Alabama hosts hot Tennessee team

Outside of No. 1 Kentucky, the hottest team in the Southeastern Conference visits Coleman Coliseum today (12:30 p.m., WSFA) against reeling and short-handed Alabama.

Tennessee has won four straight games. In the volatile SEC, the Vols started February tied for eighth place in the league at 2-5. Four victories later, they are tied for fourth at 6-5, 14-12 overall.

A four-game winning streak certainly seemed in Alabama’s reach not long ago. The Crimson Tide (16-9, 5-6 SEC) had won three in a row after a road win, despite the suspension of Tony Mitchell, over rival Auburn on Feb. 7.

That momentum – and perhaps the season – was scuttled when JaMychal Green, Trevor Releford and Andrew Steele were suspended and sent home from a road trip to LSU.

Alabama lost that game and then fell at home to Florida Tuesday night. Steele and Releford returned and played, but Green and Mitchell, the team’s leading scorers and rebounders, have remained suspended.

Alabama coach Anthony Grant said the suspensions of his two most experienced players will continue today.

“Nothing new. Same as it was before,” he said when asked about their status.

The coach said he hasn’t met with the two recently.

“We’ll meet here probably sometime this upcoming week,” the coach said.

Asked what he wants to here from Green and Mitchell in that meeting, the coach said he was more concerned with getting his team ready to play the Volunteers.

Suspensions are only part of the problem going into today’s game. Freshman forward Nick Jacobs, who had a root canal after a blow he took to the mouth in practice before the Florida game became infected, missed Thursday’s practice and his availability is in doubt. Steele, Grant said, sprained an ankle at the end of the Florida game and also missed Thursday’s work.

And Releford, Alabama’s sophomore point guard, took a blow to the head late in Thursday’s workout, missed Friday and is his status is unclear going into the game.

Tennessee, meanwhile, is flying high under first-year coach Cuonzo Martin.

“The games that I’ve seen I’ve been very impressed with the way they really seem to have bought in on the defensive end,” Grant said. “They’ve been shooting it very well.”

Tennessee went on a 19-0 first-half run to put away Arkansas quickly. All five of the Vols’ starters – point guard and leading scorer Trae Golden, leading rebounder Jeronne Maymon, 3-point specialist Skylar McBee, Cameron Tatum and Jarnell Stokes – all scored in double figures in that win.

Still, Alabama’s focus has been on Alabama. Crimson Tide coach Anthony Grant said his group needs to “grow and figure some things out as a team right now.”

“In practice, we’ve got to go to work. We’ve got to get better as a team,” he said after the loss to Florida. “We’re getting hit in the face with reality right now – and how do we respond to that?

“To me, that’s where we are right now as a team. I expect that we have guys that are fighters, that want to win, that want to be the best they can be. Hopefully, that’s what they came here to do. They’re gonna fight. …

“We’ve got choices that we have to make right now. Do we hang our heads and feel sorry for ourselves? Or do we respond like winners respond?. That’s what I expect.”