Alabama Hosts Tennessee on Tuesday Night to Close Out Two-Game Homestand

Tuesday, February 4

Tuscaloosa, Ala.

6 p.m. CT

Alabama

Tennessee

Alabama Hosts Tennessee on Tuesday Night to Close Out Two-Game Homestand

2/3/2020 2:47:00 PM | Men's Basketball

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The Crimson Tide and Volunteers will tipoff at 6 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPNU

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team will close out its current two-game homestand when it hosts the Tennessee Volunteers on Tuesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The contest, which will mark the lone game played between the two teams during the regular season, is slated for a 6 p.m. CT tip off and will be televised on ESPNU.

The Crimson Tide is coming off a narrow 82-78 home defeat to Arkansas last Saturday night. The loss snapped an eight-game home winning streak, which was the longest since 2014. It was the second straight loss for Alabama (dropped a road game at LSU on Jan. 29), marking the first time UA has dropped consecutive games since doing so in the first two rounds of the Battle 4 Atlantis when it fell to then-No. 6 North Carolina on Nov. 27 and Iowa State on Nov. 28.

Tennessee and Alabama will meet for the 149th time in program history, with the Tide leading the all-time series, 79-69. The 148 all-time games played between the teams ranks as the sixth-most times UA has played any one opponent, while the 79 victories also rank sixth-most in program lore. This marks the seventh straight year the two teams will meet only once during regular season play. The last time the two teams squared off twice in the same season came during the 2012-13 campaign.

Promotions

Free t-shirt given away to first 1,000 fans in attendance
Free Full Moon pork sandwich given to first 500 students in attendance

The Broadcast

Tuesday's game will be televised on ESPNU with Kevin Fitzgerald (play-by-play) and Barry Booker (analyst) on the call.
The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Notes You Need To Know

The Crimson Tide enters Tuesday night's contest ranked No. 4 in the nation in scoring offense at 82.2 points per game and is No. 8 in three-point field goals made per game at 10.2 (as of 2/2), leading the league in both areas. UA also leads the SEC in threes made (215), threes attempted (620) and three-point field goal percentage (.347).
Alabama leads the SEC with a No. 11 overall strength of schedule entering Tuesday's contest. UA is tied for second in the nation in fewest games played against teams ranked above 200 in the NET, which also includes three additional SEC teams (Arkansas, Florida and Mississippi State). West Virginia leads the nation and has played only one game versus a team with a 200-plus NET ranking
It was announced prior to the Arkansas game that junior Herbert Jones fractured his left wrist and is out indefinitely, while graduate senior Beetle Bolden missed his second straight contest due to illness. When factoring in the ACL injuries prior to the season to forwards James Rojas and Juwan Gary – both of which were expected to play significant minutes this season – along with transfer Jahvon Quinerly's NCAA waiver denial, the Tide was down to seven scholarship players who were active for that contest. In all, injuries and illness have cost UA players a total of 48 games this season.
According to Ken Pomeroy's "Luck" statistic, the Crimson Tide ranks 327th out of 353 D-I teams. The category takes into account "the deviation between a team's actual winning percentage and what one would expect from its game-by-game efficiencies. Essentially, a team involved in a lot of close games should not win (or lose) all of them. Those that do will be viewed as lucky (or unlucky)."
Alabama enters the contest having played the toughest schedule in the SEC, according to the latest NET Rankings that were released on Feb. 2. The Crimson Tide boasts the No. 11 overall strength of schedule which tops the conference, while the No. 36 non-conference SOS is second in the SEC only to Florida (No. 32).
With just five more league wins, Alabama (795 SEC wins) will join Kentucky (1,004 SEC wins) as the only two programs in conference history who have reached 800 SEC wins in program history.
Through its eight SEC contests, Alabama leads the league in scoring offense (82.1), threes made per game (9.3) and defensive rebounds (30.3). Additionally, the Crimson Tide ranks among the top five teams in league play in rebounding offense (2nd - 41.9), blocked shots (4th - 5.0), assists (t4th - 12.9), offensive rebounding (5th - 11.6) and field goal percentage defense (5th - .398).

