After seven consecutive victories to open their basketball season, including the last five by at least 20 points, the No. 7 Tennessee Volunteers were due for a challenge at some point.
They got one Saturday night inside Thompson-Boling Arena, as Alabama's scorching 3-point shooting to open the second half provided an eventual 14-point cushion as the Crimson Tide wound up decking the Vols 71-63 in Knoxville. John Petty Jr. and Joshua Primo combined to shoot 7-for-9 from long range as Alabama improved to 7-3 overall and 2-0 in the Southeastern Conference while dropping the league's preseason favorite to 7-1, 1-1.
"We got exactly what we deserved," Vols coach Rick Barnes said. "Give credit to Alabama, but we're going to have to get a lot better."
Tennessee's surprising setback came on the heels of Wednesday's 73-53 win at No. 12 Missouri, the program's largest road win ever against a ranked opponent, but the Vols were undone not only by Alabama but Yves Pons getting into foul trouble, Jaden Springer rolling his ankle and John Fulkerson having a rough outing.
The Vols entered Saturday's showdown leading the nation in scoring defense at 52.7 points per game, but Alabama had little regard for that when it opened the second half with five consecutive 3-pointers. Herb Jones collected the first one before Petty and Primo added two apiece, with Petty capping the outburst at the 15:24 mark to extend the Tide's lead to 48-36.
A Petty tip-in less than a minute later made it 50-36, which marked the visitors' largest lead of the evening.
"They were driving us, and then we were shrinking a little bit too much, so they were getting wide-open shots," Tennessee sophomore guard Josiah-Jordan James said. "They were getting target practice. We've got to do a better job of executing our game plan, because that was not our game plan coming out at halftime.
"A lot of the games in the SEC are going to be like that. We're not going to be winning by a lot every single game, so we've got to learn how to fight back and be resilient, and I think this game will definitely serve as a lesson for that."
Pons picked up his third foul 17 seconds into the second half but then collected all five of his blocks in the final 14 minutes to help Tennessee claw back from its double-digit deficit. A Victor Bailey jumper with 9:44 left got Tennessee within 57-50, and three Bailey free throws with 2:56 remaining made it 65-59.
The Vols still trailed by that score when Santiago Vescovi had a shot blocked by Jones, which ignited Alabama's transition game and resulted in a Jaden Shackelford 3-pointer from the corner that extended the Tide's lead back out to 68-59 with 2:08 left.
"Santi driving in and getting a couple of shots blocked - that's what he was doing a year ago," Barnes said. "You can't have those kind of plays. When you're not playing well offensively, you can't help them defensively in situations like that."
Barnes saved most of his wrath for Fulkerson, the senior forward who was 2-of-5 from the floor and 3-of-8 from the free-throw line. When asked who could take some of Springer's minutes if he has to miss a game or two, Barnes said, "As far as I'm concerned, guys can take John Fulkerson's minutes. He's been around long enough, and he's got to bring more than he brought today."
Petty's 19 points led Alabama, which wound up making 10 of 20 shots from 3-point range, while Jones and Primo each added 11 points. Bailey led Tennessee with 16 points, with Vescovi adding 13 and Keon Johnson 12.
The Vols were just 4-of-21 from long distance.
As a result of Tennessee falling to Alabama and Arkansas losing Saturday afternoon to Missouri, the SEC no longer has any undefeated teams. The once-beaten Vols will return to Thompson-Boling Arena on Wednesday to face the once-beaten Razorbacks in a contest that ESPN2 will televise at 7 p.m.
Contact David Paschall at dpaschall@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6524. Follow him on Twitter @DavidSPaschall.