Neither No. 14 Alabama nor No. 4 Tennessee relented as both teams looked to take sole possession of first place in the SEC on Saturday.

Alabama improved dramatically on the defensive end since its blowout loss to the Volunteers in Knoxville, Tennessee but it just wasn’t enough. Tennessee’s physicality on limited the Crimson Tide’s offense and the Volunteers won the 50-50 battles to edge an 81-74 victory inside Coleman Coliseum.

It’s not a performance that should greatly affect Alabama’s current NCAA Tournament projection, but that won’t change Alabama coach Nate Oats’ opinion of the outcome. The Crimson is now a step behind in the SEC standings with very little time to make up ground and win the conference regular season title.

"It's out of our hands now," Oats said. "We still got a shot at it but we're gonna need to get some help to earn a share of it at this point. So (it's) real disappointing."

Here are three takeaways from Alabama against Tennessee.

As the second half of Saturday’s contest wore on, Tennessee’s physically took over. The Volunteers slowed the Crimson Tide attack offensively and wore Alabama down on its home floor.

Alabama was held to just 1.07 points per possession and at one point missed 11 of 12 shots from the field to help Tennessee hang around. Alabama was unable to play with its usual quick tempo and had to fight for nearly every bucket in the second period.

The Crimson Tide finished with just eight fastbreak points and had to frequently attack a set Tennessee defense in the halfcourt. When Alabama created shots, they were contested by Tennessee's defense. Mark Sears scored 22 points, but shot just 2-for-8 from 3-point range. Aaron Estrada scored 16, but none of those points came after the 15:43 mark of the second half. Alabama made just two of its final 13 field goals and shot 24.3% from 3.

"They do a really good job of taking away our 3 and being very physical on the ball," Sears said of Tennessee's defense. "That led to us not shooting the ball really well from 3."

Alabama went into halftime on a 12-0 scoring run stretch, but that was offset in the final period by large droughts where the Crimson Tide was unable to generate quality looks and quick points on the break.

"I think it got a little stagnant," Alabama forward Nick Pringle said. "I think we should've moved the ball a lot more, get some off-ball actions knowing that they were pressing into the ball. There were a lot of things we could have done, a lot of adjustments we could have made, a lot of communication. There's some things that we're still building to be a good team."

Alabama's defensive game plan against Dalton Knecht was exceptional. The Crimson Tide blitzed the Tennessee forward beyond the 3-point line, forced him to the bench with foul trouble and made every shot he took extremely difficult.

Knecht finished with just 13 points, five rebounds and an assist, a quiet evening by his standards. Alabama's play against him showed an improved commitment to defending, which Oats has been calling for all season.

Unfortunately for the Crimson Tide, Knecht’s teammates picked up any of his slack Saturday. The Volunteers deep roster and ability to create mismatches was just too much for Alabama to handle. Jonas Aidoo was a non-factor in the first half, playing just four minutes with foul trouble. Despite the cold start Aidoo came alive in the final period and finished with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

In addition to Aidoo, Tennessee's guards showed every bit of their experience on the road. Junior Zakai Zeigler led the Volunteers with 18 points, along with four assists, two rebounds, one block and a steal. Fifth-year senior Santiago Vescovi had just eight points, but hit a pair of 3s and added three rebounds and a pair of assists. The duo also had just one giveaway between them and Tennessee had just six turnovers as a team.

"We didn't do a good enough job on their other guys outside of Knecht," Oats said. "We did a fairly good job on Knecht but Aidoo has 12 and Zeigler has 18 and (Jahmai) Mashack hits the big 3 in the corner, goes 2-for-2 (from 3) tonight. He had a big night."

At halftime Oats told ESPN that Tennessee was winning the battle for 50-50 balls and was first to chase down long rebounds and deflections. That trend continued in the second period, which helped Tennessee separate itself from Alabama on Saturday. In a game that felt like it had a trophy on the line, Tennessee made more winning plays when it mattered, leaving Alabama without control over its own destiny.

"I thought we showed we can guard," Oats said. "There were loose balls and some different defensive rebounds that should have been 50-50 balls that we didn't come up with late. If you're gonna win a championship like we were trying to win tonight, you got to make those plays and we just to make enough of them late."

On Friday, Oats challenged Pringle to continue his strong run of form and called for the Crimson Tide’s freshman to play like veterans in Alabama’s biggest game of the season. Pringle and the Alabama's young bucks were up to the task and helped keep Alabama in the game Saturday.

Jarin Stevenson started in place of Latrell Wrightsell Jr. once again, and worked hard against Tennessee’s physical frontcourt. When Grant Nelson fouled out of the game, Pringle played with immense energy, hounding the offensive glass and drawing fouls. He finished in double figures for a fourth straight game notching 13 points and nine rebounds.

"Pringle was great," Oats said. "I think that Pringle has been really good in his role. I was proud of Nick tonight."

Along with Pringle, Alabama's young players had bright moments of their own to help keep the Crimson Tide in the game. While Rylan Griffen was ice cold, shooting just 2-for-11 from the field with five points, Davin Cosby Jr. continued to shoot with confidence after his strong performance against Ole Miss. The redshirt freshman came off the bench and buried two 3s and added an assist in 10 minutes. Sam Walters showed no fear driving against Tennessee's older and bigger forwards. He scored five points and went 3-for-3 from the free throw line an added a rebound. Along with Pringle Mouhamed Dioubate was a rebounding machine for the Crimson Tide. He scored just one point but snagged seven boards and logged a steal.

While Alabama's youngsters had their moments, Oats still expects more. After the game he compared Tennessee's experienced roster with Alabama's. He said the Tide's reliance on younger players means they need to keep stepping up and play older than they are. With the SEC Tournament around the corner and still plenty for Alabama to play for, Oats wants to keep raising the bar for the Crimson Tide's less experienced group.

"We're playing a lot of freshmen and sophomores. They need to grow up in a hurry," Oats said. "If we're going to try to have a shot to win these last two and try to make a run at the SEC tournament we need those guys to grow up and play a little more like juniors and seniors than freshmen and sophomores."

Alabama (20-9, 12-4 SEC) will have to try and shake off a loss that leaves it needing help to win the SEC regular season title when it its the road to face No. 24 Florida. The Gators (20-9, 10-6) lost 82-76 to No. 18 South Carolina on Saturday.

The Crimson Tide faces the Gators at 6 p.m. Tuesday at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center in Gainesville, Florida. The game will be televised on ESPN.