KNOXVILLE, Tenn. -- Alabama was embarrassed on the boards at Florida over the weekend. The Tide didn't let it happen a second time.
Kennedy Winston scored 18 points and No. 17 Alabama outrebounded Tennessee by 24 in a 72-54 victory on Wednesday night.
Alabama dominated the Volunteers with a 43-19 rebounding margin in recovering from its last game, a 31-point loss at Florida on Saturday. The Gators outrebounded the Tide 46-23 and snapped Alabama's six-game winning streak.
"We were destroyed on the boards in Gainesville," Alabama coach Mark Gottfried said. "It sort of got away from us at Florida and we did a poor job, but we got it corrected by tonight's game."
Chuck Davis had 16 points and a career-high 13 rebounds, Jermareo Davidson added 16 points and 14 rebounds and Earnest Shelton had 12 points for the Crimson Tide (18-4, 7-2 Southeastern Conference).
The Volunteers (11-12, 4-6) got as close as three points after scoring the first basket in the second half, but the Tide had a 12-4 run to push the lead to 42-31 with 14:37 remaining.
Tennessee's previous season-low rebounds was 25. Alabama came into the game with a 2.5 rebound margin over its previous SEC opponents.
"We might have practiced tonight if we came out here and got beat on the boards again," Davis said. "We made a conscious effort to do a great job on the boards."
Alabama has won six straight over the Vols, including a 35-point rout in the first round of last year's SEC Tournament.
C.J. Watson had 15 points for Tennessee. Despite the return of center Brandon Crump from injury, the Vols mainly used the smaller lineup they employed when Crump was out.
It created mismatches in favor of the Tide on the boards and on defense, and Alabama had counted on it.
"We knew they were a small team and forced to play small with Crump out. It hurts them. You can't really blame them for getting beat on the boards when they're playing four 6-4 guys and we outsized them," Davis said.
Alabama had 14 offensive rebounds and 29 on the defensive end.
"This was a tale of rebounding. When you get beat that badly on the boards, it is hard to win," Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson said. "You cannot let Alabama have second and third shots like they had tonight."
Crump played for the first time since spraining his left ankle at Louisville on Jan. 22. He missed the Vols' last four games.
Alabama, one of the best defensive teams in the SEC, held the Vols to a season-low 35 percent shooting from the field (20-of-56) and overcame its 20 turnovers.
Alabama trailed once in the first half, but after Tennessee went ahead 18-15 the Tide had a 10-2 run to regain the lead for good. The Vols went without a field goal for 5½ minutes during the spurt, their only points coming on free throws.
Alabama is the only SEC team Peterson has not beaten in his four seasons at Tennessee.
