KNOXVILLE — What a start to March.
Jahmai Mashack’s 3-pointer from 32 feet as time expired Saturday propelled Tennessee to a 79-76 victory over Alabama before an emotionally charged crowd of 22,392 inside the Food City Center. The No. 5 Volunteers improved to 24-5 overall and to 11-5 in Southeastern Conference play with two regular-season games remaining, strengthening their argument for a No. 1 seed in the looming NCAA tournament in the process.
“I was just feeling good,” Mashack said afterward. “I felt like I was going to hit the shot.”
Mashack was a freshman on Tennessee’s SEC tournament title team in 2022 and a junior on last year’s SEC regular-season championship squad, but the senior guard known for his defensive talents created an entirely different moment at the expense of the No. 6 Crimson Tide, who fell to 23-6 and 12-4.
“It’s one of those games that you will never forget,” Mashack said. “I hope it remains in fans’ hearts, and I’m hoping this is something that will be remembered forever with Tennessee basketball.”
Alabama led 76-72 after a Labaron Philon free throw with 36.1 seconds remaining, but a Chaz Lanier layup with 30.3 seconds left got the Vols within 76-74. Lanier was fouled and missed the free throw, but Mashack was fouled on the rebound and made a pair of free throws to tie the game.
Philon drove to the basket on Alabama’s last possession and was tied up by Mashack, but the Tide got the ball back on the alternating arrow with 3.8 seconds left. Alabama could not get the ball in play and was whistled for a five-second violation, setting up Mashack’s heroics.
“To be honest with you, I was trying to call a timeout, and I didn’t even see the play,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. “With the way they lined up, Shack and I made eye contact, and I felt like if he could just get it across half court with one second left, we had a play I thought we could run to get us a high-percentage shot or an open shot from half court.
“I made one good coaching move today. I didn’t tell the referee I was going to call time out. I normally tell him, and they would have probably given it to me. I was screaming, and I did not see the shot.”
Lanier and Jordan Gainey paced the Vols with 18 points apiece, while Zakai Zeigler added 15 and Mashack had 11.
Mark Sears led the Tide with a game-high 24 points, with Philon chipping in 13.
“It’s an amazing feeling,” Gainey said. “We knew what we were getting into, and we knew it could come down to a one-possession game. It’s March, as we know, and crazy things happen in March.”
Tennessee’s win also resulted in Auburn winning the SEC regular-season championship outright with the final week to spare. Auburn players watched Mashack’s winning shot on the way back from their 94-78 triumph at Kentucky, with some of them breaking into “Rocky Top.”
Aden Holloway’s 3-pointer with 10:15 remaining gave Alabama its biggest lead at 62-53, but a Gainey jumper and free throw got the Vols within 64-61, and a Zeigler 3-pointer at the 6:49 mark tied the game at 66.
“You’ve got to give Tennessee a lot of credit for not quitting when we had them down nine,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “I’m going to take the blame for the last 30 seconds. That was on me. We subbed our bigs out, and I shouldn’t have subbed them out until after we secured the rebound.
“I had a chance to call time out on the inbounds play and didn’t call it. I thought we were going to get it in. I was not good in those last 30 seconds, and I feel like I failed these guys. For 39 1/2 minutes, they outplayed them and were up four.”
Lanier hit two mid-range jumpers and a 3-pointer to stake Tennessee to a 7-2 lead within the game’s first three minutes, but Zeigler picked up his second foul at the 16:23 mark of the first half and went to the bench. Zeigler returned with 7:20 before halftime and immediately found Lanier for a 3-pointer that put the Vols up 30-26.
Darlinstone Dubar’s 3 gave Tennessee a 33-29 lead, but Alabama countered with a 10-0 run that was capped by a Sears 3 with 2:04 before halftime.
The Tide took a 42-38 advantage into intermission after a first 20 minutes that contained 22 combined fouls. Sears and Lanier led their respective teams at the break with 12 points apiece, but Oats was lamenting Alabama’s inability to lead by even more given the time Zeigler spent sidelined.
“I told our guys halfway through that time that we were not putting them away,” Oats said. “He’s on the bench, and he creates a lot of offense for them, but you’ve got to give Gainey a lot of credit. Gainey stepped up in Zeigler’s absence. He didn’t even make a 3 but scored 18 points.
“He got to that mid-range shot a lot, and he got to the (foul) line and went 6-of-6, but we did not get up on them like we could have with Zeigler out of the game.”
When Barnes was asked about Zeigler’s quick departure from the floor, he said: “It obviously takes away some of our aggression defensively, and I thought our guys played really hard through that. I kept thinking to myself, ‘Do I really want him to sit here for 16 minutes?’ He can’t help himself sometimes, but then I thought Jordan got tired. Jordan came up huge today.”
Alabama used 3-pointers by Holloway and Jari Stevenson in the first eight minutes of the second half to build a 59-51 lead, with Zeigler missing four free throws during that stretch.
A better outcome
Barnes was reminded after the game that Mashack’s winner was from the same spot on the floor as Chris Lofton’s shot late in regulation that helped the Vols to an eventual 111-105 overtime win over his Texas Longhorns on Dec. 23, 2006.
“I’ve got a great memory of that,” Barnes said before breaking into a smile. “We earned a five-second count today, and that team didn’t.”
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.