Will the lineup that won Kentucky’s game at Georgia start vs. Alabama?
Takeaways from Friday’s media availability previewing Kentucky’s game against Alabama on Saturday:
▪ John Calipari did not commit to continuing to depend on the lineup that spurred UK’s second-half comeback victory at Georgia. He leaned on a basketball truism: It’s not who starts that matters, but who finishes.
▪ Immanuel Quickley is an under-appreciated defender. Calipari said he liked how Quickley occupies the eyes of the player he’s guarding.
▪ When asked how much the Kentucky team has progressed from the beginning of the season to now, Nate Sestina said, it was “pretty much night and day.”
▪ Ashton Hagans said he had been told that he will guard Alabama point guard Kira Lewis Jr. Hagans said he and Lewis have been competing against each other since the summer of their eighth-grade year.
▪ Alabama scored 90 or more points in each of the last five games. In each of those games, the Tide made 10 or more three-point shots. “You get your hands down, they’re shooting,” Calipari said. Of the expected fast pace, Calipari said, “If we play a fast team, we’ll try to score 100.”
Saturday
Alabama at No. 14 Kentucky
When: Noon
TV: ESPN
Radio: WLAP-AM 630, WBUL-FM 98.1
Records: Alabama 8-6 (1-1 SEC), Kentucky 11-3 (2-0)
Series: Kentucky leads 113-38
Last meeting: Kentucky won 73-55 on March 15, 2019, in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Nashville, Tenn.
