Alabama
Rick Barnes wanted a timeout before Jahmai Mashack's buzzer-beater against Alabama
Rick Barnes motioned for Jahmai Mashack to hurry. As soon as Tennessee’s senior guard got across midcourt, Barnes turned to the official running down the floor and yelled timeout — and got ignored.
No. 5 Tennessee and No. 6 Alabama were tied at 76. Mashack had just taken the inbound pass with 3.8 seconds left, a play that was designed to get the ball back to point guard Zakai Zeigler, who threw the ball in.
But when Alabama’s defense denied Zeigler, he went down the floor looking for the same timeout his coach was trying to call. When it wasn’t being granted, Zeigler turned toward the official and signaled for it with his hands.
Zeigler jumped up and down to no avail. Barnes threw his hands up in the air.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the court, Mashack stopped on a dime with 0.7 seconds left, pulled up for a long-range three and made a shot that no Tennessee Basketball fan will soon forget in the 79-76 thriller at Food City Center.
The head coach never saw the shot go in. Neither did his senior point guard.
“I was calling time out,” Barnes said during his press conference after the win. “I didn’t see the play.”
When did he know the shot went in?
“When the crowd went nuts,” Barnes said, drawing a laugh.
Jahmai Mashack vs. Alabama: 11 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals, 2 blocks, 2 assists
It was Mashack who had tied the game at the foul line with 30.6 seconds left, capping an unthinkable four-point Tennessee possession just when it looked like Alabama had put the game away in the final minute.
Chaz Lanier started it with a baseline drive with the Vols down 76-72, making a shot and getting fouled. He missed the foul shot that followed, but Mashack drew a foul chasing the rebound and made both foul shots in the double bonus.
Tennessee’s defense got a stop on the other end, but a tie-up with 3.8 seconds left gave the ball back to Alabama with the possession arrow pointing to the Crimson Tide. The Vols forced a five-second violation, though, to get the ball back and set up Mashack’s miracle.
“I had a chance to call a timeout,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said. “Coaches can call timeouts on the underneath out-of-bounds play and at four (seconds), I should have called it. I thought we were getting it in and that’s on me.”
Tennessee’s final play started with miscommunication before Zeigler even threw the ball into Mashack. As the players were going back onto the floor after the timeout, Barnes tried to yell to Mashack to get the ball up the court and call time.
But that’s not the message that was received.
“It was funny,” Mashack said, “I usually look over at coach to see like what he wants. So we get into our little, ladder drill and ladder play, and he’s mouthing something to me and I didn’t know what it was.
“And so in my head, I said, ‘Oh, he wants me to shoot the ball, so I’m going to shoot the ball. But he was really trying to say, if I catch it and I pass it up or I dribble it up, call time out.”
Good thing Mashack never looked over to see what Barnes was doing on the sideline as the he brought the ball up the floor.
“Right when I got the ball and I seen ‘Z’ was denied,” Mashack said, “I’m like, yeah, I’m shooting this. I was just feeling good. I felt like I was going to hit the shot and that’s what happened.”
“I made one good coaching move today,” Barnes added, “I didn’t tell the referee I was going to call timeout. I normally tell them and they would probably have given it to me. But I’m screaming and, really, I did not see the shot.”
Rick Barnes: Jahmai Mashack has ‘been through it … knows what it’s about’
Mashack finished with 11 points in 34 minutes for Tennessee (24-5, 11-5 SEC). He added six rebounds, three steals, two blocks and two steals to go with one legendary shot. Lanier had 18 and Zeigler had 11.
“I’m happy for Jahmai,” Barnes said. “He’s been just incredible with everything. I mean, he exemplifies everything that you want in a player, a person, a great family.”
He was everything Barnes wanted on the floor late in the game, too. And it paid off.
“To be frank, (the) coaches were asking if I want to go big,” Barnes said. “I said I want Shack on the court, I want him out there. Because he’s been through a lot. This time of year, he knows what it’s about.”
Alabama
How to watch Tennessee Volunteers: Live stream info, TV channel, game time | Feb. 28
Labaron Philon’s No. 18 Alabama Crimson Tide (21-7, 11-4 SEC) hit the road to match up with Ja’Kobi Gillespie and the No. 22 Tennessee Volunteers (20-8, 10-5 SEC) at Thompson-Boling Arena on Saturday, Feb. 28. The game starts at 6 p.m. ET.
We have more details below, including how to watch this matchup on ESPN.
Prepare for this matchup with everything you need to know ahead of Saturday’s college hoops action.
Tennessee vs. Alabama: How to watch on TV or live stream
- Game day: Saturday, February 28, 2026
- Game time: 6 p.m. ET
- Location: Knoxville, Tennessee
- Arena: Thompson-Boling Arena
- TV Channel: ESPN
- Live stream: Fubo – Watch NOW (Regional restrictions may apply)
Check out: USA TODAY Sports Coaches Poll
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Tennessee vs. Alabama stats and trends
- Tennessee ranks 78th in the nation with 80.5 points per game so far this year. At the other end, it ranks 62nd with 69.1 points allowed per contest.
- The Volunteers are thriving when it comes to rebounding, as they rank third-best in college basketball in boards (39.9 per game) and second-best in rebounds allowed (25.9 per contest).
- So far this season, Tennessee ranks 30th in college basketball in assists, averaging 17.1 per game.
- With 11.8 turnovers per game, the Volunteers are 257th in the country. They force 10.7 turnovers per contest, which ranks 224th in college basketball.
