Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 85-65 loss to Alabama
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 85-65 loss to Alabama on Tuesday night at Rupp Arena in downtown Lexington:
1. Remembering Ben. The Kentucky players wore warm-ups with No. 33 on them in remembrance of Ben Jordan. A former standout athlete at West Carter High School, the 6-foot-9, 250-pound Jordan came to UK as a baseball pitcher.
Last season, with John Calipari’s roster lacking post depth, Jordan was added as a hoops walk-on and wore No. 33 for the basketball Wildcats.
UK announced Monday that Jordan, 22, had died. A cause of death has not been officially revealed.
On his pregame radio show with UK Sports Network’s Tom Leach, Calipari said, “Ben Jordan’s passing really rocked our team.”
Calipari said Jordan had gotten close with several players still on the UK roster, including Dontaie Allen, Keion Brooks, Brennan Canada and Riley Welch.
The UK coach said he counseled individually with some of his players who were especially upset about Jordan’s passing.
A moment of silence in remembrance of Jordan was held before tip-off.
2. It is better to receive than give. As Kentucky started this season 1-6, lax ball security was a consistent bugaboo for the Cats.
That seemed to be getting better as UK began league play 3-0 — but, to a distressing degree, the turnovers seeped back in against Alabama.
The Cats turned it over 10 times in the first half, then committed seven more in the first 12 minutes of the second half.
For the game, Kentucky finished with 19 turnovers. Dontaie Allen lost the ball four times, Devin Askew, Keion Brooks and Isaiah Jackson three times each.
In its seven losses, UK (4-7, 3-1 SEC) has now turned the ball over 21, 16, 21, 11, 16, 11 and 19 times.
3. Lot of shooting, not nearly enough making. Of course, had the Wildcats not been handling the ball like it had hot coals inside, it likely would not have mattered — because UK could not make shots.
UK shot a dismal 21-of-61 overall, 4-of-18 on three-point tries.
The Cats kept missing shots near the rim, seemingly throttled by Alabama’s physical defense.
UK’s individual shooting numbers were grim: Davion Mintz went 2-of-10, Keion Brooks 4-of-12, Brandon Boston 2-of-7, Olivier Sarr 1-of-4, Jacob Toppin 2-of-6 and even Dontaie Allen was only 3-of-8.
Meanwhile, Alabama gave UK a demonstration of “modern offensive basketball,” taking charge of the game by draining 10 first-half three-pointers en route to making 14 for the game.
It’s going to be hard to win games when you get outscored 42-12 from behind the arc.
4. Feeling his Oats. Alabama Coach Nate Oats got his first career win vs. UK in only his third chance against the Cats. Oats is now 1-1 vs. the Wildcats as Crimson Tide head man.
He lost to Kentucky 95-75 in the 2018 NCAA Tournament round of 32 as head coach of the Buffalo Bulls.
There are now only four current SEC head coaches who have never beaten UK: Eric Musselman of Arkansas (0-1), Kermit Davis Jr. of Mississippi (0-2), Buzz Williams of Texas A&M (0-2, with one loss each at A&M and Virginia Tech) and Vanderbilt’s Jerry Stackhouse (0-3).
Mississippi State Coach Ben Howland is 0-7 vs. Kentucky as MSU head man but split with the Cats in two games as coach at UCLA.
5. Joining an elite club. Alabama is now the sixth SEC team with a victory over a John Calipari-coached UK team in Rupp Arena. The others are: Florida (twice), Tennessee (twice), Arkansas, LSU and Texas A&M.
Meanwhile, with Kentucky having already lost non-league, home games to Richmond and Notre Dame in 2020-21, this year is the first time a Calipari-coached Kentucky team has lost three games in Rupp Arena in a season.
This story was originally published January 12, 2021 at 11:17 PM.
