Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball at Tennessee

Blake Byler's thoughts and takeaways from Alabama's first loss in SEC play.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — Playing as the No. 1-ranked team in the AP Poll for the first time in over 20 years, the Alabama Crimson Tide fell on the road to No. 10 Tennessee by a final score of 68-59.

Thompson-Boling Arena was rocking, and the loss marked Alabama's first in SEC play this season, bringing its record in league play to 12-1.

Here are a few of my thoughts from the game:

1. Alabama couldn't match Tennessee's physicality.

Tennessee's calling card is defense. The Vols have the No. 1 defense in college basketball according to KenPom's defensive efficiency metric, and it showed on Wednesday night.

Not only does Tennessee guard well, but its players guard hard. The guards get up in you, the bigs play physical down low, and any team that plays them has to match their physicality or the Vols will easily impose their will.

Alabama matched the initial punch from Tennessee as well as it could in the first half, but as the game wore on it became apparent that the Crimson Tide wasn't up to answering the physical toll for 40 minutes. Tennessee turned Alabama over 19 times in the game, the Crimson Tide's most since playing Gonzaga on Dec. 17, a game it also lost.

Sure, some of the turnovers were unforced, but some of that comes with a deterioration in mental toughness as a physical game wears on you. And on top of the unforced errors, Tennessee did an excellent job of using physical defense to knock the ball free and create turnovers that way.

The Vols scored 26 points off turnovers in the game, compared to just two for Alabama. The Crimson Tide won the rebounding battle, but Tennessee secured five more offensive rebounds which led to 10 more second chance points. 

In total, Tennessee attempted 15 more shots than Alabama did. Giving an opponent that many more chances to score is sure to end poorly, and Alabama found that out Wednesday night.

2. For the first time all season, Alabama faltered in late-game situations.

All season we've been used to seeing Alabama excel in close games, getting stops when it needed to and scoring enough down the stretch to turn close games into 6- or 8-point victories.

We saw it against Houston, we saw it on Saturday against Auburn.

This time, the opposite happened. 

Alabama actually played good enough defense for the majority of the game, and head coach Nate Oats agreed in his postgame press conference. The issue came at the end of the game when Alabama needed to get stops.

With just over three and a half minutes to go, Alabama trailed by just four points, an easily manageable deficit. From then on, Tennessee got a bucket nearly every single time it needed to. 

Alabama's offense was only interested in scoring to answer Tennessee's scores, and couldn't convert when it needed to when the Crimson Tide actually did come up with a stop.

Ultimately, in a hostile environment and a grueling game, Alabama wasn't able to overcome the overwhelming number of obstacles it faced, whether they were self-inflicted or not.

It's easy to forget, though, Oats fields a very young team and regularly plays four freshmen. Games like this are the type you can look back on and learn from, especially for young players.

3. Take a deep breath, the sky isn't falling.

It's college basketball. Losses happen.

While they've been a rarity for Alabama this season, losses are normal over the course of a 31-game regular season schedule. The fact of the matter is, Alabama still sits at 22-4 on the season and 12-1 in the SEC.

Not to mention, Tennessee was the betting favorite in this game.

Alabama still has everything in front of it, including a favorable schedule to close out the season. The Crimson Tide's next two games are a home game against Georgia and a road game at South Carolina — two teams in the bottom four of the SEC standings. Alabama then hosts Arkansas and Auburn back-to-back, two games that could feature the two best atmospheres we've seen in Coleman Coliseum all season.

Finally, Alabama travels to face Texas A&M in College Station, the toughest remaining game for the Crimson Tide. The Aggies trail Alabama by one game in the standings, so the game could have SEC regular season championship implications if Texas A&M can successfully navigate a difficult close to the schedule.

After going 1-1 in arguably its toughest 2-game stretch of the season, Alabama has everything to play for. The SEC regular season, the SEC Tournament, and a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament are all very much still in play.

The Crimson Tide has responded very well to its other three losses this season. We'll see if the fourth brings more of the same.

4. A few more things...

• Once again, Jaden Bradley was excellent against a stout interior defense. He scored 14 points including 10 at the free throw line, and was the only ball handler for Alabama handling Tennessee's pressure well. 

• Charles Bediako was hindered by his knee injury, and Oats said that's why he didn't play more minutes. His absence at times hurt Alabama's interior rim protecting and rebounding. 

• Alabama's depth didn't show, which is opposite of what's been expected lately. Rylan Griffen, Jahvon Quinerly and Mark Sears all particularly didn't look like their normal selves.

See also:

Alabama Basketball's SEC Title Chances Are Still Great, But The Race Is Much Tougher

Rocky Stopped: No. 1 Alabama’s Offense Suffocated by Pressure from No. 10 Tennessee

BamaCentral Courtside: No. 10 Tennessee 68, No. 1 Alabama 59