Alabama's Loss to Tennessee Revives Stat That Came Before Nate Oats' Birth

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.

No. 17 Alabama basketball fell to Tennessee 79-73 at home on Saturday night. It was the Crimson Tide's second consecutive loss at home after two straight comeback road victories last week against Mississippi State and Oklahoma. Alabama now descends to 3-3 in SEC play, which ranks ninth in the conference.

Alabama head coach Nate Oats has thrived against the SEC throughout his tenure, but the same could not be said when facing the Volunteers. Saturday night's defeat brought Alabama's losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It's the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974).

"Not good," Oats said during the postgame press conference when asked about the losing streak. "They're really good. We haven't been good enough. The one up there really hurt last year (a game-losing buzzer-beater). I got a lot of respect for coach (Rick) Barnes. He's one of the best to do it in the last 20-30 years in college basketball. He's done a great job against us.

"We have to do a better job of prepping our guys. I thought they made good adjustments in the second half. They went to switch on the ball screens after we had some success against other coverages in the first half. He had a week to get his guys ready to go and he did a good job of getting them ready to go. I didn't do a good enough job of having our guys ready. He's a really good coach."

Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama's head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee's Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.

Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference's regular-season champions in 2023-24.

Here's a look at Oats' record against each SEC team, as Tennessee clearly has his number.

Opponent	Home	Away	Neutral	Overall
Arkansas	4-1	2-1	N/A	6-2
Auburn	4-2	3-3	N/A	7-5
Florida	3-1	1-2	0-2	4-5
Georgia	3-0	3-1	N/A	6-1
Kentucky	4-1	2-3	1-0	7-4
LSU	6-0	3-2	1-0	10-2
Mississippi State	6-0	5-2	2-0	13-2
Missouri	3-0	1-4	1-0	5-4
Ole Miss	2-1	3-0	N/A	5-1
South Carolina	3-0	3-0	N/A	6-0
Tennessee	1-3	1-3	1-0	3-6
Texas A&M	1-2	1-1	1-0	3-3
Vanderbilt	3-1	4-1	0-1	7-3
Oklahoma	1-0	1-2	N/A	2-2
Texas	0-1	1-0	N/A	1-1

"When we first got in the league, we had some success with them, but here lately [we haven't]," Oats said. "We've been pretty good, we were one of the better teams in the league these last two, three years. For whatever reason, we haven't had so much success with them, and that has a lot to do with the way that they guard. They're tough, physical, they make it hard and they take away your threes.

"We've just got to have a better plan on offense, but on the defensive end, we've got to do a better job, particularly at rebounding the ball. They emphasize toughness, physicality and we've got to do a better job of countering that. We'll get them up there and hopefully we're more prepared to play them up there than we were this time at home."

Alabama will get another shot at Tennessee on Feb. 28 in Knoxville. Additionally, Oats mentioned that he's aiming to face Tennessee late in the SEC Tournament

Alabama's Loss to Tennessee Revives Stat That Came Before Nate Oats' Birth

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