Jahmai Mashack hit a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give No. 5 Tennessee a 79-76 win over No. 6 Alabama after the Crimson Tide committed a 5-second violation for a turnover when they had an opportunity to win the game.
Alabama had a 76-72 lead with 36 seconds remaining in regulation, but a Chaz Lanier layup followed by two free throws from Mashack tied the game for the Volunteers.
Tennessee’s defense came up big on Alabama’s final possession, preventing the Tide from inbounding the ball before a 5-second violation was called. Clifford Omoruyi found Chris Youngblood for an open 3-pointer, but he missed. The shot didn’t count anyway after Alabama was whistled for the violation.
Making matters worse: The Tide had two timeouts remaining. That, along with not pressuring Mashack up the court, are decisions that Alabama and coach Nate Oats will have to consider in light of the defeat.
“I’m gonna take most of the blame for the last 30 seconds,” Oats said to reporters afterward. “It’s on me. I subbed our bigs out to get the rebound before I should’ve. Shouldn’t have subbed them out until after we got the rebound. That was on me.
“I had a chance to call timeout, coaches can call timeouts on the underneath, out-of-bounds play. And at four [seconds], I should’ve called it. I thought we were getting it in,” he added. “And then we probably could’ve had better guys in, been a little smaller at the end with 3.8 on the clock to make sure they didn’t get the ball up the floor.”
With the loss, Alabama’s chances at a No. 1 seed in the NCAA men’s tournament took a blow. However, the Tide aren’t eliminated from consideration for one of the top seeds remaining behind Auburn (27-2, 15-1 SEC) and Duke (25-3, 16-1 ACC). But Tennessee’s win obviously moves them a step ahead, along with Houston and Florida, for a No. 1 bid.
No. 4 Houston (25-4, 17-1 in the Big 12) defeated Cincinnati, 73-64, while No. 3 Florida (24-5, 12-4) earned an 89-70 win over No. 12 Texas A&M (20-9, 9-7 SEC) on Saturday.
In an amusing footnote to the thrilling ending, Tennessee coach Rick Barnes wanted to call timeout on that final play and looked upset on the sideline when his players didn’t do so.
“To be honest, I was gonna call a timeout.”
Well, thank goodness Rick Barnes didn’t.
Instead, he made eye contact with Jahmai Mashack and let him take control to beat Alabama in the 79-76 thriller. #Vols pic.twitter.com/5CYBIk1C1e
— Emilie Rae Cochrane (@EmCochranetv) March 2, 2025
“To be honest with you, I was calling timeout. I didn’t see the play,” Barnes said.
“I knew, the way they lined up, ‘Shack and I made eye contact and I felt like… if he could get it as far down the floor, if we just get it across half-court and have one second on the clock, we got us a play where I thought we could get a high-percentage shot instead of the shot from half-court.”
Mashack finished with 11 points, the last five of which were the most important for Tennessee. The buzzer-beating 3 was his only shot from long range during the game. Lanier led the Vols with 18 points, followed by 15 from Zakai Zeigler. Tennessee improved to 24-5 overall and 11-5 in conference. The Vols visit Ole Miss (20-9, 9-7) on Wednesday.
Mark Sears scored a game-high 24 points for Alabama. His 3 with 2:05 remaining looked as if it could have been the decisive shot. Labaron Philon added 13, putting the Tide ahead 75-72 on a layup with 1:15 left. Alabama dropped to 23-6 overall and 12-4 in the SEC. It will host Florida in another top SEC clash on Wednesday at 7 p.m. ET.