The Southeastern Conference is Tennessee's for the taking.
Tennessee won the league's biggest men's basketball game of the season to this point, as the No. 4 Volunteers took down No. 14 Alabama 81-74 Saturday night inside Coleman Coliseum. The two teams entered tied at the conference summit, but the Vols improved to 23-6 overall and to 13-3 in SEC games, while the Crimson Tide fell to 20-9 and 12-4.
If Tennessee prevails Wednesday night at No. 18 South Carolina, the Vols would clinch no worse than a share of the regular-season championship and would lock up the top seed for the SEC tournament.
Jahmai Mashack's 3-pointer with 6:13 remaining put Tennessee ahead to stay at 63-62, and Zakai Zeigler and Josiah-Jordan James had 3-pointers in the final five minutes that provided the Vols with five-point leads. Zeigler led Tennessee with 18 points, while Dalton Knecht added 13, Jonas Aidoo 12 and James 11.
"We're so proud of our guys," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said afterward on the Vol Network. "Alabama is a terrific team and both teams were ready to go, but Jahmai Mashack and Josiah-Jordan James were just terrific. Shack impacted the game more than anybody with his defense, going to get loose balls and just doing what he does.
"Josiah hit some big 3s and had a double-double."
Mark Sears led Alabama with 22 points, with Aaron Estrada adding 16 and Nick Pringle 13.
The two teams combined on a staggering 77 attempts from 3-point range, with the Vols making 12 of 40 attempts (30.0%) and the Crimson Tide going 9-for-37 (24.3%). Tennessee had only six turnovers and has now held Alabama to its two lowest scoring totals of the season.
"It was a great win. It really was," Barnes said. "Our second-half defense was really good. We're in March now, and this is a compliment to how hard our guys work."
Tennessee used a 10-0 run to turn a 13-12 lead into a 23-12 advantage, with a Santiago Vescovi 3-pointer and a pair of Jordan Gainey free throws capping the surge at the 10:53 mark of the first half. Yet the two most prominent inside factors for the Vols, Jonas Aidoo and Tobe Awaka, each picked up two fouls within the first nine minutes and sat the rest of the half, which helped enable Alabama to get within 30-29.
Mashack and James connected on 3-pointers to push Tennessee out front by double digits again at 39-29, but Alabama scored the half's final 12 points to grab a 41-39 advantage. Estrada's short jumper with 26 seconds before halftime gave the Tide their first lead since Sears opened the game's scoring with a 3-pointer.
"It was a different kind of game with our post players getting in foul trouble," Barnes said. "Early in the game, our whole game plan was to go inside and go at them with our size."
A Grant Nelson 3-pointer less than two minutes into the second half extended Alabama's lead to 46-40 and capped a 17-1 run that the Tide sandwiched around halftime. The Vols bounced right back with 3-pointers by Zeigler and Vescovi to forge a 46-46 tie.
Alabama took its largest lead at 58-51 on three Sam Walters free throws with 13:42 remaining.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.