Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 70-59 loss to No. 9 Alabama
Five things you need to know from the Kentucky Wildcats’ 70-59 loss to the No. 9 Alabama Crimson Tide at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa:
1. Kentucky wasted a defensive masterpiece. Alabama entered the game averaging 86.8 points in SEC contests and making 42.1 percent of its three-pointers vs. league foes.
UK held Bama to 35 points in the first half, then locked the Crimson Tide completely down after halftime.
Amazingly, Alabama did not score a field goal in the second half until a Jaden Shackelford bucket with only 9:48 left in the game.
The Tide did not hit a trey in half two until there was 6:37 left.
Kentucky’s defense was the primary reason UK took a 54-52 lead into the under-four-minute television timeout.
What happened next is a script Kentucky backers have watched too often in 2020-21.
2. UK could not execute offensively under game-winning pressure. With that 54-52 lead and the ball out of the TV timeout, UK ran a set play to get Dontaie Allen a shot.
The former Pendleton County star had an open look at a three-pointer from the right corner.
It missed.
On the ensuing possession, UK freshman big man Isaiah Jackson tried to swipe a weakly thrown Bama pass near mid-court.
He just missed, but ended up fouling Alabama’s Herbert Jones.
The Tide senior calmly cashed two foul shots to tie the game.
On UK’s next possession, freshman Brandon Boston committed a live-ball turnover in congestion while trying to drive.
That led to a Juwan Gary layup that put Bama ahead, 56-54.
After a John Calipari timeout, UK’s Davion Mintz launched a deep three-pointer that would have returned the Wildcats to the lead.
It rimmed out.
Alabama’s Shackelford scored on a layup at the other end to put the Crimson Tide up by two scores.
And so it went.
Up 54-52 with 3:57 left in the game and with a potentially season-altering victory within grasp, Kentucky was outscored 18-5 the rest of the way.
3. UK had no answer for Jaden Shackelford. A 6-foot-3, 200-pound sophomore from Hesperia, Calif., Shackelford bailed Bama out of deep trouble.
The Tide struggled to make perimeter shots. After being outscored 42-12 from behind the arc in Alabama’s 85-65 win in Rupp Arena two weeks ago, UK held the Crimson Tide to six made treys in Tuscaloosa and matched that total itself.
So Nate Oats apparently instructed his players to drive the ball relentlessly at the rim in half two.
Shackelford excelled in that strategy, scoring 17 of his game-high 21 points in half two.
He hit Alabama’s first field goal of the second half.
He made the Tide’s first three-pointer of the second half.
And Shackelford hit eight of eight free throws in half two, part of Alabama’s 22-for-26 performance in the second half from the foul line.
4. Cats make more dubious history. Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) suffered its 10th loss of the season on Jan. 26. No UK team in school history has ever reached double-digit losses so early in a calendar year.
This is only the third time a Kentucky team has lost its 10th game in the month of January. In 1988-89, Eddie Sutton’s troubled 13-19 season, UK took its 10th defeat on Jan. 28.
The following season, Rick Pitino’s initial Wildcats squad reached 10 losses on Jan. 31 en route to finishing 14-14.
5. Feeling his Oats. With Tuesday night’s victory coupled with Alabama’s 85-65 pummeling of Kentucky two weeks ago, Oats became the first Crimson Tide head coach to beat the Wildcats twice in a regular season since Wimp Sanderson did it in 1988-89.
Oats is the first SEC coach to beat Kentucky twice during the regular season since Florida’s Mike White and Tennessee’s Rick Barnes each pinned a pair of losses on the Cats in 2017-18 (Barnes beat UK twice in 2018-19, too, but one of those victories came in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament).
This story was originally published January 26, 2021 at 9:32 PM.
