The 3-pointer: Three takeaways from Alabama's loss to Tennessee

For the second time this season, Alabama squandered another winning streak as Tennessee defeated the Crimson Tide 68-59. Wednesday's defeat is Alabama's first conference loss of the season, dashing any hopes of going undrafted in conference play like the 1956-57 team.

The loss also marks the team's new season-low in points as it finished six points shy of its previous mark of 65 which its set against South Alabama on Nov. 15. Alabama also becomes the eighth No. 1 team to lose this season.

Here are three takeaways from Wednesday night's victory.

An old nemesis made an untimely return for Alabama on Wednesday.

Since the beginning of conference play, the Crimson Tide shored up on its turnovers coughing it up less than 15 times in its last 12 games. Wednesday's loss to Tennessee saw Alabama record 19 turnovers, its worse performance since its road win over Mississippi State on Dec. 28.

While the Volunteers turned the Crimson Tide over with ease, Alabama struggled to turn defense into offense. Tennessee turned the ball over just eight times which hindered Alabama's ability to score points off of turnovers. Alabama tallied just two points off of turnovers, compared to the 24 points Tennessee scored off of Alabama miscues.

"We tried to emulate (Tennessee's defense)," Oats said. "You can kind of tell your scout team to play a little more physical and we obviously didn't do a good enough job. It's impossible for a scout team to emulate these guys and we don't play the same way that they do. Outside of Ziegler, their guards are big, strong and kind of physical."

Alabama's offense was a bit slow getting off the bus for the second-consecutive game. For the first 14 minutes of the first half, the Crimson Tide went 5-for-16 from the floor including one 3-pointer at the 18:30 mark.

Along with a cold open to Wednesday's game, Alabama struggled with ball control as it turned the ball over 12 times in the first half. The Crimson Tide committed 14 turnovers in the game against Auburn on the road.

Despite the tough start, the Crimson Tide finished the half on a 9-3 scoring run, allowing it to nullify a six-point Tennessee lead going into halftime.

"You make it really hard on yourself," Oats said. "I thought our defense was good enough to win the game. We ended up out-rebounding them and they are a great rebounding team. Brandon Miller and Noah Clowney with 11 and 10 rebounds each, they played pretty well on the glass. Our offense let us down tonight."

Every opposing team Alabama will face for the rest of the season will gameplan around stopping Brandon Miller. That's what happens when a freshman hovers around 20 points per game.

Despite Tennessee's best efforts on Wednesday, it couldn't slow down the Alabama phenom who scored 15 points on 4 of 11 shooting. It was his best scoring performance since his 24-point barrage where he went 9-for-17 against the Gators.

Miller's efficiency from the floor was needed as he was the lone Alabama player to score in double figures until the 4:56 mark of the second half when Nimari Burnett's step-back 3-pointer gave him 11 points for the game.