College Gameday will head down to Tuscaloosa next weekend for No. 5 Tennessee basketball’s primetime matchup against No. 13 Alabama inside of Coleman Coliseum, ESPN announced on Saturday.
It’ll be the first time ever that Alabama has ever hosted the basketball version of the popular college pregame show. Tipoff between the Vols and Crimson Tide next Saturday night is scheduled for 8 p.m. ET on ESPN.
The program will air from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. ET on March 2. Alabama will enter the game on a nine-game home winning streak and 16-game home winning streak against SEC opponents. The Tide have won 28 of their past 29 games in Coleman Coliseum and are 53-5 in the building since the start of the 2020-21 season.
Alabama lost to Kentucky, 117-95, inside of Rupp Arena on Saturday night. The Wildcats’ 117 points are the most points they’ve ever scored against a ranked opponent.
Tennessee is set to tip with Texas A&M at 8 p.m. ET inside of Thompson-Boling Arena at Food City Center. If the Vols win their rematch with the Aggies, they’ll be tied with the Crimson Tide for first in the SEC with two weeks to play, as both teams would have a conference record of 11-3.
The Volunteers knocked off the Crimson Tide, 91-71, on Jan. 20 in Knoxville. The 20-point win marked the Vols’ largest margin of victory over Alabama in SEC play since a 36-point win, 100-64, on Jan. 30, 1999. It was just the second 20-point loss for Alabama under Oats and the first in SEC play.
Tennessee held Alabama, who entered the game as KenPom’s No. 1-ranked offense, to a season-low 71 points. The Crimson Tide managed to shoot 45% from the floor, but was just 4-of-21 from three and turned it over a season-high 22 times for 23 UT points.
Alabama star guard Mark Sears finished the game with 22 points on 7-of-13 shooting after entering the game averaging 20.2 points per game on 47.8% shooting from three. 15 of his points came in the second half when the game was out of hand.
Tennessee held Sears to 1-of-3 from behind the arc and didn’t allow him to make his first three until there was 2:31 remaining. Sears turned it over a season-high seven times.
As a team, the four made three’s by Alabama tied the fewest its made in a contest this season. Bama entered the game fourth nationally in three-pointers per game at 11.7. Its three-point percentage of 39.7 ranked sixth.
It was a big afternoon for Tennessee offensively to pair with its strong
