WATCH: Rick Barnes, Tennessee Players Discuss Win At Alabama

Tennessee basketball went on the road on Saturday night and overcame a second half deficit to defeat Alabama 81-74 at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa.

The Vols used stifling defense to cool off the nation’s best offense, holding the Crimson Tide to their second lowest scoring total of the season behind only their loss at Tennessee.

“They feed off of Jahmai Mashack when he goes out here,” Tennessee coach Rick Barnes said of his team postgame. “We didn’t want ‘Z’ to have to guard Mark Sears all night long. Those guys are hard guards. You really have to stay in front of them and work them. We needed everybody.”

Watch Rick Barnes’ postgame press conference below.

Junior guard Jahmai Mashack was excellent in the win. He played fantastic defense on Alabama guards Mark Sears and Aaron Estrada and hit a couple of big baskets in his way to eight points. Mashack was responsible for the sequence of the game, hitting a three-pointer that gave Tennessee the lead in the second half before stealing an outlet pass and saving it to Zakai Zeigler who found Jonas Aidoo for an and-one.

“Just reading their offense,” Mashack said of the sequence postgame. “They kick ahead a lot. They want to get a lot of points in under 10 seconds if possible. I knew Sears was looking for Estrada and I knew I was on the other side of the court trying to get back because I made a three on the other corner. I was just hauling trying to get to that other side and I was able to pick it off. I think I learned a lot of that from my brother. He played football and was a safety so I think I turned into him at that point in time. Was able to get the ball and pass it back to him.”

Watch Mashack’s postgame press conference here.

Senior forward Josiah-Jordan James also came up huge for Tennessee in the win. James scored 11 points on three-of-seven shooting from the field and grabbed 13 rebounds which proved huge when Tennessee played a small lineup in the first half due to foul trouble.

More From RTI: Everything Rick Barnes Said After Tennessee Defeated Alabama In Tuscaloosa

Check out James’ postgame press conference here.