The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly as Tennessee Basketball defeats Alabama

Tennessee defeated Alabama 79-73 Saturday night in a primetime conference showdown. Here's the good, the bad, and the ugly of what went down.

Jan 24, 2026; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Ja'Kobi Gillespie (0) dribbles past Alabama Crimson Tide guard Labaron Philon (0) during the first half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images | David Leong-Imagn Images

Tennessee defeated rivals Alabama 79-73 on Saturday night as the Volunteers improved to 13-6 on the year and 4-3 in conference play. Tennessee had its moments, ones where it looked like a team that could make a deep tournament run, and others where you would question if the Vols were playing up to expectations. Head coach Rick Barnes played around with some things and made some changes to the lineup, which played a key role in the Vols' victory. 

The Good: Nate Ament

Jan 24, 2026; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide forward Taylor Bol Bowen (7) guards Tennessee Volunteers forward Nate Ament (10) during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images | David Leong-Imagn Images

Ament easily had his best game of the season against the Tide. The freshman star had 29 points, a career high, and shot an efficient 50% from the field. This contest marked the fifth game of the season in which Ament surpassed the 20-point mark and the second time in SEC play. Another positive of Ament’s performance was that he only turned the ball over once, showing improvement with ball security compared to past showings. Tennessee relied on Ament a lot in this game, with Ament playing a big factor in Tennessee overcoming a rough start in the first few minutes of the game. 

The Bad: Three Point Shooting 

Jan 17, 2026; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Amari Evans (1) shoots the ball against the Kentucky Wildcats during the first half at Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-Imagn Images | Randy Sartin-Imagn Images

Tennessee struggled mightily from deep in this game, going 6-18 (33%) from three. Ja’Kobi Gillespie shot 2-9 from three (although he still had 24 points) with no one else on the team shooting more than three attempts. Three-point shooting has been a struggle for Tennessee this season, shooting under 35% on the season. Bad shooting nights happen, but what might be a bigger concern is the fact that it took Tennessee over 11 minutes to make its first three of the game. In the modern age of college basketball, teams just cannot go over 10 minutes without hitting a three-pointer and expect to win the majority of games. Despite a poor night of shooting, they still were the better team from three in this contest. Alabama was even worse from three, shooting 6-26 (23%). Again, the fact that Tennessee needed its opponent to shoot less than 25% three to pull out a victory is not a good sign, and they will need to make adjustments before their tough contest against Georgia. 

The Ugly: The NCAA

Jan 24, 2026; Tuscaloosa, Alabama, USA; Alabama Crimson Tide center Charles Bediako (14) gets fouled by Tennessee Volunteers forward J.P. Estrella (13) during the second half at Coleman Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: David Leong-Imagn Images | David Leong-Imagn Images

No matter how this game turned out, the storyline was always going to be around Charles Bediako. He played over two years of professional basketball in the NBA G-League and got to return to Alabama, where he played before he went pro. Bediako is not the first case of someone playing professionally and coming back to college for the second time. In fact, he is just the latest in what is a growing list of pros going back to college. It is a weird time in college basketball; some fans of teams that get players like Bediako seem to like it. Bediako even got a standing ovation from the Alabama crowd when he entered the game. But for most people, this is a bad look for college basketball, and it could ruin the sport. So far, nothing has happened, but as more players rejoin the college ranks, it is becoming more evident that the NCAA will have to step in and make a ruling at some point.

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