The undefeated conference streak finally came to an end, and in a brutal fashion at that.
After charging to a 4-0 record in the SEC, Alabama basketball took its first loss in conference play, suffering a 91-71 defeat at No. 6 Tennessee on Saturday in one of its poorest outings of the year
The Crimson Tide's 22 turnovers led to 23 Tennessee points. Alabama also surrendered 11 offensive rebounds, allowing the Volunteers to score 17 more points off of second-chance opportunities. Those two stats resulted in an unhappy head coach, as Nate Oats expressed his frustration during his postgame press conference.
“I didn’t do a good enough job preparing them for their aggressiveness,” Oats said. “... When you give up 40 points off of turnovers and second-chance points, you’re not going to win very many games.”
Struggling from tip-off to the final buzzer, there were very few bright spots in this game for Alabama. Oats’ squad finished with a season-high 22 turnovers, a season-low 71 points, and tied a season-low in three-pointers made with four. Overall, it was an afternoon to forget for the Crimson Tide.
While Mark Sears is typically the guy to bring the team out of a hole, the senior guard wasn’t quite back to normal against the Volunteers following his ankle injury on Wednesday. Though he scored 22 points, he uncharacteristically missed three free throws and coughed up a season-high seven turnovers – his highest total during his two seasons at Alabama. That came after the senior turned the ball over three times over seven minutes against Missouri earlier this week.
“He’s got to be better," Oats said of Sears. "He wasn’t very good against Missouri with the turnovers. We got to get him outlets to get it out when he faces pressure.”
Following two of the best games of his career against Missouri and Mississippi State, Rylan Griffen was a shell of himself against the Volunteers. The sophomore wing shot 2-for-9 from the field for 7 points and tied his season high with five turnovers.
“We can’t have Rylan have five turnovers,” Oats. “It’s a combination of them being smarter, better with the ball, stronger with the ball, guys giving them outlets when they’re getting trapped and pressured. With a combination of the two, we need to clean up turnovers.”
Though the Crimson Tide didn’t shoot horribly from the field, is was incredibly limited in how many shots they could even get off, especially in the first half as it headed into the reak 12-for-22. Meanwhile, Tennessee nearly doubled that total, shooting 19-for-40 from the field.
“They did a great job, coach Barnes had a great gameplan,” Oats said. “Best job anyone has done on us defensively. So, we got to do a better job getting ready the next time we play them.”
After falling to the No. 6 team in the country Saturday, the next obstacle will not be much easier as the No. 13 Auburn Tigers will be traveling into town to face the Crimson Tide in Coleman Coliseum on Jan. 24 at 6:30 p.m. CT.