About Alabama

Three Alabama players average double figures, while six average 8.4 points per game or better through its 21 contests played. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. (16.4 ppg) tops the team and ranks fifth in the SEC in scoring average, while junior John Petty Jr. (15.4 ppg) ranks second on the squad and ninth in the league. Combined the duo produces the second-highest combined points by any two players on the same team in the SEC (31.8 ppg).
Lewis leads the SEC and is 10th nationally in minutes per game (37.16), while also leading UA and ranking among the league leaders in scoring, assists (3rd - 4.7 apg) and steals (6th - 1.8 spg). A first-team All-SEC preseason honoree, he also tops the team in field goals made (126) and attempted (287), and is shooting 43.9 percent from the field, 29.8 percent from beyond the arc and 83.3 percent from the charity stripe.
Petty is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. He leads the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (45.8 percent, 66-of-147) and is second in threes made per game (3.14), while ranking eighth and 17th nationally in the categories, respectively. Additionally, he leads the squad and ranks eighth in the conference in rebounding (7.2 rpg) and also tops UA in threes made and attempted while ranking second in steals (1.3 spg) and minutes (34.0 mpg) per game.
Freshman Jaden Shackelford also average in double figures at 13.4 ppg, while juniors Alex Reese and Herbert Jones both average 9.9 ppg. Shackelford leads the team in threes attempted, as 147 of his 222 field goal attempts – approximately 66 percent – have come from beyond the three-point line. Jones, who has been sidelined with a fractured left wrist, is the team's best defender, leading the team in Blue Collar Points (418), Hard Hat Awards (11), charges taken (18), deflections (62) and floor dives (23). Graduate senior Beetle Bolden (8.4 ppg), who has missed the last two games with an illness, also contribute on the offensive end.
As a team, the Tide has been outrebounded in seven of its 21 games played this year and owns a +1.6 advantage on the glass (41.0-39.4). The 41.0 rebounds per game ranks second in the SEC and is 11th-best in the nation. Alabama has outscored the opposition by +4.8 points (82.2-77.5) and is shooting 44.0 percent from the field, 34.7 percent from beyond the arc and 71.1 percent from the foul line.
Alabama's pace of play ranks among the national leaders. According to the latest KenPom.com rankings (as of 2/2), the Crimson Tide averages 77.5 possessions per 40 minutes ranks third-best in the country. Furthermore, UA's average possession length on offense is at 14.9 which is sixth-fastest in the nation.

About Tennessee

Tennessee and Alabama will meet for the 149th time in program history, with the Tide leading the all-time series, 79-69. The 148 all-time games played between the teams ranks as the sixth-most times UA has played any one opponent, while the 79 victories also rank sixth-most in program lore. This marks the seventh straight year the two teams will meet only once during regular season play. The last time the two teams squared off twice in the same season came during the 2012-13 campaign.
After beginning the season with a 7-1 mark, Tennessee has dropped eight of its last 13 contests (5-8) including three consecutive games coming into Tuesday's matchup at Alabama. The Volunteers most recently fell at Mississippi State last Saturday, 86-73, to fall to 12-9 on the year and 4-4 in league play – the exact record of Alabama.
Five players average in double digits to lead Tennessee, however, senior guard Lamonte Turner, who was averaging 12.3 points and team highs of 7.1 assists and 1.8 steals a game, left the team 11 games into the season.
Senior guard Jordan Bowden tops UT at 12.6 ppg, while junior forward John Fulkerson is averaging 11.6 ppg and tops the Vols in field goal percentage (.638) and rebounding (6.0 rpg). Junior guard/forward Yves Pons leads the squad with 2.6 blocks a contest to go along with 11.1 ppg, while freshman guard Santiago Vescovi, who has played in only nine contests, is at 10.3 ppg and a team-leading 3.6 apg.
Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes is in his fifth season at Tennessee and his 33rd year as a collegiate head coach. During his five years in Knoxville, Barnes has guided the Volunteers to a record of 100-58 (.633) and owns a career record of 704-372 (.654).

Alabama-Tennessee - Series Notes

Saturday's contest will mark the 149th meeting in series history between to two schools, which is the sixth-most common opponent in program lore. The Crimson Tide, which has won three of the last five games over the Vols, owns a 79-69 edge in the all-time series.
Alabama has won seven of the last 11 meetings and 15 of the last 23 games between the two teams. However, there have been close games played between the two teams as 11 of the last 16 games have been decided by 10 or fewer points. Most recently, the then-No. 3 Volunteers hung on to pull out a 71-68 victory over the Crimson Tide on Jan. 19, 2019 in Knoxville, Tenn. UA's John Petty Jr. led the team with a game-high 30 points to help Alabama nearly pull out the upset.
UA owns a 45-18 all-time record when playing Tennessee in Tuscaloosa, including a 28-9 mark under the arched roof of Coleman Coliseum. The Tide has won four of the last five games played between the two teams at Coleman, with the lone loss in the stretch coming on Feb. 1, 2014 (76-59).
The series began during 1913-14 campaign.

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