Kentucky’s momentum comes to a halt as Tide rolls over Cats in Rupp Arena
With Kentucky riding high on a three-game winning streak, John Calipari tried to put the sudden hoopla in perspective.
“Thank goodness we aren’t where we were,” the UK coach said in reference to the team’s six-game losing streak in December. “But we’re not where we want to be yet. But we’re moving in the right direction.”
Still, Calipari added, “We can’t look and say we’re there.”
Alabama made those sobering words sound prophetic Tuesday night. The Tide never trailed in whipping suddenly all-to-human Kentucky 85-65 in Rupp Arena. Making the handling of Kentucky all the more startling, Alabama lost two of its players to injury along the way, the first midway in the first half and the second with more than 11 minutes left.
The victory — which was only the fifth time Alabama has won by a double-digit margin at Kentucky, and the first time since 1987 — kept the Tide in first place in the Southeastern Conference. Alabama improved to 10-3 overall and 5-0 in the SEC.
It was the second-largest margin of victory for Alabama at Kentucky. The only bigger victory was 94-71 on Feb. 23, 1974.
John Petty led Alabama with 24 points.
Kentucky, which saw the December bugaboos of poor shooting and turnovers return, fell to 4-7 overall and 3-1 in the SEC. UK had seven assists and 19 turnovers while making four of 18 three-point shots.
It was only the 16th time Kentucky has lost in Rupp Arena by a double-digit margin, and it was the second time this season. Two such defeats also happened twice in 1986-87, 1991-92 and 2007-08.
Isaiah Jackson led UK with 14 points.
Kentucky trailed for all but 47 seconds. The deficit was 42-30 at halftime.
Making that more glaring was Alabama having to play without one of its mainstays for more than half of the opening 20 minutes.
Herbert Jones, who has won multiple “Hard Hat” awards given by Alabama, went down with 10:57 remaining in the first half.
Jones crumbled to the court after driving to the basket. When he got up, he held his left hand and wrist as he was escorted to the locker room.
Gone was a player who made the All-SEC defensive team last season. This season he has been Alabama’s second-leading scorer (12.4 points) and leading rebounder (6.4).
While in the game, Jones scored eight points to help put Kentucky in comeback mode.
Kentucky seemed to get untracked. Keion Brooks, who had an eye-catching season debut at Florida, struggled. He made only two of seven shots and committed two turnovers in the first half.
To borrow a term Calipari likes to use, Kentucky reverted. Poor shooting and a negative assist-to-turnover ratio put and kept Kentucky behind.
The Cats made only 10 of 30 shots before the break. UK had three assists and 10 turnovers. Several of the turnovers came on passes into the post.
After Alabama intercepted Dontaie Allen’s feed late in the half, Calipari put a hand to his forehead as he walked from near center court toward what under normal circumstances would be Kentucky’s bench.
Alabama, which made 10 of 22 three-point shots, scored the game’s first five points. After UK tied it at 17-17, Alabama regained the lead and expanded it to as much as 42-28 inside the final minute.
The second half did not bring immediate relief. Kentucky committed turnovers on two of its first four possessions. That helped Alabama to twice extend its lead to 16 points inside the first two-plus minutes.
UK’s deficit grew to 53-36 with 15 minutes left. Freshman Joshua Primu, who scored a season-high 22 points in Alabama’s victory at Auburn on Saturday, hit a three-pointer. It was his first basket.
Kentucky closed within 54-43, then got another break when a second Alabama player had to leave the game with an injury. This time it was Jordan Bruner, who had scored 20 points at Auburn.
Even with two Alabama players sidelined, Kentucky could not get within single digits of the Tide.
Alabama’s lead reached its zenith with 6:47 left. A three-pointer put Kentucky behind 67-47.
Next game
Kentucky at Auburn
2 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:32 PM.
