Alabama won the first half 42-38, but they squandered the opportunity to be up by much more. Free throw shooting was the main culprit, as the Tide missed seven of 15 from the line, but they also gave up a terrible three point play at the buzzer because nobody stopped the ball with time ticking away. Tennessee PG Zakai Ziegler picked up his second foul early on and missed the majority of the first half, but Alabama struggled to take advantage.
Mark Sears had a great first half with 12 points, looking once again like the player who led Alabama to the Final Four last March. Labaron Philon added eight and played some outstanding defense. In fact, while Alabama left some points on the board, it’s tough to find fault in the effort on either end in this one. The game was intense and both teams were getting after it. And, for once, it was Alabama’s defense forcing the turnovers in a big game.
The intensity stayed high after the break, as both teams played like a championship was on the line. Tennessee is known as arguably the best defensive team in the country, so Alabama matching them blow for blow was impressive. Alabama has a bit more offensive firepower and was able to use that to create some separation on the scoreboard. They led by nine after an Aden Holloway three with ten minutes to play.
Tennessee is ranked where they are for a reason, and there was no quit in them playing at home. A three-point play from star guard Jordan Gainey drew the Vols to within three again with just over eight minutes to play, and the battle was on. After Sears and Gainey traded nice drives, Ziegler banked in a prayer from the left wing to tie the game at 66 with 6:30 left.
At that point the pace of the game slowed to a crawl, which worked in Tennessee’s favor. Sears knocked down a phenomenal three from the wing at the shot clock buzzer to stake Alabama to a 73-70 lead with two minutes left. Philon followed with a great drive to maintain the advantage.
Unfortunately Philon missed one of two free throws with Tennessee forced to foul, and Tennessee ended up with a four point possession on the other end when Chaz Lanier scored and was fouled by Grant Nelson. He missed the free throw and Jarin Stevenson was whistled for a foul on the rebound attempt, which allowed senior guard Jahmai Mashack to tie the game at the line.
Alabama was set up for the last shot attempt of regulation, but Tennessee was able to force a jump ball with 3.8 seconds left, and then forced a five second call on the inbound. Mashack then made a 35 footer at the buzzer to win the game, and that was that. The last 36 seconds of that game were about as improbable a way to lose that one could imagine, but Alabama never should have been in that position to begin with. Philon was the trigger man on the five second call after missing the key free throw late. Hopefully the freshman can grow from the experience.
A one seed is highly unlikely for the Tide at this point, but that really doesn’t matter a whole lot. If they play to the best of their ability, this team can beat anyone on a neutral court. Next up is a home matchup against Florida followed by a trip to Auburn headed into the SEC Tournament.
Roll Tide.
