As Alabama basketball coach Nate Oats poured over the box score from last Saturday’s 91-71 loss at Tennessee, there was nowhere to turn from the defensive wreckage caused by the Volunteers.
Zakai Zeigler had four steals for the Vols and Jordan Gainey three, with Josiah-Jordan James, Jahmai Mashack and Santiago Vescovi each swiping two. Jonas Aidoo only had one steal by comparison but racked up four blocked shots.
It was the worst Southeastern Conference defeat Oats had suffered in his five seasons with the Crimson Tide, and Tennessee’s defensive onslaught that resulted in 22 turnovers wasn’t something he was going to forget on the way back to Tuscaloosa.
“It’s impossible to replicate, because you don’t have anybody on your team who plays as hard or is as quick as Zeigler,” Oats said. “All of a sudden, he’s up in you, and you’re not used to it. You try to tell the guys what it’s going to be like and you try to replicate it, but sometimes you’ve just got to experience it.
“It’s not just Zeigler. It’s the whole team. It’s Vescovi. It’s Mashack. If you don’t guard, you don’t play for Coach (Rick) Barnes.”
The Vols obviously haven’t been shabby on offense, either, scoring 85 or more points in three consecutive league games for the first time since February 1978. They improved to 14-4 overall and to 4-1 in SEC play with the win over Alabama and next play Saturday night (6 on the SEC Network) at Vanderbilt.
Tennessee held the Crimson Tide 19 points below their season average and will head to Nashville allowing opponents to shoot just 37.79% from the floor. That ranks fifth nationally, and it has come against a schedule that has contained eight teams that have been ranked at some point this season — Wisconsin, Purdue, Kansas, North Carolina, Illinois, Ole Miss, Mississippi State and Alabama.
“It’s a blessing,” Barnes said Saturday, “because it’s very seldom when you have guys who really want to play that hard defensively and take great pride in it.”
James and Vescovi are each in their fifth seasons under Barnes, while Aidoo, Mashack and Zeigler are in their third. They are all well-versed in the defensive requirements from Barnes and his staff, and it’s something that newcomers have to learn in a hurry if they want to be a prominent piece to the puzzle.
That has included Dalton Knecht, the fifth-year senior guard who is in his only season under Barnes after transferring from Northern Colorado and has scored 128 points in the last four games.
“In some ways, he’s come in with a freshman mentality defensively, because last year they played a lot of zone,” Barnes said. “He’s made great strides there, and he wants to do it. It’s just hard. If you go back to when Josiah and Santi were first here, they struggled defensively, but Josiah, Santi, Zakai and Jahmai have incredible cardio toughness.
“They can fight it, and that’s the hardest part for young guys.”
Vols turn 50
Tennessee moved from No. 6 to No. 5 in this week’s Associated Press poll, matching its high-water mark of the season.
The Vols also earned their 50th consecutive week of being ranked, which extended their program record. Tennessee’s active streak of 50 ranks third nationally behind Houston (76) and Kansas (55).
In 23 of the past 50 weeks, the Vols have held a top-10 spot.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com.