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00:00 Welcome to Bama Central's Extra Point segment here on this Monday.
00:04 I am Will Miller here with Matthew Gibson.
00:06 As always, it was a big basketball game this past weekend at Coleman Coliseum here in Tuscaloosa.
00:12 If you haven't heard, the Alabama Crimson Tide and
00:14 Tennessee Volunteers went head to head for the second time this season.
00:17 This time with the highest of stakes,
00:20 the SEC regular season championship all but on the line.
00:23 Tennessee able to come out on top on a hectic day in Tuscaloosa with college game day,
00:28 lots of great energy in the building all throughout the day,
00:32 the morning, the afternoon, and the evening game was at seven.
00:34 Speaking of seven, that's how many Tennessee won by, 81 to 74.
00:39 Alabama missing Latrell Wrightsall again.
00:42 He's on a streak now of consecutive games where he's not been able to play.
00:48 Between that, Grant Nelson fouling out with
00:51 still a lot of time on the clock and other key mistakes.
00:53 Alabama just couldn't overcome one of the most experienced and,
00:56 frankly, best teams in the country.
00:58 Matthew, what were some of your takeaways?
00:59 >> Yeah, goodness.
01:01 I mean, the second half collapse was truly just one of the worst performances that
01:06 we've seen from Alabama basketball this year.
01:08 And obviously, you go in, have a lead at the half, and really can't capitalize
01:12 on such a great environment that Coleman Coliseum gave you.
01:17 I mean, obviously, you had college game day there early in the morning, and
01:21 that carried over to a completely sold out, white out environment for Alabama.
01:26 And then in the second half, you shoot 11.1% from the field,
01:30 or from three point lane, excuse me, and below 35% from the field.
01:35 It was just really, really disgusting performance offensively.
01:40 I thought they did some okay things defensively, and
01:42 you had guys like Gavin Cosby step up in that Latrell Wrightsall role.
01:46 And I think that's something that Alabama's gonna be able to rely on down
01:48 the stretch as they go into maybe even the Florida game and
01:51 towards the SEC tournament and March Madness.
01:54 But again, you gotta give credit to Tennessee.
01:57 That is a very, very good basketball team,
01:59 one that will probably win the SEC regular season championship outright.
02:03 One that's gonna probably do damage in March,
02:05 because now they have an actual offense with guys like Donald Kinect and
02:08 Jonas Adu have really stepped up this season.
02:10 But again, really some struggles against Tennessee's length and versatility.
02:15 I mean, guys like Mayshaq, who's one of the better defenders in the country.
02:18 Ziegler, who's one of the better defenders in the country.
02:21 Adu just gave Alabama a lot of trouble and
02:24 really was just too much to overcome down the stretch of the game.
02:27 >> One thing I thought Tennessee did well was it seemed like they'd shut down
02:32 the perimeter.
02:32 They made it really challenging for Alabama to move the ball in transition and
02:37 as they wanted to develop a half court offense.
02:40 And when that happens, it's naturally gonna create difficulties in getting open
02:44 looks and moving guys around efficiently, which is a big part of the game when
02:49 it comes to a team that's gonna make its home outside the perimeter.
02:53 Tennessee interfered with that, they disrupted that,
02:55 they did it all throughout the night.
02:56 Alabama responded in the first half and absolutely did not in the second,
03:00 like you mentioned, and that was one of the differences in the game.
03:02 Another thing was Dalton Kinect didn't score 30 something points, but
03:07 there are still ways he affects the game that he's always gonna affect the game.
03:11 And some of those were present on Saturday night.
03:13 I was impressed with the effort defensively.
03:17 Not sure what you're gonna get with this team on defense.
03:20 If it's good, you feel like you tip your hat.
03:22 If it's bad, you're like, well, it's old hat by now, pun intended.
03:26 But I think they wanted to rise to the challenge with the environment and
03:30 all the spectacle around the game, the stakes involved.
03:34 And it showed in the way they played, they played really hard.
03:38 Tennessee's just a really good team, bottom line, they got a really good coach,
03:40 really experienced players.
03:42 That's gonna be a difference maker, it is a difference maker.
03:44 And Alabama has experienced players, but not together for years.
03:49 Tennessee has had these guys on this team and with this coach.
03:53 And Rick's got a lot of experience under his belt as well.
03:58 I think the better team won, and they did that by capitalizing on the mistakes.
04:04 Alabama did have some turnovers that weren't good turnovers, and
04:07 that's something you absolutely have to limit when you're playing a ranked team,
04:10 whether you're at home or whether you're on the road.
04:13 Tennessee just did those little things right, and
04:15 it ended up making a difference in the final box score.
04:18 >> Yeah, I completely agree, and I think you make a great point about how
04:22 Tennessee's roster is just so cohesive at this point.
04:25 I mean, those guys have been together for years.
04:27 Obviously, the big addition was Connect, and
04:29 Connect is probably gonna win SEC Player of the Year over Mark Sears.
04:32 Sears had a great game against himself, but Ziggler's been there for a while,
04:37 Adu's been there for a while, Santiago Vescovi has been there for a while.
04:41 This is a really experienced team.
04:43 I think Tennessee right now is probably the best team in the SEC.
04:46 I mean, they are standings wise, but in terms of a national level,
04:50 I don't think many teams are better than Tennessee at this point.
04:53 And for Alabama, it's just something to build off of.
04:56 And as you go into Florida, you gotta win out, you gotta hope Tennessee
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