KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – The University of Tennessee men’s basketball team led by 13 with under 12 minutes to go Saturday night at a sold-out Food City Center, but fell to No. 17/18 Alabama, 71-69.
Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie totaled 26 points and a career-high-tying eight steals, matching his own program record, for No. 22 Tennessee (20-9, 10-6 SEC), which led for 36:37 and did not trail until the last half-minute, despite freshman forward Nate Ament missing all but 2:25 of the final 28 minutes due to a right leg injury.
The Volunteers forced four misses and four turnovers to open the night and did not allow a point until 4:29 into the contest, with Gillespie notching three steals in the first 3:22 alone.
Tennessee soon thereafter made five shots in a row on its way to claiming a 26-16 lead with 5:25 left, at which time Gillespie’s steal total was at six. It held Alabama (22-7, 12-4 SEC) without a point for 5:07, forcing five straight misses and three turnovers.
The margin reached 12, 36-24, on a 3-pointer by freshman guard Amari Evans with 100 seconds left in the session and held steady at a dozen, 40-28, entering the locker room. Gillespie totaled 15 points and seven steals in the first 20 minutes, while his team had a 16-5 edge on the offensive glass and a 17-3 margin in second-chance points.
Alabama, after its lowest-scoring half of the season, opened the second frame with 12-4 run in the first 2:07 to cut its deficit to four, 44-40. The burst included a trio of 3-pointers, one of which featured an and-one made free throw.
Tennessee answered with six straight points to spark an 11-2 run that gave it a game-high 13-point cushion, 55-42 with 12:16 left. It held the Crimson Tide without a make from the floor for 5:59, forcing six consecutive mises.
Alabama used a 5-of-6 field-goal stretch, including a three-point play and a 3-pointer in just 42 seconds, to get the margin to two with 4:35 left. Tennessee then scored the next four points to make it 67-61 with 3:41 to go, but Alabama sophomore guard Labaron Philon Jr., tallied six straight points in 42 seconds to level the game—the first time since it was scoreless—at 67 with 2:32 remaining.
Redshirt sophomore J.P. Estrella put the Volunteers back in front just 26 seconds later, but Alabama pulled even at 69 with 1:11 on the timer. Philon then put Alabama in front for the first time on a jump-shot with 24 seconds to go, as the visitors made their seventh shot in nine tries. Tennessee missed at the other end and the Crimson Tide snapped a five-game series losing streak.
In addition to logging the third-best point total of his career and tying the program record for steals he set 10 days prior, Gillespie added a game-best seven assists and a co-season-high five rebounds. The Greeneville, Tenn., native, who became the first player in SEC history with eight steals in multiple league outings, also committed just one turnover in 36 minutes of action.
Estrella finished with 12 points and six rebounds, while junior forward Jaylen Carey had 10 points and a co-game-high nine rebounds. The latter mark equaled that of senior forward Felix Okpara, who added eight points and a team-best two blocks, the latter of which put him past 100 as a Volunteer, despite missing five-plus minutes due to illness.
Graduate guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr., scored 25 points to pace the Crimson Tide, finishing 8-of-12 from the field, 6-of-9 beyond the arc and 3-of-4 at the line. Philon had 23 points, including 15 in the second half and eight in the last 3:12, on a 9-of-14 clip from the floor. Junior guard Aden Holloway chipped in 12 points.
The Volunteers capped the night with a 25-9 margin on the offensive glass and a 25-10 tally in second-chance points, as well as a 40-26 edge in paint points. However, the Crimson Tide shot 10-of-27 (37.0 percent) from beyond the arc and 11-of-13 (84.6 percent) at the line.
Tennessee’s next contest is Tuesday at 6 p.m. against South Carolina at Colonial Life Arena in Columbia, S.C., live on SEC Network.
