Alabama was not thumped in the box score Wednesday night in Knoxville the same way it was blasted two-and-a-half weeks earlier at Oklahoma, but the Tide’s second loss in six games still left a mark.

The Vols forced 19 turnovers by Alabama and held the No. 1 team in the country to 6-of-21 on shots at the rim, establishing itself as the more physical team on the floor for Tennessee’s 68-59 win.

“That was definitely, probably, the most physical game we’ve been in,” coach Nate Oats said Friday. “We have to handle physicality much better.”

Alabama’s first chance will come Saturday when it hosts Georgia in Coleman Coilseum. The 5 p.m. CT tip will come against a rebuilding Bulldogs team that is 6-7 in the SEC after finishing 1-17 last year, winning its only game in Athens against Alabama.

“We’re looking forward to this game,” guard Jahvon Quinerly said. “They beat us last year, so we got that in the back of our heads.”

Georgia fired coach Tom Crean after its disastrous season and replaced him with Florida’s Mike White, who has coached his team to notable wins over then-ranked Auburn in early January and Kentucky last weekend.

“They’re markedly improved, to be honest with you,” Oats said. “They’re better on the defensive side of the ball. They’ve got better depth. Seems like they’ve got better chemistry. They’re playing a lot better. That loss was a bad loss last year.

“I would hope that the guys who are returning from last year, that would be sitting in their minds, because that was an embarrassing loss last year.”

Guard Jusaun Holt, who averaged 7.1 minutes and 0.7 points per game as a freshman for Alabama last season, transferred to Georgia in the offseason and is expected to start Saturday.

“He’s grown up. He’s getting better, as you do with experience,” Oats said Friday. “When we sat down and talk, me and him and his mother had multiple conversations about whether it was best for him to stay or go. One of the reasons for him leaving was he wanted a bigger role and more playing time. I think he’s getting that there. Georgia’s in a rebuild. It’s back home in his home state. So I’m happy for him that he’s starting. He’s a good kid when he was here.

“He’s a great defender. He’s still not making shots, but we all know he’s a shooter. We put it in the scouting report, like, you can’t leave Jusaun open. We know we recruited him as a shooter. He can make shots.”

This is a Quadrant 3 game for Alabama, which is No. 2 in the NCAA’s NET rankings and will face No. 124 Georgia. Alabama plays a Quadrant 4 game next Wednesday at No. 256 South Carolina (2-11 in the SEC), before it ends its regular season with three Quadrant 1 games against Arkansas, Auburn and Texas A&M. The Aggies (11-2) sit a game behind Alabama (12-1) in the SEC standings, and host the Tide in a March 4 finale that could decide the conference regular-season title.

Alabama’s trip to Knoxville was its lone game against Tennessee unless they meet in next month’s SEC tournament or NCAA tournament.

“We need to do a better job before the game, getting our guys to handle that type of physicality,” Oats said. “Sometimes it’s easier for the players to realize they’re not as good at it once they get beat by it.

“If we see [Tennessee] again in the NCAA tournament, I think we’ll handle it a little better.”

Oats also suggested Friday that officiating allowed Wednesday’s game to be more physical. Alabama was whistled for 21 fouls resulting in 25 free-throw attempts for Tennessee, while the Vols fouled 18 times and put Alabama at the line 20 times.

“I don’t think the officiating in the NCAA tournament — I’ve coached in enough NCAA tournament games, they’re not going to let it be quite that physical in the NCAA tournament,” he said. “Officials get evaluated and move on. They’re not going to away with as much physicality in the NCAA tournament. It doesn’t work like that.

“There’s physicality that’s not fouling, too, that we didn’t handle well. It wasn’t like every time we turned the ball over it was due to physicality [and] there [should have been] a foul. That’s not the case at all. There’s missed calls. There’s missed calls in every game. But we got to handle it better.”

Mike Rodak is an Alabama beat reporter for Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @mikerodak.