Nate Oats Calls Alabama Forward 'The MVP' in Victory Over Tennessee

No. 17 Alabama broke a five-game losing streak to No. 22 Tennessee by squeaking out a 71-69 win in Knoxville. The victory evened the season series and puts the Crimson Tide in the drivers seat for a top-four seed in next month's SEC Tournament.

Alabama endured a beating on the glass as Tennessee outrebounded the Crimson Tide 47-30, with 25 rebounds coming on the offensive end and resulting in 22 more shots from the field from the Volunteers.

Despite the rebounding desparity Nate Oats highlighted forward Aiden Sherrell's performance and called him the MVP of the game.

"I've got to give a lot of credit to our players just for having an attitude they never gave up," Oats said. "Shoot, none of these guys have ever beat Tennessee. We were on a five-game losing streak, and we beat them. That's why they're so fired up after the game. They knew what struggles we'd had against these guys. I think the MVP of the game is Aiden Sherrell. We can't win the game without him inside. We got destroyed on the glass. That's what this team does. They got 25 o-boards, and we only had 21 defensive boards. So when they're getting more of their misses than we're getting, it makes it extremely hard to win the game. But I thought late we were able to get enough stops. I think we outscored them 29-14 in the last seven minutes and some change."

Sherrell only scored six points and pulled down eight rebounds and went 1-for-6 from the floor. The sophomore forward made all four of his free throw attempts and gave Alabama four blocks and a steal on the defensive end.

While Alabama got dominated on the glass, it would've been worse without Sherrell. He led the team in rebounding and gave Oats rim protection defensively that Alabama would've missed without him. For all his production on the floor, the most important thing he's done for Alabama lately is stay out of foul trouble.

Sherrell played 33 minutes for the Crimson Tide as he only picked up two fouls against the Volunteers. He battled Tennessee forwards Jaylen Carey, Felix Okpara, and J.P. Estrella for every rebound and came away with just enough. His only offensive rebound of the night came with 1:32 on the clock and the Crimson Tide trailing by two. Aden Holloway went on to make a baseline jump shot to tie the game, but it was Sherrell's effort that kept the play alive.

Sherrell stands alone in Alabama's front court after Charles Bediako lost his eligibility case. The sophomore forward is scoring 12.6 points and 8.1 rebounds with 1.8 blocks in the six games games without Bediako and has stayed out of foul trouble in four of them. The Crimson Tide may have been decimated on the glass by Tennessee, but Sherrell's performance allowed the team to hang around long enough to secure a significant rivalry game victory.