No. 6 Tennessee dismantled Alabama on Saturday afternoon in Knoxville. The Vols handed the Crimson Tide their first SEC loss of the season with a 91-71 contest in the Food City Center.
The Vols took it to the Tide from the jump and never let Alabama lead throughout the entire game. Tennessee guard Dalton Knecht has been the story of the SEC over the last week, but it’s the Vols’ defense that really shut down the Tide on Saturday. Tennessee’s defense forced Alabama into 22 turnovers on the day and scored 23 points off of those turnovers.
“That was as dominating a performance anyone has put on us in a long time,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game.
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Speaking of Knecht, though, he did lead all scorers in the game with 25 points which upped his scoring total to 128 points over his last four games. Jonas Aidoo finished the game as Tennessee’s second-leading scorer with 19 points.
Jordan Gainey was the surprise of the afternoon as he broke out of a multi-game scoring slump. Gainey entered the contest having missed his last seven three-point attempts over the last three games but sunk three out of his five attempts on Saturday. Gainey’s 15 points against Alabama are the most points that he has scored since Tennessee’s loss against Purdue in the Maui Invitational last November.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats and Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes met with the media after the game to discuss their thoughts on the contest. Oats spoke about the challenges of playing this specific Tennessee team while Barnes broke down his strategy and reactions from the game. Tennessee guards Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack also spoke to the media to give their rundown of how things unfolded.
Check out all three interviews below:
Tennessee HC Rick Barnes
Alabama HC Nate Oats
Tennessee Guards Jordan Gainey and Jahmai Mashack
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