No. 6 Alabama Basketball Squeaks Past Tennessee, Advances To SEC Tournament Title Game
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — For the first time since 2002, Alabama basketball will play for an SEC Tournament championship on Sunday afternoon.
The Crimson Tide edged out Tennessee on Saturday inside Bridgestone Arena, 73-68, behind a second-half comeback when Alabama erased a double-digit deficit behind 21 points, 13 rebounds, four assists, three steals and one block from senior wing Herbert Jones.
"I thought Tennessee came ready to play," Alabama coach Nate Oats said. "I thought they played better than us in the first half. Shoot, even at the beginning of the second half ... A lot of credit and respect to Tennessee.
"For us, it was one of those gut-check wins where the guys expect to win. I think we are 6-3 in one-or-two-possession games this year. We were 4-7 last year. Our guys have changed their attitude. They expect to win."
Oats and company found themselves down 15, 48-33, with 16:56 on the clock. That didn't stop the Crimson Tide from putting the clamps on the Volunteers and proceeding to go on a 14-0 run to cut it to 48-47 with just over 12 minutes to go.
Alabama forced six turnovers from Tennessee during that stretch and was powered offensively by the SEC Player of the Year, who accounted for seven of those 14 points.
"At halftime we decided to just come out and play our brand of basketball," Jones said. "I don't think we did that the first half. I think that's what the 14-0 run was. We came out and competed on the defensive end, that led to our offensive end."
A layup by guard Jahvon Quinerly gave the Crimson Tide a 60-59 lead, it's first of the final stanza, with just over five minutes left to play.
After another lead change and a free throw by Jones to tie the contest back up at 61, the most important shot of the second half came from guard Keon Ellis, who drilled a 3-pointer from the left wing to give Alabama a 64-61 cushion with 4:02 remaining.
The Crimson Tide never relinquished the lead from that point on.
However, the somewhat-large contingency of Alabama fans inside Bridgestone Arena held their collective breathe when Tennessee guard Davonte Gaines missed two free throws that would have given the Volunteers a one-point lead with only 15 seconds to go.
Two free throws from Ellis iced the 73-68 victory.
Ellis, who finished with seven points, eight rebounds, one block and one steal, started in place of freshman guard Josh Primo, who sprained his MCL in Friday's 85-48 win against Mississippi State.
"I didn't think Keon had a particular great first half, but his second half was unbelievable," Oats said. "His effort on defense, the job he did on Keon Johnson. He was in there getting loose ball and getting deflections. He attacked the rim and made his free throws. I couldn't be happier for him."
Jones and Quinerly, who recorded 19 points, were the only double-figure scorers for the Crimson Tide. It was the 11th game in a row that the former Villanova guard reached double digits, all of which have came off the bench.
"Coach wanted me in that [bench] role," Quinerly said. "I accepted it and I never really cared about who started the game. I am comfortable in that role, coming off the bench and brining a spark to the team. That's kind of my job."
The rest of Alabama's bench combined for 11 points against Tennessee.
Overall, the Crimson Tide shot 37.3 percent from the field (25-of-67) and 25 percent from three-point range (7-of-28). Despite poor shooting for large portions of the afternoon, Alabama hung its hat on a ferocious defensive effort that forced 19 turnovers from the Volunteers for the game, while holding Tennessee to 34.6 percent from the field (9-of-26) in the second half.
The Volunteers built its 15-point advantage largely by 16 first-half points from guard Keon Johnson. He was 7-of-10 from the floor across the opening 20 minutes. Tennessee only connected on three triples in the first but was 13-of-25 on two-pointers to take a 40-31 lead at intermission.
Johnson only scored four points in the second half to finish with 20.
"It is different styles, but what that game right there was about, it really came down to who wanted it more, who could get more rebounds," Oats said. "All the analytics stuff, I'm not thinking about that. We are thinking about how to rebound and get stops. We aren't just letting them get those mid-range shots. Tennessee just kept getting to their spot in the first half."
While Alabama (23-6, 16-2 SEC) was without Primo, Tennessee (18-7, 10-7 SEC) was without one of its big men in forward John Fulkerson, who is dealing with multiple facial fractures after taking an elbow to the head against Florida in the quarterfinals.
Consequently, the Crimson Tide won the battle on the glass, 42-37.
No. 6 Alabama will now face LSU in Sunday's title game at 12 p.m on ESPN. The Crimson Tide swept the Bayou Bengals.
"They're both really good," Oats said. "Obviously we lost to Arkansas at their place. Our staff, our players would like to get a rematch, do a better job. We played LSU twice and beat 'em. They're ridiculously talented. Their offensive firepower is as good as anybody maybe in the country. I'm sure they'd make some adjustments and be ready to go. It's hard to beat a team as good as they are three times in a year."
