10 is physical. At some point, we are going to face some of those teams.

I think we can be physical, but when you have games like the Arkansas game where you breath on the other team and get a whistle, then you get a game like this it's difficult to know where to be as a player. They let them play more in the first half and were tighter in the second half where they didn't allow as much. That is not an easy transition as a player. That being said, we don't have much meat on our bones. Tennessee and Purdue have some big thick centers that are hard to stop. if we know we can be tough and defend, we can compete, but when the refs leave it to be determined, we get out of sorts. Alteast that's my opinion on what I have seen.

 

[TerryP]

No doubt about it, it was a physical game. As Jay Bilas said, " if you are looking for a whistle in this game, you had better go buy one." Bottom line, we do not play well with a team that gets physical. That is a huge concern come tournament time due to the fact refs let them play. Big 12 is athletic and physical and the Big 10 is physical. At some point, we are going to face some of those teams.

In another thread I think it was @SnakeDoc who asked "what's happened to Purdue?" It's the same thing that happened in Knoxville.

The defense did it's job against Tennessee in spite of the physical nature of the game. Earlier I pointed to Chuck's absence as being a defensive key. His absence hurt. But, I still don't look at it being the key.

When Bama, like Purdue, gets poor performances out of the guards the team is an average tournament team.

We saw Tennessee force this into a half court game. Oats system doesn't really have an half-court offense save guards creating plays. When their play is vanilla in half court—like being littered with turnovers as one example—it's a very beatable team.

I've watched tournament action for years and I've never seen a crew that would officiate a tournament game the way that game was called.

And here's another point I consider a fact. The guards Alabama has are good enough to play their way through bad officiating.