After a tough loss to the Vols, the Alabama Crimson Tide faces two must-wins to finish SEC season.
On Saturday night in Tuscaloosa, Tennessee seized the SEC regular season lead. Alabama Basketball must rely on support while also defeating Florida on the road and Arkansas at home.
The Alabama Crimson Tide’s rematch with the Tennessee Volunteers did not go as expected. Tennessee defeated the Crimson Tide at Tuscaloosa, 81-74.
The Vols deserve credit for their strong defence throughout. Rick Barnes had a good plan, and his staff carried it out. Alabama did better than usual defensively, but it wasn’t enough.The Crimson Tide committed 12 turnovers to Tennessee’s six, resulting in 17 points for the Vols and nine for the Crimson Tide. The Vols attempted 40 three-pointers to the Tide’s 37. They also shot a higher percentage of them, 30% outside the arc versus 24% for the Crimson Tide.
Not to excuse Nate Oats’ team, but foul trouble and fouling out, which limited Grant Nelson to 16 minutes, had a role in the loss. Another game in which Latrell Wrightsell was unable to play further hampered the Crimson Tide squad.
The finest outcome for Alabama in the game was restricting Dalton Knecht, the SEC’s leading scorer, to 13 points. Extra attention on Knecht gave Tennessee’s Zakai Zeigler additional opportunities to the basket, and he led the Vols in scoring with 18 points.
The Vols now have three consecutive victories over the Crimson Tide.
If Alabama wins and Tennessee loses on the road to South Carolina or at home to Kentucky, the Tide and Vols may share the SEC Regular Season Championship. A win by South Carolina versus Tennessee might result in the Crimson Tide, Vols, and Gamecocks sharing the SEC Regular Season Championship.
After the game, Nate Oats stated, “We need to make better decisions down the stretch.” “I thought we squandered way too many offensive possessions.” A unhappy Oats added, “When you get a 7-point lead against a good team, you can’t take possessions for granted.”
Florida also suffered an 82-76 loss against South Carolina on the road on Saturday. The Gators have won five of their previous seven games and are a strong NCAA tournament team. Florida hasn’t lost in Gainesville since Kentucky defeated them by two points on January 6.
Mark Sears, Aaron Estrada, and Nick Pringle combined to score 51 of Alabama’s 74 points in the game against Tennessee. Sears was the Tide’s top scorer with 22 points.
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