After trailing by as many as 16 points in the second half, Tennessee rallied to defeat Alabama 59-54 on Senior Day at Thompson-Boling Arena.
Grant Williams led all scores with 16 points and 10 rebounds, recording his fourth double-double of the season.
“Grant (Williams), I think he tied a record for blocks today,” Rick Barnes said after the game. “He also set one for getting his shot blocked three or four times today, too. He was determined.”
Senior Lew Evans scored 13 points on 4-of-7 shooting — including three 3-pointers — grabbed five rebounds and blocked two shots in 29 minutes of action.
“I’ve told you guys before that Lew (Evans) can help us,” Barnes said. “I told him that he definitely earned his keep today. The fact is his defense was outstanding. He did a lot of really good things for us.”
The “good”, included a crucial 3-pointer down the stretch.
“Lew’s (Evans) three was a dagger,” Barnes said. “We went to our movement game and just said, ‘Don’t look to score so much on the first side. Let’s just keep twisting them up and see if we can break and pop one,’ and we did.”
Senior guard Robert Hubbs III finished with only 6 points, but his biggest contribution may have been recognizing that it just wasn’t his night.
“We had it going there at the end, the last three or four minutes, we knew Robert (Hubbs) wasn’t in the game,” Barnes said. “We were gong to get him in the game. He looked at me and said, ‘No, Coach. You have to let these guys do this.’”
“I think that speaks volumes of his character, and how much he cares about winning. I just felt like we might need somebody else out there to help score, but he just said, ‘No, Coach. You have to let these guys do this.’”
Tennessee’s next game will be in the SEC Tournament on Thursday.