Three Things to Watch For in Alabama's Road Matchup Against Tennessee

Storylines and game info for the Crimson Tide's 16th SEC game in 2025 against the Volunteers.

Alabama Head Coach Nate Oats and Tennessee Head Coach Rick Barnes speak before the game against Tennessee at Thompson-Boling Arena in Knoxville, TN on Saturday, Jan 20, 2024. | Photo by Crimson Tide Photos / UA Athletics

After losing back-to-back games, No. 6 Alabama basketball has responded strongly with victories over then-No. 17 Kentucky and No. 24 Mississippi State in the last few days.

But now the Crimson Tide begins a three-game stretch featuring only top-5 teams to close the regular season. The first matchup is on the road against No. 5 Tennessee on Saturday afternoon.

Here are three things to watch for in Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center and on ESPN:

1. What's on the Line?

The win over the Bulldogs moved the Crimson Tide up to 26-5 and its new 12-3 record overtook the No. 2 spot in the SEC following No. 3 Florida's (11-4 SEC) loss to Georgia a bit after Alabama-Mississippi State tipped off.

While Alabama has a tough road matchup against Tennessee the Gators will challenged at home by No. 12 Texas A&M, who has struggled lately with three consecutive losses.

Alabama will face Florida at home in Coleman Coliseum on March 5 in the penultimate game of the regular season. If the Crimson Tide falls today and the Gators beat the Aggies, Florida would regain the No. 2 in the SEC standings.

2. Can Grant Nelson Return to Normalcy?

Alabama forward Grant Nelson is the team's second-leading score at 12 points per game and leading rebounder with 7.9 boards per game. But Nelson's productivity hasn't been as high for the Crimson Tide over the last few weeks.

Nelson has not scored in double figures in four of the last five games after coming off a six-game stretch from mid-January to early February where he averaged 15.5 points per game starting with his season-high 25-point performance in the win at Kentucky.

"We do need Grant to be a little more aggressive, a little bit more efficient in his minutes," Alabama head coach Nate Oats said on Friday. "His turnovers, in some games he's been a little inconsistent with taking care of the ball. We need him to take care of the ball a little bit better, too.”

3. Watch Out for Zakai Zeigler

Tennessee's No. 1 ranked defense 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.

"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," Oats said. "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."