Following perhaps their most dominating performance of the season, No. 6 Alabama will attempt to duplicate that Saturday afternoon when they meet No. 5 Tennessee in a Southeastern Conference heavyweight matchup in Knoxville, Tenn.
After Tuesday night’s 111-73 mauling of No. 24 Mississippi State, Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats still somehow found a complaint: his club’s intensity and identity in the defensive end.
“We’ve got to have a disposition to get stops and really try to get a defensive mindset no matter what the score is,” said Oats after the massive blowout in which Alabama led the Bulldogs by 26 points at halftime. “A little unhappy with our defense, but it’s hard to be unhappy when you get a win like this.”
Seemingly, it would be hard for him to have much to be upset about regarding Alabama (23-5, 12-3), which has won nine of 11 contests and two straight.
Even the pair of setbacks in that stretch were not stunners: to No. 1 Auburn at home and at then-No. 15 Missouri in consecutive contests.
Muscle Shoals, Ala., native Mark Sears grips the steering wheel guiding the nation’s best offense — 91.5 points per game — which set a season high in the 111-point explosion.
The senior guard is averaging 19 points and five assists per game, but Oats praises his defensive play as much as anything.
“I’ve been telling you guys, he’s been playing the best basketball of his career on both sides,” Oats said. “For him to have a positive defensive leverage, that hasn’t always been the case.”
Aden Holloway and Grant Nelson each average 12 points, with the latter leading the team with 7.9 rebounds per game and 36 total blocks.
The Volunteers (23-5, 10-5) go about their business a little differently by relying on one of the top scoring defenses, allowing just 60.8 points per outing.
However, while the defense has carried the team, the club’s shooting has been critical: When Tennessee puts the ball in the bucket on an average basis, the Volunteers win.
When it does not, the numbers are generally similar to the atrocious shooting evident in a 73-43 blowout loss at then-No. 8 Florida, the Vols’ worst loss this season as they made just 12 baskets and were 4 of 29 from distance.
However, the long-range shooting has been strong during the Volunteers’ current three-game winning streak. Led by Chaz Lanier’s career-best 8 of 13 showing in last Saturday’s win over No. 12 Texas A&M, coach Rick Barnes’ squad has made 40 percent (28 of 70).
Lanier averages a team-best 17.8 points after his season-high 30-point outing. Zakai Zeigler scores 13.6 and leads in assists with 7.3. Igor Milicic Jr. leads with 7.6 boards and Felix Okpara grabs 6.4.
“We’ve had different guys have to slide into different roles like most teams. We won a game without Zakai one night when he couldn’t play,” Barnes said after winning 65-59 at LSU Tuesday. “Whatever, like (Jordan) Gainey was sick tonight.”
The focus from player-to-player at Tennessee is ultimately on defense, though.
“I’d argue Zeigler and (Jahmai) Mashack are two of the five best individual defenders in the country,” said LSU coach Matt McMahon. “We just weren’t able to create enough good looks there.”
The Vols have claimed the last three meetings in the series and are 49-24 at home all-time, but Alabama leads overall at 82-73.
–Field Level Media
