Win. Loss. Win. Loss. Win. Loss.

The last six Alabama basketball games hit the full spectrum of where preseason expectations pegged this team and the last decade of overall inconsistency. After winning four straight in January, the Crimson Tide has traded wins for losses -- gaining no ground but not spiraling into obscurity.

That's where a Saturday evening visit from Tennessee comes into play.

The Vols (18-5, 8-3 SEC) enter ranked No. 15. That and the fact Alabama is coming off a loss says the 5 p.m. CT game should go the way of the host.

Alabama (15-9, 6-5) is 4-1 in games against ranked teams -- 4-0 since conference play began.

What's different about those games? Forward Daniel Giddens paused a moment when asked that Friday.

"I don't know," he said. "I just think we bring our A-game for the top-25 teams. That's something we need to do every game, but to be honest with you, I don't know why."

The last few against ranked teams weren't just wins, they were comfortable. It crushed No. 23 Florida 68-50 a week ago in Gainesville. Seven days before that, the Tide handled No. 12 Oklahoma 80-73 after leading by as many as 13 points.

"For weird reason," coach Avery Johnson said, "I think there's an assumption that we practice different or something before we play a top-25 team or we don't practice the same way."

In that span, the Tide also lost to Ole Miss, Missouri and Tuesday at Mississippi State. Johnson said the consistent issue in those losses was long scoring droughts.

"We talk about 'Buckle up' and we want to play fast," Johnson said. "All that stuff sounds good but it's nothing but words. Because to play fast, you have to run fast. And to play fast, you have to make good decisions with the basketball. We can't have wide open situations, then we have an illegal screen. ... Hopefully the light will come on and we won't have all these variations in our performances."

The differences between those big wins over ranked teams and losses to teams Alabama should beat can be felt on the floor. Giddens said team can't sense it before the game but there are times they can feel the intensity slipping as a game wears on.

That's where the leadership becomes a factor. It's not impossible to catch themselves and come back from the brink.

"There are some games we've done that and won," Giddens said. "And there are some games we've done that and lost. It's just basketball."

Tennessee comes to Coleman Coliseum riding quite the heater. The Vols haven't lost since Jan. 17, taking six straight. They completed the season sweep at Kentucky on Tuesday, leading Johnson to call them "arguably one of the hottest teams in the country." Tennessee hasn't allowed more than 63 points in the six-game winning streak.

Michael Casagrande is an Alabama beat writer for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande.