Tennessee looks to knock off Alabama for the fifth consecutive time when the Southeastern Conference rivals play on Saturday night at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
The contest will be the first as an unranked team for the Volunteers (12-6, 2-3 SEC) since the end of the 2020-21 season. Tennessee was No. 18 to start the 2021-22 season and had been in the poll non-stop until this week.
The Volunteers’ streak of being ranked 90 consecutive weeks was second longest behind Houston (117).
Now Tennessee will look to continue its recent mastery of the Crimson Tide (13-5, 3-2) and it figures to turn to freshman big man Nate Ament.
Ament is averaging 19 points over the past three games to raise his season mark to 15.4.
He matched his season best of 23 points in an 87-82 double-overtime home win over Texas A&M on Jan. 13. He tallied 17 in each of the other two games, including last Saturday’s 80-78 home loss to Kentucky.
“Nate has been good all year,” Barnes said. “People just don’t realize what he’s had to go through. I think he hasn’t gotten a great whistle, especially in the mid-range game. But the fact is, he keeps working. But he’s played three (consecutive) games where he’s been elite.”
Still, Tennessee sustained a painful loss to Kentucky. The Volunteers led by as many as 17 points and were ahead for more than 39 minutes but the Wildcats took their first lead of the game on Otega Oweh’s fast-break layup with 34.3 seconds left en route to stealing the victory.
Ja’Kobi Gillespie scored 24 points to pace Tennessee for his eighth 20-point effort of the season. He leads the Volunteers with an 18.6 scoring average.
Alabama has won two straight games, including last Saturday’s 83-81 road victory over Oklahoma.
Labaron Philon Jr. scored 23 points for his third straight 20-point effort and 12th of the season. He is averaging a team-best 22.0 points per game.
Aiden Sherrell added 21 points after scoring a career-high 22 in the previous contest, a 97-82 road victory over Mississippi State. He has topped 20 in three of his past six appearances.
Despite the big games from Philon and Sherrell, the Crimson Tide trailed the Sooners by as many as 11 points before turning things around.
“I have got to figure out what we got to do to get us playing harder for 40 minutes and not waiting until we get down,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “We had some guys step up there late and made some big threes. It came down to winning time the last three to four minutes and we had some guys make some plays.”
Meanwhile, Oats isn’t going to earn any friends with his plan to play 23-year-old former Crimson Tide player Charles Bediako.
The 7-foot Bediako averaged 6.6 points and 5.2 rebounds in 70 appearances over two seasons for Alabama and entered the 2023 NBA Draft and wasn’t selected. He signed an undrafted free-agent deal with the San Antonio Spurs and was later released. The following season, he signed with the Denver Nuggets and was released.
Bediako filed suit against the NCAA earlier this week requesting immediate eligibility to play at Alabama. One day later, a Tuscaloosa (Ala.) judge issued a 10-day temporary injunction that makes him eligible to play, pending a hearing on Jan. 27.
Bediako is registered in classes at Alabama.
“The University of Alabama supports Charles and his ongoing efforts to be reinstated for competition while he works to complete his degree,” the athletic department said in a statement.
Oats said Bediako injured his leg during practice and will be a “game-time decision Saturday.”
Baylor coach Scott Drew received a lot of heat earlier this season by adding former NBA draft pick James Nnaji to the roster.
