ForumsAlabama did not make a basket in overtime, but was a perfect 10-for-10 from the free throw line, as the Crimson Tide defeated Tennessee by a score of 65-60 in front of a season-high crowd of 21,948 Saturday night at Thompson Boling Arena.
Without leading scorer Scotty Hopson, who remains sidelined with an ankle injury, Tobias Harris led Tennessee (15-8, 5-3 SEC) with 19 points and 11 rebounds. It was his seventh double-double of the season.
“It was just a tough game for us,” Harris said. “We started off pretty well, but finishing out the first half — we didn’t do a great job. Start of the second half, we really picked it up to get back into it, but it was just a little too late.”
“We had the game, and we just let it slip away.”
Alabama (15-7, 7-1), who holds its opponents to just 57 points per game, played physical, aggressive defense, limiting the Vols to just 36 percent shooting in the first half.
“We knew they would be tough defensively; first or second in the nation in field goal percentage defense,” Tony Jones said. “We knew they were a tough, rugged basketball team.”
“The bottom line is: when you have an opportunity to win a game like this, you have to win a game. You have to make a play, and at the end, we didn’t make a play. Consequently, we lost.”
After a 9-0 run by Alabama, fueled by turnovers and poor transition defense, Tennessee trailed by 11 points at halftime.
But the Vols rallied in the second half. A Tobias Harris floater in the lane at the 9:33 mark put Tennessee on top 45-44.
The lead was short-lived, however, as Alabama answered with a Trevor Releford layup.
The Vols continued to battle, and managed to pull even at 55-55 when Tobias Harris scored off a Melvin Goins pass with just 44 seconds remaining.
After Brian Williams forced a turnover, Tennessee had the final possession of regulation.
With the clock winding down, Goins missed an open 3-pointer. Williams gathered the rebound, but was unable to knock down the put-back and the teams headed to overtime.
“We wanted to get the ball in to Tobias,” Jones said. “We told him we were going to go four up — that’s the name of the play — and we got the ball in to him. He got pushed off the block a little, but I told them in the huddle, this game will go to overtime or we’ll win the game in regulation.”
“He didn’t think he had anything. He passed it to Sklyer. Sklyer didn’t think he had a good look, so he reversed it to Melvin. Melvin had time and space, and he got off an unincumbered look and it just didn’t go down.”
The Vols turned the ball over four times and committed five fouls in the extra period.
Tennessee returns to action Tuesday night against the Kentucky Wildcats at Rupp Arena. With his eight-game suspension now completed, Bruce Pearl will resume his position on the bench.
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