Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s humiliating 78-52 loss to No. 7 Alabama
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Game day: No. 7 Alabama 78, Kentucky 52
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 78-52 loss to No. 7 Alabama in SEC men’s college basketball at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa:
1. Oscar’s nightmare. Oscar Tshiebwe, men’s college basketball’s reigning national player of the year, had the worst game of his Kentucky career.
An automatic for most of his time in the UK uniform to produce a points-rebounds double-double, the 6-foot-9, 255-pound Tshiebwe made only one of seven shots and had as many turnovers (four) as points (four). The nation’s leading rebounder (13.8) entering the game, Tshiebwe had only six boards.
As grim as Tshiebwe’s offensive numbers were, it was worse on the defensive end. Alabama began the game attacking Tshiebwe in high pick-and-roll actions, and the UK star looked all but helpless in defending the plays.
The Crimson Tide scored their first three baskets of the game in half-court sets at the rim by exploiting Tshiebwe in pick-and-roll, and Kentucky played from a hole the remainder of the game.
2. Toppin’s hot hand cools. In back-to-back stellar performances vs. Louisville (24 points) and LSU (21), UK senior forward Jacob Toppin made a combined 19 of 28 shots.
The 6-9, 205-pound senior came back to Earth in Tuscaloosa.
Against a physical Alabama defense, Toppin made only one of 10 shots and went 0 of 9 on shots inside the three-point arc. Toppin did nothing to counter the idea that his kryptonite is having to play through physical defense.
To his credit, the Brooklyn, N.Y., product did play with some energy, grabbing six rebounds and blocking two shots before leaving the game for good with 9:17 left with what UK said was a shoulder injury.
3. Cats can’t make shots. Had there literally been a lid over the Kentucky basket, it wouldn’t have made much difference. The Cats spent their afternoon in Alabama firing one errant missile after another toward the rim.
UK finished the game 21-for-73 on field-goal tries, a chilly 28.8 percent. In the second half, Kentucky made only 11 of 39 shots, an even worse 28.2 percent.
Kentucky’s top three scorers on the season, Oscar Tshiebwe (1 of 7), Cason Wallace (1 of 13) and Jacob Toppin (1 of 10) combined to go 3 of 30 from the field.
There is literally no chance to beat anyone — much less a team as good as Alabama — when your best scorers are off that bad.
Hat tip to UK point guard Sahvir Wheeler (15 points on 7-of-16 field-goal shooting) and reserve guard Antonio Reeves (20 points on 7-of-13 shooting, 4-of-7 treys) who persevered through a horrible team showing and got some points on the board.
4. Calipari struggling vs. the SEC’s “hot coaches.” With the loss, John Calipari now has a 3-3 record vs. Nate Oats-coached Alabama teams.
Calipari’s success vs. the Southeastern Conference’s other current “hot coaches” has also been mixed.
Since Rick Barnes was hired at Tennessee (2015-16), Calipari is 7-10 vs. the Volunteers.
After Bruce Pearl was hired by Auburn (2014-15), Calipari is 7-6 vs. the Tigers. (As UK head man, Cal was 4-1 vs. Pearl when the latter was coach at Tennessee).
Following the arrival of Eric Musselman at Arkansas, Calipari is 1-2 vs. the Razorbacks.
5. Kentucky vs. ranked teams. UK’s loss to the No. 7 Crimson Tide is its fifth straight vs. teams ranked in the AP Top 25.
The Wildcats are now 0-3 this season vs. ranked competition, having previously lost 88-72 to then-No. 2 Gonzaga on Nov. 20 and 63-53 to then-No. 16 UCLA on Dec. 17.
Since Feb. 1, 2020, Kentucky is now 5-15 in its 20 most-recent contests against ranked teams.
This story was originally published January 7, 2023 at 3:12 PM.
