Can Alabama Basketball Attack and Defend Tennessee's Two-Way Star?

Alabama men's basketball head coach Nate Oats has made tremendous strides in turning the program around since his arrival in 2019.

The Crimson Tide is has a winning record against 14 of its SEC foes under Oats. However, Alabama has a 3-4 record against Tennessee. No. 6 Alabama faces No. 5 Tennessee on the road this afternoon in Knoxville, a place where Oats has a 1-3 record.

Tennessee has been known for its defensive prowess throughout Oats' tenure. Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes has led his team to lock down Alabama, one of the nation's best offenses over the last few years, year after year as the Crimson Tide has been held to under 75 points in every meeting since Oats took over.

"They've done a really good job with us," Oats said during Friday's press conference. "Even the games we've won haven't necessarily been high-scoring affairs. They're physical. They get into you, they make cutting hard and they guard the ball well.

"We like to get in the paint, draw help and spread the ball. They don't necessarily need help all the time because they're so physical on the ball. Our off-ball cutting, they kind of stand you up. Shoot, they've got the No. 1 defense in the country this year and they're usually top-5 in a country every year."

Tennessee's tough play on that end of the floor is led by guard Zakai Zeigler, who was named the SEC Defensive Player of the Year last season. Additionally, he's been named to the conference's All-Defensive Team three times.

More times than not, one of the best offensive players on a team isn't stout defensively. The same thing can be said when the roles are switched. But Zeigler is a special case as not only does he lead the SEC in assists per game this season (7.3), but he also held that title in 2022-23 and 2023-24 as well. Zeigler's unique two-way abilities can be very challenging to coach against and Oats is very aware of what to expect on Saturday afternoon.

"He leads the league in assists, he gets in the paint, you've got to be able to stay in front of him," Oats said. "But on the defensive end, I mean if you try to attack him to get him in foul trouble because you want him out because he's so good on offense, all of a sudden you put yourself in some predicaments because he's so quick on the ball and plays so hard. He might be turning the ball over. So we've got to be smart with how we try to attack him. He's one of the better players in this league. He's been that way for a few years.

"So when you're as good a two-way guy as he is, he makes it difficult, because you don't want to go at him. Some of these really good offensive players you just keep going at him. They either refuse to guard and you can get easy buckets, or they foul and you get them on the bench. Well, Zeigler is not really something you want to go at much, because you'll end up getting a bad possession out of it or turning it over. Trying to keep him out of actions as much as possible when he's on defense."

On top of all of this, Zeigler is averaging 17.8 points per game over the last five contests. He's tallied at least 16 points in each of these matchups, so it's not like there's an outlier in his recent scoring outbursts.

Of course, Tennessee isn't ranked No. 5 in the AP Top 25 just because of Zeigler as he isn't even the Vols' top scorer. Rick Barnes' team has multiple players on both sides of the ball who are as good as anyone in the conference. One of which is guard Chaz Lanier, whose 17.8 points per game is the fifth-most in the SEC.

"[Zeigler] and Lanier are the two biggest keys on their offensive end. And then [Zeigler] and [Jahmai] Mashack are by far the two best defenders on their defensive end, He's their best two-way guy, for sure, and he's gonna be in the conversation for Defensive Player of the Year in the league, again. I have a lot of respect for him."

Alabama's past couple of games have been against good offenses but subpar defenses. Tennessee's defense is perhaps the best in the country with a relatively average offense. However, the Vols have multiple scoring options that can expose a Crimson Tide defense that has struggled throughout the season.

Alabama is about to face indisputably the toughest three-game stretch among all of men's college basketball as the No. 6 team in the country will face No. 5 Tennessee, No. 3 Florida and No. 1 Auburn to close the regular season.

It'll need to show elite offense and lockdown defense against each of these teams in order to secure a higher seed not only in the SEC Tournament but the NCAA Tournament as well. A great start of two-way excellence on the road will be pivotal in the Crimson Tide's final two games.

Read More: