Alabama Basketball Can't Take Advantage of Huge Crowd, Ending 16-Game SEC Home Winning Streak
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Everything was lining up for a big night for Alabama basketball. Crimson Tide celebrities and legends like Nick Saban, Jalen Milroe and Justin Thomas were in the house. Coleman Coliseum hosted ESPN's College GameDay for the first time ever Saturday morning and the arena was whited out with a soldout, enthusiastic crowd in the evening.
It looked like Alabama was headed for a victory to take possession of first place in the SEC with one week to go as the Crimson Tide held a two-point lead at the break after scoring 12 unanswered points to end the first half.
But the offense went ice cold in the second half with long field goal droughts, and Tennessee took advantage. The No. 4 Volunteers beat No. 14 Alabama 81-74. snapping Alabama's 16-game home winning streak that dated back to March 2022.
"We haven’t loss an SEC game in two years here," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game. "Our fans are great. I thought they were unbelievable for GameDay. I thought they were great during the game when we needed stops, they got loud. We’ve just got to make the plays on the court. Disappointed we took a loss at home."
Before tipoff, the place was about ready to explode after a long day of festivities leading up to the 7 p.m. tip. Alabama held all the momentum going into the half, and the fans tried to get back into the game, but an eight-minute field goal drought gave them little to cheer about.
From 15:42 to 1:15 in the second half, the best offense in the country was held to one field goal. Alabama only scored 16 points over the final 13+ minutes of the game.
Alabama did a good job limiting Tennessee's Dalton Knecht, the likely SEC Player of the Year frontrunner. Knecht finished with 13 points, his lowest total since Jan. 6. However, the Tennessee offense had other players step up like Zakai Zeigler and Jonas Aidoo.
Because of Alabama's field goal drought, the Volunteers were able to build up a five-point lead with 3:38 to go. Every time Alabama cut into the lead and the crowd tried to get back into it, Tennessee had an answer.
Alabama forward Nick Pringle cut the deficit to one point on two made free throws with just under three minutes left. Oats said he really thought Alabama was going to come back and win after the free throws. Pringle had one of his better performances of the season with 13 points and nine rebounds, but ultimately, he was disappointed the Crimson Tide couldn't deliver in front of the big crowd.
"Honestly, it’s pretty hard, pretty frustrating," Pringle said. "We put a lot of work, detail and time into it. For us to not come out with it. It’s really tough.
The Crimson Tide no longer controls its own destiny in the SEC regular season race at 12-4 in conference and Tennessee holding a one-game lead and head-to-head advantage with two games left. While Alabama is likely out of the SEC race, there is still a chance, plus the team is fighting for SEC and NCAA Tournament seeding over these final games at Florida and hosting Arkansas.
"When you look at our four losses in the league, they’re all to pretty good teams, three of them on the road," Oats said. "We don’t have any bad losses to anyone on the bottom of the league, but if you’re going to win the league, you’ve got to win your home games. Now we’re going to have to go on the road and beat a good Florida team if we’ve got any chance of winning this team. We have to regroup in a short time, go on the road and try to beat a team that took us to overtime at our own place."
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