Crimson Coaching Collapse

Up 75-72 with 36 seconds left, Alabama guard Labaron Philon went to the free-throw line for two shots and made one but missed the other. Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier converted a quick layup to cut the deficit to two. Not the end of the world as chances are Alabama would be fouled and make at least one free-throw to force either a quick bucket inside or a three by the Vols.

Crimson Tide forward Grant Nelson fouled Lanier on a made layup and the guard missed the free throw, but Alabama forward Jarin Stevenson was called for an over-the-back foul, which gave Tennessee guard Jahmai Mashack two more free throws, which he converted to tie the game at 76.

Alabama proceeded to have an inbounds attempt in their own territory after a loose ball had the Tide in favor with the possession arrow. But Philon was struggling to find anyone and was blown for a five-second violation. The problem here was that head coach Nate Oats had two timeouts and didn’t use one.

“We didn’t do a great job closing it,” Oats said during the postgame press conference. “I take most of the blame for the last 30 seconds. I subbed our bigs out to get the rebound before I should’ve. I shouldn’t have subbed them out until after we secured the rebound. So that was on me, and then I had the chance to call a timeout. Coaches can call timeouts so we can get another out-of-bounds play, and at four, I should have called it. I thought we were gonna get it in. It’s on me.”

Tennessee was finally in control of its own destiny with 3.6 seconds to go. Oats called timeout and subbed out guards Mark Sears and Chris Youngblood and replaced them with forward Mouhamed Dioubate and center Clifford Omoruyi––which eliminates the speed factor but emphasizes rim protection down low. Mashack took advantage with a buzzer-beating three-pointer from the logo that no frontcourt member could reach and contest in time.

“We work on end-of-game situations in practice,” Oats said. “We expect our players to be good at it and it was not good for the last 30 seconds today. I feel like I failed these guys. For 39.5 minutes they outplayed them. They were up four.”

Alabama Falls Short in Battle of the Guards

Sears and Lanier, who came into the game in top-5 in the SEC in scoring average, stood out in the first half as they both scored 12 points.

Alabama guard Labaron Philon was dominant defensively in the first half as the star freshman tallied a whopping three steals in the opening period––tied for a season-high…in a full game. Philon was another guard to watch in this Battle of the Backcourts due to recent performances and he delivered in the first half offensively as well with eight points and a team-high three assists.

Nevertheless, Alabama didn’t fully take advantage of Zakai Zeigler, one of the best two-way players in the country, being on the sideline for an extended period due to committing two early fouls. The Tide only led by four heading into halftime. Alabama didn’t necessarily play poorly when Zeigler was out, but it just didn’t fully capitalize on the increased opportunities to make it a significantly larger margin going into the break.

“I told the guys halfway through that timeout, ‘We’re not putting them away. He’s on the bench. He’s the only guy that really creates a lot of offense for them,’” Oats said. “You’ve got to give [Vols guard Jordan] Gainey a lot of credit tonight. Gainey stepped up in Zeigler’s absence if you will. He plays 30 minutes. He didn’t even make a 3, he ends up with 16 points, 6 of 13. He just kind of got to the midrange shot a little too much. He got to the line. He was 6 of 6 at the line. So give Gainey a bunch of credit. But I didn’t think we got up on them like we could have with Zeigler out of the game in that part or stretch of the first half.”

But the start of the second half turned from Zeigler being in foul trouble to Philon, Dioubate and Grant Nelson tallying three penalties apiece. This forced the Crimson Tide to play slightly more conservatively, and unlike Alabama, the Volunteers took advantage of the foul trouble and climbed back from a nine-point deficit.

Zeigler started playing like he had been the past few games in the second half as he tallied 13 points in the period alone. Gainey gave Oats and company trouble all night long and his two late free throws made it 70-68 for the Vols’ first lead since 4:23 in the first half. And as previously stated, following Philon’s five-second violation, Mashack hit a deep three at the buzzer.

In total, Sears (24 points), Philon (13), Alabama guards Aden Holloway (11) and Chris Youngblood (2) combined for 50 points, while Lanier (18), Gainey (18), Zeigler (15) and Mashack (11) went for 62. The backcourts for both teams scored 112 of the game’s 155 points (72.3 percent).

Not-So-Free Throws

Free throws were a big issue for Alabama in close games or losses earlier this season, but recently it has shown a ton of improvement. This was most evident last game in the blowout win over Mississippi State as the Tide converted on 15 of 18 free-throw attempts and also the smooth victory against Kentucky when it went 21-for-25.

Thompson-Boling Arena held 22,392 people on Saturday, which is not only the largest attendance in the SEC this season, but its the second-most in Division I in 2024-25. Home-court advantage is a very real thing and it may have gotten in the Crimson Tide’s heads while at the charity stripe as it finished 17 of 26 (65 percent).

Philon may have missed a crucial free throw late, but he is far from the only player to blame at the line, especially since he made his first four attempts before that. Alabama bigs Aiden Sherrell and Omoruyi each missed one of their two shots and Dioubate went 2-for-3.

After being fouled on a three-point attempt, Holloway missed all of his free throws. The Crimson Tide’s star sixth-man, who is one of the best all-around shooters in the SEC, came into the game with an 84 percent mark at the stripe with just seven misses all season.

“We’ve gotta do a better job making the free throws,” Oats said. “They shoot 73 percent and we shoot 65 percent…Sears goes 6-for-6 and that’s it. Nobody else made all their free throws.”

Additionally, Alabama struggled at the rim against the No. 1 defense in America as it went 12 of 29 on layups. Like free throws, the Tide has shown improvement lately when finishing at the rim but this was a big setback. It was an issue in both haves as Alabama went 8-for-15 in the first half and a significantly worse 4-for-14 in the second period.

“You’ve got to convert your at-the-rims,” Oats said. “Shooting 12-for-29, that’s not good enough against a team like this. You’ve got to get the ball in the paint, and it was everybody. We had our guys at 16 of 32 at the rim. So there’s a few in there. I mean, nobody was great at the rim, to be honest with you. Youngblood was 1-for-1 nobody else was over 60 percent. Labaron and Dioubate were 60 percent, everybody else was 50 percent or lower.”