KNOXVILLE - Even after having two teeth knocked out by a hard shot to the face in Tennessee's rock-bottom basketball loss at LSU on Wednesday, Lew Evans never thought about sitting out the final home game of his one-year stint with the Volunteers.
It's a good thing he toughed it out, too.
The graduate transfer hit two huge 3-pointers and made two key defensive plays in crunch time as Tennessee completed a rally from 16 points down in the second half to beat Alabama 59-54 in a Southeastern Conference game Saturday afternoon at Thompson-Boling Arena.
"My teeth hurt really bad right now. They really do," said Evans, who will need dental surgery after the season but wore a mouthpiece Saturday. "I've got a headache. I haven't really ate anything since I got them knocked out. I (have) no energy, but I had to do whatever it took to play today."
Tennessee's win coupled with Texas A&M's loss to Kentucky means the Vols will be the ninth seed in the SEC tournament next week and will play either Georgia or Ole Miss on Thursday afternoon in Nashville.
Having lost five of six games and coming off a loss to the lowly Tigers, Tennessee (16-15, 8-10) could have thrown in the towel after a miserable first half in which it shot just 20 percent (6-of-30) while Alabama, the SEC's second-worst offensive team, uncharacteristically made seven of nine 3-pointers and shot 56.5 percent.
Instead, after Jimmie Taylor gave the Crimson Tide a 40-24 lead at the 18:37 mark, the hosts sprang to life and heeded Admiral Schofield's plea for better defense.
"It could have been easy (to lay down)," the sophomore forward said. "But the fighter in me and the competitor in me, I've seen it for the last couple of weeks and I wasn't going to let that happen tonight. I had to say something to the guys."
Braxton Key's jump shot with 4:30 left in the game capped a 6-0 spurt that gave Alabama a 53-48 lead, but Tennessee outscored the visitors 11-1 down the stretch, thanks largely to Evans.
"He definitely earned his keep today," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said. "His defense was outstanding. He just did a lot of really good things for us. I'm proud of him, but I've seen a lot of things happen on senior day.
"Make no bones about it, what Lew did today was huge."
Evans' first 3 came after Shembari Phillips hustled down the floor to break up an Alabama fastbreak and saved the ball to set up Tennessee's own transition chance.
After Schofield made the go-ahead 3 from the wing, Evans took a charge in the lane, though he caught a break because his left heel was on the block/charge arc.
A 27.8 percent 3-pointer shooter for the season, Evans drained another trey for a 57-53 lead and blocked Corban Collins at the rim at the other end.
"The biggest thing was I just wanted to win," Evans said. "I just wanted to go out on a winning note playing my last game in TBA and also helping Robert (Hubbs) win his last game in TBA. I was going to do whatever it took. That was kind of my mindset coming in, to really just win. Whatever I needed to do, I did."
Tennessee outrebounded Alabama 40-32 and had 15 offensive rebounds to the Tide's five.
Alabama (17-13, 10-8) made just two of its final 13 shots and scored only 18 points on 25 percent shooting (6-of-25) in the second half.
"Tough finish for us tonight," Tide coach Avery Johnson said. "You have to give Tennessee credit. They came out and really were the aggressors in the second half and had us on our heels the entire second half."
Evans made a 3 to trigger the 14-2 run that got Tennessee back into the game early in the second half, but he badly missed an open shot later in the half that would have given the Vols the lead.
He hit two of them, though, when it mattered most.
"Admiral's 3s were huge, and then Lew's (second) was a dagger," Barnes said. "We went to our movement game and just said let's finish it, but don't look to score so much on the first side. Let's keep twisting them up and see if we can pop one, and he did. It's pretty good for a guy that stood right in front of the bench and held the ball for five seconds and missed it.
"I don't even know if he hit the rim. I asked him in the locker room, 'Why do you (do that)? There's something about you.'"
Evans' response: "Shooters shoot. You can't make the next one if you don't shoot it."
"Lew is a glue guy for us," Schofield said. "He keeps things together. Tonight he just took over for us and he made some huge shots, and I was just so happy for him."
Contact Patrick Brown at pbrown@timesfreepress.com.