Men's Basketball Visits Tennessee For Regular-Season Finale
3/7/2009 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
March 7, 2009
ALABAMA (16-13, 6-9 SEC) at TENNESSEE (19-10, 10-5 SEC)
Sunday, March 8, 2009
Tipoff: 11 a.m. (CST)
TV: CBS
Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network
Game Notes in PDF Format 
The University of Alabama men's basketball team closes out its 2008-09 regular-season campaign on Sunday at Tennessee on CBS at 11 a.m. CST
The Crimson Tide travels to Knoxville, Tenn. as winner of three of its last four with a 16-13 overall record and a 6-9 mark in Southeastern Conference action. UA lost its last outing on Tuesday against Auburn, 77-73, at Coleman Coliseum, snapping a three-game win streak.
Tennessee returns to Thompson-Boling Arena after defeating South Carolina, 86-70, in Columbia, S.C. on Thursday evening to improve to 10-5 in the league and 19-10 overall. That win guaranteed the Volunteers at least a share of the SEC East title and was UT's third-straight win and fifth win its last seven tries.
Sunday's game will be the 135th in the series with UA holding a 71-63 lead after winning seven of the last 10 meetings.
Alabama is led by senior Alonzo Gee's 15.0 points per game this season as he tries to end his career in grand fashion by averaging 19.5 points, 8.3 rebounds and converting on 57.1 percent of his three-point attempts in his last four games.
JaMychal Green continues to solidify his standing as one of the top freshman in the SEC after scoring 16 points with eight rebounds against Auburn. Green is averaging 11.7 points, 7.7 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game in SEC contests this season. Since the start of SEC play, he has scored in double-figures 10 times with five double-doubles, the second-most in SEC action this season.
Point guard Mikhail Torrance has continued his steady play with 12.0 points and 5.0 assists in his last three games and has scored in double-figures in three-straight games, six of the last eight and has a 2-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio in the last month.
Sunday's game could also prove to be pivotal to Alabama's seed in the upcoming SEC Tournament as the Tide can claim either the West's fourth or fifth seed. Should UA win at Tennessee and Mississippi loses to Mississippi State, UA and Mississippi will have matching 7-9 SEC records. The Tide's season sweep of UM will break the tie and give UA the No. 4 seed. If either Mississippi wins or an Alabama loss would drop the Tide into the No. 5 seed. Should UA earn the No. 4 seed, it will play Vanderbilt at 7:30 p.m. on Thursday. If the Tide gets the fifth seed, it will play the loser of Saturday's Kentucky-Florida game on Thursday at 1 p.m.
