New angle of Jahmai Mashack’s buzzer beater shows that Alabama got robbed
Alabama basketball suffered a devastating loss on a buzzer beater to Tennessee on Saturday. It was a loss that ended the Crimson Tide’s chances of earning a share of the SEC Regular Season title and made it an uphill battle to maintain a 1-seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Tennessee’s Jahmai Mashack hit a 30-footer at the buzzer to lift the Vols to a 79-76 win over the Crimson Tide. A new angle of the shot shared via Twitter shows that Mashack’s shot shouldn’t have counted because both Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes and guard Zakai Ziegler were signaling timeout prior to the shot attempt.
Funniest part of the Tennessee vs. Alabama ending…
Watch Zakai Zeigler looking for a timeout, and Rick Barnes looked pissed off on the sidelines when the Jahmai Mashack shot went up pic.twitter.com/DwTbHZQMJW
— Trey Wallace (@TreyWallace_) March 1, 2025
Barnes seemed visibly upset that the timeout wasn’t granted as Mashack’s shot went up. From the angle here, it’s not even clear if he saw the ball go through the net as he had turned his attention to berating the official.
If a timeout had been granted, Tennessee would have had a little over one second left to draw something up for a sideline out of bounds play. With the way the final 30 seconds of the game went for Alabama anyway, I’m sure they would have found a way to mess up a defensive assignment and give up a wide open look for commit a foul regardless.
Alabama only has itself to blame for loss to Tennessee
As frustrating as that video is, Alabama and Nate Oats can only blame themselves for how poorly it handled the last 30 seconds of the game. The Tide outplayed the Vols for about 39:17 of the 40 minute contest.
Poor execution to end the first half and poor execution in the final 30-plus seconds of the game provided costly. In those 43 seconds of game time, Alabama was outscored 11-0.
They allowed Tennessee to go end-to-end in seven seconds for a bucket and the foul at the end of the first half, and then surrendered a 7-0 run at the end of the game with another and-one, an offensive rebound, a foul, a 5-second violation, and then poor defensive execution to allow a wide-open look for Mashack at the end.
It’s a frustrating defeat that the Tide will have to flush away quickly as they turn around and finish the regular season against two Top 5 opponents with Florida in Tuscaloosa on Wednesday and a road trip to Auburn on Saturday.
