Alabama Rapidly Becoming Tennessee's Toughest Test
If you're a long-time follower of college basketball, you know how hard it is to imagine the place where Nate Oats has this Alabama program. Before Oats left Buffalo to take the job in Tuscaloosa, the Tide had just one-second weekend appearance in the 21st century. Their lone regular season conference championship in the same century came in 2002. Now, sitting at 12-0, the Tide has a chance to do something rarely done: Run the table in a high major league.
So in terms of Tennessee, how do they expose the Tide's weaknesses? That part is tough because Alabama doesn't have many weaknesses. They don't turn teams over a ton, but when you defend the rim with Charles Bediako and Noah Clowney and are the second-best three-point defense in the country, you don't need to be turnover reliant.
The way Tennessee can win this one is simply by playing their game. Alabama is second in the country in adjusted tempo, and Tennessee is 245th. If Tennessee can slow the game down, limit the possessions, and limit how many threes Alabama can get, they will be just fine. Alabama feasts on teams because Nate Oats understands analytics and gets players he knows will help him use those analytics. The Tide play a numbers game, with the main number being the amount of threes they take. Fewer possessions equal fewer threes they're able to get off.
Finally, for the Vols, when you limit possessions, you have to be able to make timely shots and free throws. This has been a problem the last two games and could be even tougher as Josiah-Jordan James and Julian Phillips could be out. However, this could be the game where Santiago Vescovi re-establishes himself as one of the premier guards in the SEC. Vescovi, along with Tyreke Key's shotmaking, will be greatly important to go with winning the offensive rebounding battle.
If Tennessee does lose, it likely will be because Mark Sears, Brandon Miller, and the other perimeter players for the Tide hit shots and were able to get good shots in transition and early in the shot clock. However, if Tennessee can slow the game down and get a home win, suddenly, the previous two losses won't matter as much. This season, a win over Alabama would be one of the best wins in college basketball.
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