Tennessee Men’s Hoops Upsets No. 1 Alabama

The No. 10 Tennessee Volunteers defeated the No. 1 Crimson Tide 68-59 last night. Alabama’s No. 1 ranking was short-lived as they fell short in their first game as the top ranked team since their 2002-2003 season.  The Volunteers snapped Alabama’s perfect SEC record at Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville. The win improved Tennessee’s overall record to 20-6 and 9-4 in the SEC. Alabama is now 22-4 and 12-1 in the SEC.

𝐑🟠𝐂𝐊𝐘 𝐓𝐎𝐏 𝐕𝐈𝐁𝐄𝐒 ⚡️

#10 @Vol_Hoops hands #1 Alabama its first league loss of the year in Knoxville!#SECMBB pic.twitter.com/lu9Uin8nvb

— Southeastern Conference (@SEC) February 16, 2023

Key Factors in Vols Win

Alabama and Tennessee both have top ranked defensive teams, but the Vols won this defensive battle stopping the Crimson Tide from many scoring opportunities.  Alabama had 19 turnovers, while Tennessee only had seven. These turnovers resulted in 26 points for the Vols. In previous games, Alabama has easily gotten past strong defensive teams, but this wasn’t the case in their SEC matchup against Tennessee. Alabama’s offense is ranked No. 13 in the nation, which is led by Brandon Miller, the SEC leading scorer.  Miller went 4-11 on the night and the Vols held him to 15 points.

https://twitter.com/Vol_Hoops/status/1626016857798094850?s=20

Tennessee came out strong from the start with a three-pointer from Zakai Zeigler in the first minute of the game.  Alabama kept the game close in the first half, despite their 12 turnovers. The Vols recorded nine first half offensive rebounds, along with scoring 17 of their 19 first half points from Alabama’s turnovers. The Crimson Tide were behind 26-18 with four minutes to go in the first but were able to tie the game going into halftime. Ziegler finished the first half with nine points and four assists.

Zakai swipe
Reke runnin'

📺 ESPN2
📲 https://t.co/DiKelIU48h pic.twitter.com/tnYvZpmMKC

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 16, 2023

Key Players

Zeigler and Santiago Vescovi both recorded 15 points and Jonas Aidoo had 12 to help the Vols to victory. Aidoo led the team with 11 rebounds and Vescovi had eight. Jahmai Mashack had his first SEC career start in Tennessee’s win last night. Mashack accepted the challenge of guarding Alabama’s leading scorer, Brandon Miller and led the team defensively for the 27 minutes he had on the court.

📊FINAL NUMBERS📊

VESCOVI – 15p / 8r / 3s
ZEIGLER – 15p / 8a
AIDOO – 12p / 11r / 3b
PLAVŠIĆ – 10p / 4r
NKAMHOUA – 9p / 4r
KEY – 5p
AWAKA – 2p
MASHACK – 🔒🔒🔒🔒🔒🔒 pic.twitter.com/aEozVgJ9RA

— Tennessee Basketball (@Vol_Hoops) February 16, 2023

Injuries for the Vols

Tennessee was missing two of their starters for Wednesday night’s game. Starting point guard Josiah Jordan James suffered a sprained ankle in the final minutes of the game against Vanderbilt on Feb. 8 and has not played since. While starting forward Julian Phillips strained his hip in practice Friday, before the game against Missouri. He played in the first half of the game but did not play in the second half. Both players will be out for the next game against Kentucky with unknown return dates.

Next up

Tennessee is set to rematch Kentucky after a 63-56 loss on Jan. 14 at Thompson Boling Arena. The Vols travel to Kentucky to face the Wildcats on Saturday.

Alabama will host Georgia on Saturday. The Crimson Tide are looking to come out on top against the Bulldogs after their big loss to the Vols.