The Alabama basketball team had lingering questions coming out of its non-conference slate but found a few answers in a crucial last-minute win over rival Tennessee to open SEC action.
The 19th-ranked Crimson Tide rallied from a double-digit deficit in the first half and hit their final three shots of the game to earn a 73-68 victory over No. 14 Tennessee in Wednesday’s SEC opener at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.
Alabama improves to 10-3 overall and grabs a crucial win to open SEC play after dropping two of its last three games. The Crimson Tide were ranked 18th in KenPom and 23rd in the NCAA NET rankings entering the game against the Volunteers.
“That was a tough game, give Tennessee a lot of credit for playing without two starters,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “It was one of those games where we struggled to make shots, a lot of that due to Tennessee’s defense and some of them we just missed some open shots. I thought in the past, maybe, guys let their defensive intensity go down if their offense is struggling. It didn’t happen tonight.”
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The Volunteers were without leading scorer Kennedy Chandler and leading rebounder John Fulkerson, due to positive COVID-19 tests coming out of Christmas break, but were tenacious on the offensive boards early while forcing 10 steals throughout the game.
Trailing by a single point and 3:43 remaining, Alabama got consecutive baskets from Jaden Shackelford to take a 67-68 lead with just over a minute left. Tennessee hit a go-ahead 3-pointer on the ensuing possession but allowed Keon Ellis to hit a game-winning 3-point shot with 40 seconds remaining and missed its final two opportunities with the final rebound falling into the waiting hands of Noah Gurley.
“I told him that hard work doesn’t go unrewarded,” Oats said. “I thought his effort was great, took great shots and drove the ball when he needed to. Best game since he’s been here and opportune time when we needed it the most.”
Gurley’s game-sealing rebound enabled the former Furman transfer to log his first double-double of the season, producing a season-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting and claiming a season-high 10 rebounds. Quinerly finished with 18 points, four rebounds and three assists and Shackelford had 12 points and four rebounds.
“It’s big, it’s really big,” Quinerly said. “I’m happy for him. He’s been putting in the most work on the team, one of the guys putting in the most work. I knew it was only a matter of time until it paid off. I told him as soon as the game was over that we need him like that the rest of the year.”
Alabama trailed 33-23 with less than four minutes remaining and closed out the first half with a 10-0 run in the final 3:23 to tie the game at 33-33 entering the break. Gurley got the scoring started with a 3-pointer and layup on consecutive possessions and Quinerly and Shackelford finished off the run to erase the double-digit gap.
The Crimson Tide built a 12-9 lead in the first eight minutes of action as both teams struggled from the outside, combining to go 0-for-8 before Gurley knocked down the first 3-pointer of the game at the 15:38 mark of the first half. Despite the slow start, Tennessee controlled the offensive glass early and forced 13 first-half turnovers in grabbing a 10-point lead.
True freshman JD Davison was responsible for eight of Alabama’s 15 turnovers, notably four-straight midway through the first half, but contributed six key rebounds and three assists that kept the Crimson Tide within striking distance of Tennessee.
“He had a chance to really let his defense take a hit because he struggled on offense, had five turnovers in the first half,” Oats said. “That never happened. He kept playing hard, playing through the turnovers and gave us what we needed on defense.”
Alabama was 23 percent from 3-point range (7-for-31), hitting three of its last four long-range shots to provide an opportunity late in the second half, but did finish 43 percent overall from the field while earning a +8 edge on the glass and an impressive +16 advantage on inside scoring. The Crimson Tide were also 67 percent from the charity stripe and gave up numerous avoidable turnovers with regularity.
“It’s a big win for us,” Oats said. “Tennessee is going to challenge for the SEC title. We continue like that; we’ll be challenging for it. This is the only time we play them all year and we got the tie-breaker. Big win to start off SEC play.”
Alabama takes the weekend off before returning to SEC action against Florida, Wednesday, January, 5, at the O’Connell Center in Gainesville. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m. CT on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
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