A large one.
No. 4 Tennessee heads to Tuscaloosa tonight for a massive meeting with No. 14 Alabama. Both teams enter this one tied at the top of the SEC standings, sitting at 12-3 in conference play. South Carolina remains one game back of both teams, still alive in the race.
Tennessee smoked Alabama in Knoxville back in January, 91-71.
“They just took a very good team, one of the best teams in the league, and added a leading scorer in the league to it in (Dalton) Knecht, and now they’ve got a team that’s primed to get a 1- of a 2-seed,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said of Tennessee. “I’m sure anything short of a Final Four run they’d be disappointed in at the end of the year.
“This is a really good team we’ve got coming in here with the SEC league title on the line.”
Knecht is coming off of a 39 point game this week against Auburn. Alabama will attempt to keep him in check tonight — something nobody has really been able to do so far in league play.
KenPom ranks Tennessee as the fifth-ranked team in their metric, while Alabama comes in at No. 7. The metric projects a two-point win for the Crimson Tide tonight. Alabama is favored by 3.5 points.
How to watch Tennessee-Alabama
Location: Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Time: 8 p.m. ET
TV Channel: ESPN
Streaming: Watch ESPN, ESPN App