Beating Tennessee has become easier said than done for Alabama after having lost five straight to its rivals on the hardwood. It has been even more painful with how close a majority of the games have been, and there have been many opportunities for the Tide to have stopped the streak.
We all remember the buzzer-beater of a year ago in Knoxville when it appeared the streak was coming to an end, and the return to Thompson-Boling Arena may be even tougher for Nate Oats's team to win, starting with the Vols coming off a tough road loss to Missouri. You would have to imagine this team will be even more focused than normal with Alabama coming to town after Wednesday's loss. Tennessee has not dropped back-to-back games since December, when it lost to Syracuse and Illinois.
On top of the extra focus that Rick Barnes' team will have going into Saturday's game, coming off the loss, it also may not help how well the Tide shot from beyond the arc on Wednesday in a big win over Mississippi State. Amari Allen led the onslaught of threes with the team ending up with 22 makes at an impressive 44 percent shooting percentage.
We have seen instances of Alabama not being nearly as successful coming off a historical shooting night in their next game. Memories of last year's tournament immediately come to mind when Mark Sears and company struggled from beyond the arc against Duke after lighting up BYU in the Sweet 16.
The Vols' defense and physical play give Bama fits, and if the three-ball is not falling nearly as much, it could lead to a long day for the road team.
If the three-ball is not falling, it is going to take another big game from Aiden Sherrell for the streak to come to an end. He has become a lot more comfortable with his offensive game, having scored in double digits in each of the last five games. Sherrell's importance has grown even more as of late since Bediako was ruled ineligible and he has responded well.
Honestly, it may take a similar performance from what we saw from him last week against Arkansas, when he put up 26 points and 13 boards. Good defense has been the biggest weakness of Nate Oats' teams over the years, and though it has been better of late, it is going to take a much better effort, especially against star freshman Nate Ament, who put up 29 in game one.