How to watch: No. 10 Tennessee vs. No. 1 Alabama

Tennessee has lost on two straight buzzer beaters, sliding down to No. 10 in the polls and a projected No. 3 or No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament. Now would be a great time to stop the bleeding, but things won’t get any easier for the Volunteers tonight.

No. 1 Alabama comes to town this evening, looking to stay perfect in SEC play. Making matters worse for Tennessee? The status of starters Josiah-Jordan James and Julian Phillips won’t be known until game time.

James is dealing with an ankle sprain while Phillips has a hip injury. James missed Saturday’s game entirely, and Phillips exited after halftime.

Alabama, on the other hand, keeps rolling along. They held off Auburn on the road on Saturday, moving to the top spot in the polls after Purdue lost.

“I look at the Alabama team and they’re more than worthy of being the No. 1 ranked team in the country,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said this week. “They’ve earned it and maybe should have been there before right now. They have a great roster construction where everyone understands what they need and guys play their roles. They have the perimeter game. They have rim protection. They have guys that can score and get to the rim over top and dunk the ball.”

This will be a matchup of KenPom’s No. 5 team (Tennessee) vs. KenPom’s No. 2 team (Alabama). The Volunteers still hold the top spot in efficiency rankings, while Alabama checks in at No. 5. The Crimson Tide have a big offensive advantage, however, coming in at 13th against Tennessee’s 49th place ranking.

‘Bama’s offense is led by five-star stud Brandon Miller, who ended up picking Alabama over Tennessee in last year’s recruiting cycle. Miller is averaging 18.8 points per game, shooting 42.7 percent from three-point range.

“I don’t think you stop great players,” Barnes said of gameplanning for Miller. “You have to try and work hard and when the day’s done he’s going to get his points and you just have to hope that he had to work to get all of them, but when it comes to playing against great players, great teams you’re not going to stop them. You just have to hope everything they get they had to earn it.”

Tennessee is actually favored by three points tonight over Alabama, per DraftKings Sportsbook.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See DraftKings.com/sportsbook for details.

How to watch

Location: Knoxville, Tennessee

Time: 7 p.m. ET

TV Channel: ESPN2

Streaming Link: Watch ESPN, ESPN App