Alabama
13-6,3-3SEC
Tennessee
13-6,3-3SEC
No. 17/17 Alabama Drops 79-73 Contest to Tennessee
1/24/2026 11:43:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide’s Labaron Philon Jr. scored a team-high 26 points
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The No. 17/17 Alabama men's basketball team held a 39-36 lead at intermission over Tennessee, however, the Volunteers would go on to outscore the Crimson Tide 43-34 over the final 20 minutes to result in a 79-73 victory Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum.Â
Alabama (13-6, 3-3 SEC) had three players score double figures led by Labaron Philon Jr.'s 26 points to go along with seven assists and four rebounds. In his season debut, Charles Bediako recorded 13 points, three rebounds, two steals and two blocks.Â
Tennessee (13-6, 3-3 SEC) was led by Nate Ament, scoring a game-high 29 points and Ja'Kobi Gillespie's 24 points, totaling 53 of Tennessee's 79 points.Â
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame CommentsÂ
"Obviously not the outcome we were looking for, got to give Tennessee a ton of credit. They had a week off just like we did and they came ready to go. Defensively, we weren't as good as I thought we needed to be in the first half, and we've had a major issue with second-half starts. A three-point lead (at halftime), I felt, should've been a lot bigger. We took care of a few things on the defensive end in the first half and then all of a sudden it disappeared immediately in the second half. They went from down three to up six pretty quickly. We need to find out how to have a lot better starts in the second half and we need to figure out how to make tougher plays. Tennessee is typically one of the toughest teams as far as physicality, effort, and rebounding, they are one of the tougher teams in the league.Â
Too many guys get their season highs on us; Nate Ament comes out and scores his season high on us. We obviously know he is a talented player, he is supposed to go in the lottery and we did not really have anybody step up and do a good job stopping him. Tennessee is a really good defensive team and we did not do a good job attacking them, in large parts to us not being able to get enough stops and get out in transition. We did not nearly have any transition buckets which is not how we are supposed to play. We have now lost back-to-back home games. We had a great crowd, I thought they were unbelievable. Thank them for coming out and giving us exactly what we needed but we did not give them a good enough show.Â
We need to get ready for Missouri, quick turnaround, we have them on Tuesday and they're good. We need to focus on what we need to do to get better moving forward and we need to be a lot better than what we were tonight."
Team StatsÂ
- For the sixth time this season, Labaron Philon Jr. scored 25 points or more in a game, leading Alabama with 26 points to go along with seven assists and four reboundsÂ
- The Crimson Tide received 17 points from its bench, while limiting the Volunteers' bench to seven points
- Alabama forced 10 turnovers, which led to 11 points, compared to Tennessee's seven points off Alabama seven turnovers
- Tennessee won the rebounding battle 42-33, including outrebounding Alabama 27-16 in the second halfÂ
- Alabama's converted a season-low six three pointers in Saturday night's contest
First Half Â
- In his return to the lineup, Latrell Wrightsell Jr. scored Alabama's first six points of the game, ending the first half with 11 points
- Alabama's biggest lead came at the 9:38-mark of the half, holding a double-digit lead (22-12) over the Volunteers
- Both offenses were efficient in the first 20 minutes as the Crimson Tide shot 51.7 percent from the field (15-29) while Tennessee shot 46.7 percent (14-30)Â
- Alabama's bench outscored Tennessee's 12-2 in the first half, led by Charles Bediako's eight points
- Bediako (eight points), Labaron Philon Jr. (11 points) and Wrightsell Jr. (11 points) combined to score 30 of Alabama's 39 points in the first halfÂ
- The Tide went into the break with a 39-36 lead
Second Half Â
- Tennessee outscored Alabama 12-5 by the first media timeout (15:58) to regain the lead
- Philon Jr. scored 12 of Alabama's first 18 points to start the second half
- Alabama did not make a field goal in the final 3:11 of the game
- Despite holding Tennessee without a made field goal in the final 4:08 of the game, UT would shoot 2-5 from the free throw line in the final three minutes of the contest to seal the game
- Nate Ament (18 points) and Ja'Kobi Gillespie (14 points) combined to score 32 of Tennessee's 43 points in the second half
- Philon Jr. was the lone UA player to reach double figures in the second half, scoring 15 pointsÂ
Up Next
- Alabama will return to Coleman Coliseum during the midweek to face Missouri on Tuesday, Jan. 27
- Tipoff is set for 7:00 p.m. CT at Coleman Coliseum and can be seen on the SEC Network
