The Alabama’s men’s basketball team will begin its home section of the Southeastern Conference schedule Saturday Jan. 12, when it hosts the Tennessee Volunteers. The Tide lost its official conference opener on the road at the hands of Missouri on Tuesday, 84-68.

Saturday’s game will be the 140th meeting between the two rivals, and Alabama (8-6, 0-1 SEC) boasts a 74-65 edge over Tennessee (8-5, 0-1) in the series, which includes a 42-17 record when the teams have met on the hardwood in Tuscaloosa.

But head coach Anthony Grant is searching for consistency from his young roster. He said experience and toughness on both ends of the court are crucial to his team’s success in the future.

“The bulk of our team is freshmen and sophomores, and there’s no substitute for experience,” Grant said. “We need to develop some common experiences, and we need to do it quickly. We need to understand what it takes [to win] on a consistent basis.

“We’ve got to understand the intensity and the focus that we’ve got to play with for forty minutes. We can’t play casual on either end of the floor. I think once we understand that and embrace that this team can make tremendous jumps.”

Senior guard Andrew Steele’s return from a sports hernia has given Grant the experience he has been looking for, as Steele is the only senior on the team. His return has also given practice a much-needed boost.

“I think Drew’s impact on our team in tremendous,” Grant said. “When he came back the first day, you saw the level of practice immediately rise up. His impact, his ability to go out there and give you 100 percent on the floor and also communicate with his teammates to help them understand the ebbs and flows of a game is invaluable.”

Junior guard Trevor Releford praised Steele for his leadership and what he means to him and his teammates.

“It’s good having Drew out there on the floor. He’s like a second coach because he knows the game well,” Releford said. “For younger players, he can lead them, as well as me. It’s always good having him out on the floor with me.”

Releford has played consistently over the course of the season, and has only failed to score double-digit points in two games. He is averaging 16.4 points per game.

He tallied a career-high 26 points in the loss to Missouri and became the 46th player in school history to surpass 1,000 points in a career (1,004).

Grant is focused on preparing his team to work as an experienced unit and approach the season one game at a time. He used Nick Saban’s signature term “process” to describe his team’s attitude for excellence.

“This is not a sprint it’s a marathon,” Grant said. “We’re trying to develop a program that can compete for championships. This is a part of the process that we’ve got to go through. Our focus right now is Tennessee.

“I think it will be a great matchup. We’re expecting an SEC-type matchup in terms of the physicality and the intensity of the game. We’ve got to be ready to go in all phases.

Tipoff is scheduled for noon CT in Coleman Coliseum and the game will televised on ESPN2.