Jahmai Mashack ready for second go-around vs. Alabama, Mark Sears

Mashack is one of the top defenders in college basketball and has proven as much in his last two match ups against the Crimson Tide and their best player.

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A year ago, he made for a tough night for the eventual SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller. Mashack did much of the same more than 40 days ago, limiting Alabama leading scorer Mark Sears in the Vols' 91-71 thumping of the Crimson Tide in Knoxville.

Mashack is looking for similar success in a primetime bout at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa late Saturday (8 p.m. ET, ESPN) that has a lot on the line.

"It's definitely exciting for me. I always want to play the best," Mashack said. "(Sears) obviously has had a season that's been really good so far. I'm just excited to play against somebody that has a lot of hype behind them and that's been playing so well."

Sears is averaging 20.6 points per game, one spot behind Tennessee superstar guard and conference player of the year front runner Dalton Knecht. He has scored 20-plus points in 13 of his last 16 games, including a 26-point outing in Alabama's 103-88 win over Ole Miss on Wednesday.

Sears posted 22 points on Tennessee (22-6, 12-3 SEC) in the first meeting between the two teams, but he had to earn every one with Mashack guarding him. He did most of his damage in the second half but turned the ball over seven times as Mashack racked up three steals.

"When you're playing against a guy that you haven't played against, you can only go off of the defenders that they were going against," Mashack said. "How they moved, how intense they were, if they were good defenders. But now that I have tape of me going against the guy that I'm going against the second time, now I know what stuff I shouldn't do, what stuff I should do and also what he's changed in his game in order to come back from whatever I was doing in that game.

"It's like a chess game, man. You make an adjustment, you make a move, he makes a move, you have to counteract that."

It will be more of a challenge to try and get Sears off balance on the road.

Alabama is 13-1 on its home floor this season and has won 12-straight there while two of Tennessee three conference losses were on the road.

Setting tone defensively could go a long way in making a sold-out home crowd less of a factor.

“That’s always the key. Does defense travel? We think it does, but obviously the energy you get playing in Thompson-Boling Arena, Food City Center, is tremendous," Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinsky said. "You guys saw at the roar of the crowd down the stretch in the last game (vs. Auburn) was big time. The crowd here just would not allow us to lose that game. And we’ll just have to bow up. I mean that will be, I’m sure, a very vibrant, hostile environment.

"Lived there nine years. These type of games, they’re what you kind of come here for, go there for, playing in the SEC for. So we’re going to have to bow up and play like a group of grown men.”

Taming the crowd is easier said than done, though, especially with everything both teams have to play for.

A top-15 game that has drawn ESPN's College Gameday to Tuscaloosa for the first time for a basketball game pales in comparison to what is in store for the winner. Alabama and Tennessee are currently tied atop the league standings and though the regular season champion won't be crowned Saturday night, it will give a significant leg-up to the victor.

It could also provide a preview for how Tennessee handles two more high-stakes games against ranked South Carolina and Kentucky teams in the next week as well as the NCAA Tournament later this month.

"I think (playing in a big game this late in the season) is definitely something that will benefit us," Mashack said. "It's going to show our toughness and show our resilience and our ability to adjust in the game, which I think is going to be important in a game like this.(Alabama) won't go away from what they do...no matter what we throw at them, they're going to figure out a way to adjust to that, but they're not going to change what they do. We're not going to change what we do. So I think just the preparation that goes behind this game is going to help us."

“I think you embrace it as a great opportunity to see where you are from a mentality standpoint, where you are from a maturity standpoint, how you are going to deal with it." Polinsky added. "It puts you in a position to, if you’re focused in the right way, to say, 'Hey, this gives us a chance to prepare for a high level NCAA (Tournament) basketball game.”

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