Tennessee @ Alabama preview

Last Meeting ( Jan 19, 2019 ) Alabama 68, Tennessee 71

Nate Oats has been critical of his team's ability to play a complete game, and it may be difficult for Alabama to satisfy its coach's wishes in that regard with depth becoming more of an issue. The Crimson Tide hope to bounce back from a close loss and adjust to the indefinite loss of their best defensive player when they host Tennessee on Tuesday.

Alabama held a slim lead with four minutes remaining in the second half Saturday against Arkansas before its lack of depth - it played with only seven scholarship players - resulted in the Crimson Tide making only one more shot the rest of the way in an 82-78 home loss. "Leadership was there to start, but we've had this issue all year maintaining our effort for 40 minutes, and the second half (was) bad. … I thought our defense kind of disappeared in the second half," Oats told reporters. The Volunteers also succumbed to a second-half onslaught in a losing cause Saturday, giving up 58 points after halftime in an 86-73 setback at Mississippi State en route to their third straight defeat. "Really dominating performance by Mississippi State in the second half. … They just dominated us inside, and we had no answer for it," Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said after the Bulldogs scored 24 points in the paint and outrebounded the Volunteers 23-8 over the final 20 minutes.

TIME: 7 p.m. ET. TV: ESPNU

ABOUT TENNESSEE (12-9, 4-4 SEC): The conference's best scoring and field-goal percentage defense entering the game proved to be no match against Mississippi State, giving up a season-high point total while also allowing the Bulldogs to shoot 57 percent for the game - including 69 percent in the second half. Starting guard Josiah-Jordan James (7.8 points, 5.7 rebounds) missed his first game of the season Saturday due to a groin injury, enabling fellow freshman Uros Plavsic (16 points) and junior Jalen Johnson (13) to see more playing time and produce career-high scoring efforts. Junior forward John Fulkerson was limited to six points and five boards Saturday after posting three double-doubles in his previous six games - a stretch during which he averaged 13.5 points and 8.5 rebounds.

ABOUT ALABAMA (12-9, 4-4): While the team missed reserve guard James Bolden (illness), the more notable absence was that of junior forward Herbert Jones (9.9 points, team-high 6.3 rebounds), who is generally recognized as the Crimson Tide's best defensive player. He'll be out indefinitely after undergoing wrist surgery. Freshman guard Jaden Shackelford (13.4 points) has taken full advantage of the green light he has beyond the arc recently, averaging 24.5 points over his last two games after knocking down five 3-pointers in each contest. Junior guard John Petty Jr. (15.4 points, 7.2 rebounds) struggled through a rare poor shooting effort from 3-point range Saturday (1-for-5), but he still ranks eighth in the country in 3-point percentage (SEC-best 45.8).

BUZZER BEATERS

1. Alabama, which leads the league in 3-point accuracy (34.7 percent), is 11-3 when it shoots over 30 percent beyond the arc and 1-6 when it doesn't.

2. Volunteers G Yves Pons recorded one block Saturday, extending his streak with at least one to 21 games but ending an eight-game streak in which he had at least two.

3. Of Shackelford's 222 field-goal attempts this season, 147 of them have been 3-pointers (66.2 percent).

PREDICTION: Alabama 74, Tennessee 65