The Alabama men's basketball team is set take on No. 8 seed Tennessee in the opening game of the 2020 SEC Men’s Basketball Tournament on Thursday at noon CT on SEC Network. The winner of Thursday’s game will advance to the quarterfinals to take on No. 1 seed and regular season champion Kentucky on Friday at noon CT.
Alabama and Tennessee will meet in the SEC Tournament for the 16th time when the two teams square off Thursday afternoon. The Crimson Tide owns a 10-5 edge in all-time tournament games against the Volunteers, which includes a 58-48 victory in the last postseason meeting between the teams on March 15, 2013 in Nashville.
The Crimson Tide faced the Volunteers only once this season, with Tennessee taking a narrow 69-68 victory over Alabama on Feb. 4 in Tuscaloosa, Ala. Tennessee had a huge edge in free throws attempted for the game, attempting 24 more foul shots than Alabama (UT had 32 attempts compared to UA’s 8). The Crimson Tide gave up 19 offensive rebounds on its way to being outrebounded 42-33 and was forced into 20 turnovers in the loss.