No. 1 Alabama Falls to No. 10 Tennessee in Knoxville for First SEC Loss

The Crimson Tide couldn't overcome turnovers and untimely misses in the loss.

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. — You can't win them all.

No. 1 Alabama basketball lost its first game in SEC play Wednesday night, losing 68-59 at the hands of the 10th-ranked Tennessee Volunteers in Thompson-Boling Arena.

The Crimson Tide suffered the most from turnovers, coughing the ball up 12 times in the first half and 19 times overall in the game. 

Despite 12 first half turnovers, the game sat at a 37-37 tie going into the halftime break. The second half saw Tennessee impose its will physically, leading to a total of 13 offensive rebounds and 14 second chance points by the end of the game.

"There's a reason they have the number one defense in the country. We turned the ball over way too much," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said.

Freshman Brandon Miller led the way for Alabama with 15 points, shooting 4-for-11 from the field and 3-for-8 from beyond the arc. 

Freshman Jaden Bradley showed the most maturity of Alabama's guards, having the fewest turnovers of any of the primary ball handlers and scoring 14 points, 10 of which came from the free throw line. Tennessee boasts a strong interior defense, and Bradley was Alabama's only consistent threat to score in the paint or get to the charity stripe.

"It was their physicality," Oats said. "They into our guards, we didn't handle it well. I guess we didn't do a good job of preparing our guys to go against the physicality that was going to come with this game."

Tennessee was led by its guard duo of Santiago Vescovi and Zakai Zeigler, who combined to make all six of the Volunteers' threes in the game. 

Down the stretch, the Crimson Tide had a chance to stick around and stay in the game, but stops were too hard to come by as the clock wound down.

"Our defense was not the issue tonight, overall, but we didn't get stops late when we needed to," Oats said.

Alabama also got stellar contributions from guard Nimari Burnett, who had 11 points and shot 3-of-4 from downtown in the defeat.

After a two-game gauntlet against two of the best homecourt advantages in the country, the Crimson Tide gets a much-needed home game against Georgia on Saturday. Tipoff is set for 5 p.m. CT.

How It Happened

(most recent update at the top)

Second Half

• FINAL: Tennessee 68, Alabama 59

• Bradley hits two more free throws to cut the lead to 65-59, but only 24 seconds remain.

• Quinerly hits a three to make the score 62-57 Tennessee's way with just under a minute remaining.

• Tennessee takes a timeout with 2:37 to go. The Vols lead 60-54.

• At the under-4 timeout, Alabama trails 58-52. Bradley has two free throws coming after the break.

• Clowney hits two free throws to make the score 58-52 Tennessee's way.

• Burnett hits a three to silence the crowd. Tennessee leads 56-50.

• Plavsic gets an and-one to go for Miller's fourth foul. Tennessee leads 56-47.

• Two Bradley free throws cut the lead to 53-47.

• Bradley finishes another and-one to stop a 3-minute Alabama scoring drought. Tennessee leads 51-45 entering the under-8 timeout with a Bradley free throw coming after the break.

• Tennessee hits another three to extend the run, but Burnett answers with a three. Tennessee leads 47-43.

• Tennessee is on a 4-0 run leading into the under-12 timeout. Alabama hasn't scored in the last 2:11.

• Miller hits another three to tie the game at 40.

• Burnett nails a corner three. Tennessee leads 38-37.

• Miller answers a Tennessee three with one of his own. Tennessee leads 36-34.

• Sears scores Alabama's first points of the half. Tennessee leads 33-31.

• Tennessee opens the half on a quick 4-0 run and leads 33-29. 

First Half

• HALFTIME: Alabama 29, Tennessee 29

• Bradley finishes an impressive circus shot for an and-one to cut the Tennessee lead down to 29-28 with just over a minute remaining.

• Bradley hits two free throws of his own. Tennessee leads 26-24.

• Miller hits two free throws to cut the Tennessee lead to 26-22.

• Bediako ends the Tennessee run with a slam inside. Tennessee leads 26-20 at the under-4 timeout.

• Tennessee extends the lead to 24-18 after another Zeigler three followed by a bucket inside.

• Gurley nails a big three to cut the lead to 19-18.

• Alabama is up to nine turnovers in the game at the under-8 timeout. Tennessee has taken a 19-15 lead after an impressive alley-oop slam from Nkamhoua.

• Bediako cleans up his own miss down low. Tennessee leads 17-14.

• At the under-12 timeout, Tennessee leads 13-12. Alabama has six early turnovers in a physical battle.

• Alabama's fifth turnover of the half leads to a Tennessee layup to give the Vols a 13-12 lead.

• Miller drains his first three to answer one from the Vols. Tennessee leas 11-10.

• Clowney finishes strong at the basket. Tennessee leads 8-7 at the under-16 timeout.

• Miller knocks down two free throws to make the score 6-5 in favor of Tennessee.

• Zeigler nails a three to get Tennessee on the board first, but Clowney answers with a three to tie the game 3-3.

Pregame

• Alabama will start its typical starting five of Mark Sears, Jaden Bradley, Brandon Miller, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako.

• Officials for tonight's game are Steven Anderson, Michael Roberts and Courtney Green.

• Sophomore center Charles Bediako is dressed out and going through warmups. Bediako was announced earlier in the week to be "day-to-day" with a knee injury he suffered against Auburn on Saturday. 

How to Watch Alabama at Tennessee

Who: No. 1 Alabama (22-3, 12-0 SEC) at No. 10 Tennessee (19-6, 8-4 SEC)

When: 6 p.m. CT, Wednesday

Where: Thompson-Bowling Arena, Knoxville, Tennessee

TV: ESPN2

Live Stream: fuboTV (Start your free trial)

Radio: Crimson Tide Sports Network (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart; Analyst: Bryan Passink). The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.

Series: Alabama leads, 82-70

Last Meeting: The Crimson Tide and Volunteers only met one time last season, and it was in the opening game of conference play, so it has been a while since these two teams met. Two of Alabama's few returners this season were the Crimson Tide's leading scorers that night. Noah Gurley had 20 points, and Jahvon Quinerly added 18 as Alabama rolled to a 73-68 victory over the Vols inside Coleman Coliseum.

Last Time Out, Alabama: In the first leg of its two-game, road rivalry swing, Alabama beat Auburn 77-69. It wasn't the Crimson Tide's best shooting performance, but strong guard play from Jaden Bradley, Mark Sears and Rylan Griffen led Alabama to victory. Alabama turned the ball over 14 times and got out-rebounded by the Tigers, but got the key stops and buckets when it needed to.

Last Time Out, Tennessee: For the second time in a week, the Volunteers lost on a buzzer beater. This time it was at the hands of the Missouri Tigers inside Thompson-Bowling Arena Saturday night. Missouri held a 12-point halftime lead and led by as many as 17 points before the Vols roared back in front of their home crowd. A missed free throw by Santiago Vescovi left the door open for the Tigers, and DeAndre Gholston delivered with the 3-point heave at the buzzer to give Missouri the 86-85 victory.