Alabama Crimson Tide Lose Tough Game Against the Vols

The madness of March hasn't started well for the Tide as they lost a tough game against the Vols Saturday night in Coleman Coliseum. It was a game of runs and unfortunately for Alabama, Tennessee went on the last one late getting the 81-74 win. The biggest difference in the game was Tennessee seemingly getting all timely loose balls and second-chance points. As bad as the Tide's defense was a week ago in Lexington they were much better at home holding the very talented Dalton Knecht to 13 points.

The three ball not falling, Grant Nelson spending most of the night in foul trouble, and not being able to close out the game late spoiled what was a great atmosphere in Tuscaloosa. Very rarely does the Tide squander the great home-court advantage and with two games remaining in the regular season the most important thing is not letting tonight's tough loss affect their mental. The biggest bright spot was the play of Nick Pringle who scored 13 and had quite a few big rebounds on the offensive glass. Mark Sears led the team with 22 points but like everyone else had a tough night from beyond the arc.

With the loss Alabama is out of first place in the SEC and the impressive home streak against SEC opponents has come to an end as well. Anytime you lose to a rival in such a fashion with so much on the line it is tough, but the beautiful thing is Alabama still has a lot to play for. They will more than likely be a 2-seed in the SEC tournament and a three-seed in the NCAA tournament. It will be interesting how Bama responds to tonight's missed opportunity Tuesday night on the road in Gainesville. You would love to see this team beat Florida and Arkansas as well as getting Latrell Wrightsell back before going to Nashville.