College Hoops

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

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


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…

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