*Sorry for being MIA earlier this week, folks. I had to travel for work – and will again this upcoming week, so be on the lookout for Josh’s Georgia preview Tuesday.
*After Alabama’s absolute annihilation of the Mississippi State Bulldogs Wednesday night, the 17th-ranked Crimson Tide now heads to Knoxville looking to avenge its earlier season loss to the 22nd-ranked Vols and extend its winning streak to eight straight games. This is a massive game for both teams, as each is battling in a tightly
contested tier of teams behind Florida for seeding in Nashville in a few weeks, as well as the Big Dance itself. As mentioned, Nate Oats’ club comes into this one searing hot, winners of seven straight games, which has propelled the Tide up into a tie for 2nd place in the SEC with Arkansas – who Alabama beat just last week in what was likely the Game of the Year in the conference.
Tennessee, meanwhile, comes into this one fresh off of an upset loss at the hands of the Missouri Tigers. That loss snapped the Vols’ four game win streak. Still, Rick Barnes’ club has won 8 of its last 10 games, so it’s not like they are limping into this matchup. And unfortunately – speaking of streaks – Tennessee has owned Alabama in recent years. You have to go back to December 29th, 2021 to find the last Tide victory over Barnes and his boys from Knoxville. The Noah Gurley Game. It’s been a painful run for Oats against the Vols.
From Last Time
Three Keys to Victory
- Control the Tempo. This is a consistently significant key when these two teams do battle. Alabama is 8th in the country in Adjusted Tempo; Tennessee is 233rd. The Vols want to slow the game to a crawl, muck it up, and hammer away on the defensive end. Alabama, as we all know, isn’t trying to get into that kind of a game. If Alabama can close out defensive possessions with turnovers and rebounds – two areas Chuck can come up big in – the Tide should be able to get out and running.
- Be Quick with Gillespie and Physical with Ament. Tennessee’s offense is kind of living and dying with these two players, and it has shown recently. The Vols have been one of the worst offensive teams in conference play – dead last in turnovers and 13th in FG%. Forcing the ball out of Gillespie’s hands has been the main way defenses have had success against Tennessee’s offense. Alabama’s guards need to be quick enough laterally to keep him in front of them, and the Tide’s bigs need to be quick with their slides if the front-line defense breaks down. Meanwhile, Ament has really slowed down as a scorer recently and is one of the main reasons the Vols have been so bad with the turnovers. Teams have really started to pressure him and be physical with him, and Ament simply hasn’t grown his game enough to overcome that efficiently.
- Get the Treys Cooking. Bediako isn’t the only one returning for the Tide in Tuscaloosa tonight – Latrell Wrightsell is expected to be back in the lineup as well. That gives Alabama yet another perimeter threat. With the Tide getting over 40% of its total points on the season from the three-ball, and Tennessee giving up 46.1% of their total points allowed this year from downtown, this could end up being a big night for the Tide from beyond the arc. Now, Tennessee knows this and will certainly look to run the Tide off of the line, but if Alabama is controlling the pace of the game, it’ll be tough for all of those big Tennessee wings and post players to keep up in transition.
As we all know, Tennessee came into Tuscaloosa back in January and escaped Coleman Coliseum with a 79-73 victory where they led most of the second half. Now, while everyone in the country was pointing and laughing at the Tide for losing that game at home even with former G-Leaguer and mustache-twirling supervillain Charles Bediako, what pretty much all of them failed to realize – or, more aptly, chose to ignore – was that Alabama was down two of its best players in Aden Holloway and Amari Allen. Both were late scratches, which really doomed the Tide before the game even began. If you are wondering how important those two players are to this year’s team, look no further than the game played just three days ago.
This time around, it will be the opposite – Aden and Amari in, Chuck out. Labaron Philon, of course, missed the State game on Wednesday, but the feeling is that he will be ready to go tonight in Thompson-Boling Arena. Regardless of who is playing, Alabama really needs to solve Tennessee’s ability to run the Tide’s shooters off of the three-point line. Obviously, having two big-time shooters back will help in that aspect, but I think, so too, will playing smaller with Aiden Sherrill manning the five, as opposed to Bediako at center with Sherrill playing the four. Alabama really needs to push tempo and make this a full-court game.
The Vols are currently listed as five-point favorites, and given the recent history between these two teams, that’s totally logical. But I really think people are underestimating how massive having Holloway and Allen back is going to be today. Holloway really knows how to attack the basket with his handles and set his guys up, and Allen is really an elite rebounder for his size. Both of those characteristics are going to be incredibly important matching up with Tennessee, who is #1 in the country in OREB% and has shown a consistent ability to shut-down the Tide’s perimeter game.
If Alabama can find a way to get some revenge and keep the winning streak going, the double-bye in Nashville seems like a virtual lock with two to play, and it really opens the door for the Tide in moving up as high as the 3-line for the NCAA Tournament. After a softer stretch in recent weeks, Nate Oats’ team will close out the year with a trio of postseason squads – a perfect ramp-up to the madness of March that awaits. Can Alabama keep things rolling?
