Alabama
12-6,4-1SEC
#6 Tennessee
14-4,4-1SEC
Men's Basketball Falls on the Road to No. 6/7 Tennessee Saturday Afternoon
1/20/2024 4:42:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide saw its six-game winning streak snapped at the Thompson-Boling Arena
KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama men's basketball saw its six-game winning streak come to an end Saturday afternoon falling on the road to Tennessee, 91-71, at the Thompson-Boling Arena Food City Center.
The Volunteers (14-4, 4-1 SEC) led from start-to-finish led by Dalton Knecht's 25 points. The Crimson Tide committed a season-high 22 turnovers which led to 23 points for the Volunteers. Mark Sears led the way for Alabama, scoring 22 points, recording his fourth 20-point game during SEC play.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"That was as dominant of a performance that someone has put on us in a long time around here. They are good, they're tough, they're physical and we weren't ready for it. I didn't do a good enough job prepping them for their aggressiveness. They forced 22 turnovers and scored 23 points off our turnovers and they scored 17 second chance points. When you give up 40 points off turnovers and second chance points, you're not going to win very many games. You have to give them a ton of credit, Coach Barnes' teams always play hard and are one of the best teams on defense every year and they dominated us. We have to go back and get tougher and learn to take care of the ball a little better. Disappointing, but the good thing is it's one game. I told our guys we lost up here last year and still won the league. But we're going to have to get a lot tougher. I thought we did get a lot tougher and played a lot better after we lost this one last year, so hopefully that same thing happens. We will see some guys show some character and come back ready to play a little tougher brand a basketball."
TEAM STATS
- Mark Sears (22 points) was the only Alabama player to score double-figures with his ninth 20-point game of the season
- Alabama went into the game averaging 12 turnovers per game and the Crimson Tide committed 22 turnovers against UT
- Tennessee had three players score double-figures led by Dalton Knecht's 25 points
- The Volunteers outscored the Crimson Tide 23-4 in points off turnovers
- Alabama's four three-pointers matched its season-low in three-pointers made in a game (4 at Creighton)
FIRST HALF
- Tennessee jumped out to an early 14-7 lead five minutes into the game
- Alabama committed eight turnovers in the first 10 minutes of the game
- The Volunteers grabbed its first double-digit lead with 11 minutes at the half (23-13) and kept it at double-digits for the rest of the first half
- Alabama committed 13 turnovers in the first half, which led to 13 points for Tennessee
- Tennessee had three players score double-figures led by Dalton Knecht's 17 points
- The Crimson Tide shot 54.5 percent from the field with eight players scoring for the Tide
SECOND HALF
- Tennessee continued to extend its lead throughout the second half with its largest lead of the game was 27 points (81-54) with five and a half minutes left in the game
- The Volunteers shot 50 percent from the field
- Sears led Alabama with 15 points in the second half
UP NEXT
- Alabama returns to home to face Auburn on Wednesday, Jan. 24, at Coleman Coliseum
- The game is slated for tipoff at 6:30 p.m. CT and will air live on ESPN
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