Tennessee basketball upset by Alabama: Three takeaways

Here are three things we learned from the Tennessee basketball Volunteers’ 71-63 loss to the Crimson Tide.

In a shocker at Thompson-Boling Arena Saturday night, the Alabama Crimson Tide turned a two-point halftime lead into a 14-point lead early in the second half thanks to a 17-4 run that included five straight three-pointers. Tennessee basketball could not recover, and the Tide got their first win in Knoxville, Tenn. in six years.

Ranked No. 7 in the AP Poll and No. 6 in the Coaches Poll while coming off a huge road win at a solid Missouri Tigers team on Wednesday, the Vols were not able to maintain their momentum. Rick Barnes’ team suffered its first loss on the year in the process.

With the loss, Tennessee basketball falls to 7-1 on the year and 1-1 in the SEC. Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide improve to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the SEC. Up next for Rocky Top is a Wednesday home matchup with the Arkansas Razorbacks. Here are three takeaways from this game.

1. Yves Pons was elite, but early foul trouble for him proved costly.

This was how the Alabama Crimson Tide were able to stay in the game in the first half. They attacked the basket the whole time, and that led to two first-half fouls for Yves Pons, the Vols’ key interior defender. He picked up a third foul early in the second half, and that allowed the Tide to continue to stay in control.

Eventually, even with three fouls, Barnes put Pons back in the game, and honestly, when he was in, Pons had one of his best defensive performances. He came away with an insane five blocks. However, Alabama had an answer, and that leads to our next point.

2. Shooting disparity told the story.

Alabama’s success inside translated to something else in the second half: elite three-point shooting. As we mentioned, the Tide hit five straight three-pointers. They were 10-of-20 on the night but an incredible 8-of-11 in the final 20 minutes. Their success beyond the arc was the perfect transition from their success inside, with or without Pons on the court.

To be fair, Tennessee basketball could have overcome that. However, the Vols were 4-of-21 from the three-point line and an abysmal 21-of-66 from the field overall. Then they shot only 17-of-26 from the free throw line. If UT could have hit a few free throws, they could have overcome the major shooting anomalies. They outrebounded the Tide 46-43 and only had nine turnovers.

3. A Jaden Springer injury hurt in the second half.

Not only was Pons in foul trouble, but Jaden Springer suffered an ankle injury in the first half and didn’t play in the second half. That limited the Vols’ offense and what they could do in terms of tempo, a few things that could have offset the other issues on this night.

While Keon Johnson is the better defensive freshman, Springer is Tennessee basketball’s elite offensive freshman. Johnson, to be fair, did have a solid offensive night with 12 points. Victor Bailey Jr. and Santiago Vescovi had 16 and 13 respectively. Springer could have helped, though, and him being out combined with the other issues were too much for UT to overcome.