Postgame Thread: Cold shooting dooms Tide vs Vols

Tennessee came to Tuscaloosa badly needing a win to stay in the conference race and they got it, beating Alabama 79-73.

This one started out slow and physical, as games against a Rick Barnes coached squad tend to do. The Vols were intent on taking away the three pointer and did so successfully early on. Fortunately Latrell Wrightsell Jr. was spry in his return from injury and scored the first six points for Alabama on floaters to help the Tide take an early lead. Wrightsell started the game because Alabama was without Aden Holloway and Amari Allen, who average a combined 29 points per game.

Of course, Charles Bediako was the story of college basketball for the past few days. He entered at the first four minute timeout and made a near immediate impact with a thunderous dunk off an inbounds play that earned a roar from the crowd. He scored on a lob from Labaron Philon as well in his opening minutes, one of a few occasions where the Philon His presence was felt on the defensive end as expected.

Alabama’s defensive effort was impressive in general to open the action, which allowed them to open up a ten point lead in the first ten minutes at 22-12. Tennessee went on a 7-0 run to get right back into the game. It was broken by a violent Bediako swat, which set up a fast break alley-oop from Philon to Jalil Bethea that brought the house down again.

Things stayed tight from there the rest of the half, as Alabama took a 39-36 lead into the locker room. Wrightsell and Philon led the scoring with 11 apiece, and Bediako added eight. Aiden Sherrell and Houston Mallette paced the Tide with four rebounds each. Most encouraging was the fact that Alabama led despite making only two from behind the arc. They dominated points in the paint, narrowly won the first half rebounding battle 18-15, and had only three turnovers to Tennessee’s six.

Tennessee came out firing in the second half with a quick 11-2 spurt to lead 47-41. Philon was able to break it with a three point play, but it was clear that Alabama was missing the offensive firepower of Holloway and Allen. Taylor Bol Bowen finally broke the three point ice just inside the 16-minute mark and Wrightsell followed suit on the following possession to even things up.

Neither team was able to gain any distance on the scoreboard. Alabama had no answer for Tennessee power forward Nate Ament, a 6-foot-10 5-star freshman who is projected to go high in the upcoming NBA Draft. His ability to handle the ball and score from all over the court is quite impressive. He basically carried the Vols for much of the second half as the two teams kept exchanging the lead.

Tennessee was able to open up a 70-63 lead with about seven minutes left. The Tide battled back briefly to get back within two, but Ament just kept scoring. On the other end, Alabama went ice cold from three and the lead was back up to seven at the four minute mark, 77-70. Things weren’t looking great at that stage, but a Sherrell three from the corner pulled the Tide within four and Barnes called timeout with three minutes to play.

Bol Bowen got a great look in the corner with just over a minute left that would have pulled the Tide within one, but it wouldn’t fall. Alabama was able to get a stop on the other end thanks to the hustle of Houston Mallette, who chased down a loose ball and managed to call timeout just before falling out of bounds. Unfortunately, Philon missed another three and that was that.

Poor three point shooting doomed Alabama tonight. The Tide made only 23% of their 26 attempts. Philon led the Tide in scoring with 26, but tallied seven of the Tide’s misses from deep on nine attempts. Wrightsell added 14 points and Bediako 13. Mallette scored only two points but led the way with eight rebounds. Tennessee thoroughly dominated the boards in the second half to finish with a robust 42-33 margin. Ament led all scorers with 29 points on 50% shooting including 2-3 from deep. Point guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie was erratic at times but managed to toss in 24 of his own.

If you want a silver lining, Bediako did look the part and it’s exciting to think about what this team might look like with a starting lineup of Philon, Holloway, Allen, Sherrell, and Chuck. This team hasn’t been able to stay healthy all year though, so who knows if we will ever get to see that. Of course, Bediako also has to win his injunction next week in order to continue playing.

It’s never good to lose at home. This was a winnable game even with the missing players, and Alabama just didn’t make the plays needed to bring it home. Nate Oats will be frustrated by this one. Next up is a visit from Missouri on Tuesday night if the weather allows travel.

Roll Tide.