- This season, Tennessee is making 6.9 threes per game (271st-ranked in college basketball) and is shooting 34.7% (139th-ranked) from three-point land.
- With a 30.2% three-point percentage allowed this season, the Volunteers are 22nd-best in the country. They rank 182nd in college basketball by giving up 7.8 three-pointers per contest.
- Tennessee has taken 67.3% two-pointers and 32.7% three-pointers this year. Of the team’s buckets, 75.8% are two-pointers and 24.2% are three-pointers.
Tennessee vs. Alabama Odds and Spread
- Spread Favorite: Volunteers (-4.5)
- Moneyline: Tennessee (-222), Alabama (+179)
- Total: 164.5 points
NCAA Basketball odds courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook. Odds updated Saturday at 4:11 a.m. ET. For a full list of sports betting odds, access USA TODAY Sports Betting Scores Odds Hub.
Watch college basketball on Fubo!
Follow the latest college sports coverage at College Sports Wire.
Alabama
Alabama ‘Fully Aware’ of Losing Streak to Tennessee Ahead of Road Rematch
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Losing to a rival almost always hurts more than falling to another opponent during the regular season. Years of hatred, unforgettable moments and tradition boiled up into one game, and the delivery is nowhere to be found for one team.
No. 17 Alabama has won seven straight games and is eyeing an eighth on Saturday on the road against No. 22 Tennessee. This is the second time that Crimson Tide will face the Volunteers, as Alabama lost in Tuscaloosa in January.
The loss a month ago to head coach Rick Barnes and company brought UA’s losing streak against Tennessee to five games. It’s the first time that the Tide has dropped this many games to the Vols since 1968-72 — a streak that came two years before Alabama head coach Nate Oats was born (Oct. 13, 1974). It’s why Oats is not treating Tennessee as a faceless opponent or like any other team the Tide has faced.
“Every year we’ve been here they’ve caused us issues,” Oats said during Friday’s press conference. “Our players, are fully aware that we’ve lost five in a row. They’re fully aware of what happened out there last year. I’ve taken ownership for my share of what happened up there last year.
“We’re fully aware that they beat us at home. We haven’t lost very many home games in conference, period, really since we’ve been here, and they handed us one this year.”
After falling to Florida on Feb. 1, Alabama moved down to the ninth spot in the conference standings, and the college basketball world started to question whether or not the Crimson Tide would be a threat in the postseason.
But a switch flipped after that loss, and the current winning streak has Alabama tied for the No. 2 spot in the SEC standings. Everything seems to be trending in the Tide’s direction, as there are only three games remaining on the schedule.
Oats is in his sixth year as Alabama’s head coach. Following the retirement of former Auburn head coach Bruce Pearl during the offseason, Oats became the second-longest tenured coach for one team in the conference. The coach in front of him: Tennessee’s Rick Barnes, who has held his position since the 2015-16 season.
Both Alabama and Tennessee have finished conference play in the top-4 of the standings since the 2022-23 season. The Crimson Tide was the regular-season and SEC Tournament champions in both the 2020-21 and 2022-23 seasons, while the Vols won the 2022 SEC Tournament and were the conference’s regular-season champions in 2023-24.
“So our guys know, but at the same time, we’ve got a lot of respect for how they play and what they do. We’ve got to come in with a healthy amount of respect for them, but we got to try to win this game.
“There’s a lot riding on this game. What happens in Arkansas-Florida, you’re either going to be all alone in second place if we could get a win, or you’re going to be one game out first. If you take a loss, now you’re in danger of losing a top-4 seed. They’ll be tied with us if we take a loss.”
“So there’s a lot riding on the SEC standings in this game here. They know that. They know what our struggles against Tennessee have Been as well.”
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Alabama
Selmont seeks incorporation to become independent Alabama city
SELMONT, Ala. (WSFA) – An unincorporated community in Dallas County is seeking to establish itself as an independent city, hoping to gain control over local government services and community priorities that have long been managed at the county level.
Selmont, located across the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma, is home to approximately 2,700 registered voters and carries a significant place in civil rights history.
The community was the site of a pivotal moment during the Bloody Sunday march in 1965, when roughly 600 civil rights marchers were tear-gassed by Alabama state troopers, including 13-year-old Mae Richmond.
“People ask us ‘Were we afraid?’ No. We were not afraid. We were not afraid, first of all, even as a 13-year-old child, we knew that we were doing what God was permitting us to do,” Richmond, a 60-plus year resident of Selmont, said of the historic event.
As an unincorporated community, Selmont lacks its own municipal government. Residents must contact the Dallas County Commissioner for public works services. It’s a situation that community leaders say limits responsiveness to local needs.
Erice Williams, a community activist leading the incorporation effort, said the change would fundamentally alter how the community operates.
“It would give us decision power and allow us to get funding that we can allocate to our own community that we can make our own priorities be clear and resolved at the same time,” Williams said.
Williams also highlighted the strain on current county services. “Connel Towns (county commissioner) is the only person we have to call, and the resources and time that he would have to serve our community is very limited,” he said.
Operation Selmont, the group spearheading the incorporation effort, is currently gathering signatures on a petition to present to the local probate judge. The organization needs approximately 500 signatures to move forward with the incorporation process and has already collected 40 percent of its goal.
The next meeting for Operation Selmont is scheduled for March 6 at 6 p.m.
For longtime residents like Richmond, incorporation represents an opportunity to ensure Selmont’s future and maintain its identity for generations to come.
“That we will be able to teach and train our children to give them the strength that our foreparents had that they will be able to stand up for justice and for equality,” Richmond said of her hopes for the community’s future.
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