Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s 96-83 loss to No. 4 Alabama
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Game day: No. 4 Alabama 96, No. 17 Kentucky 83
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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Five things you need to know from No. 17 Kentucky’s 96-83 loss to No. 4 Alabama:
1. The one elite team Kentucky has not been able to beat. The loss in Tuscaloosa drops UK to 5-2 vs. teams that began Saturday in the top 10 in the NCAA NET rankings. The Wildcats are now 6-2 vs. teams in the NET top 20.
From its eight games vs. the NET top 20, both of UK’s losses have come against Alabama. The Crimson Tide also beat the Wildcats in Lexington 102-97 on Jan. 18.
On Saturday night, it was obvious what separated Bama from UK.
Alabama’s guards lit up the scoreboard.
Star point guard Mark Sears had 30 points. The former Ohio University Bobcat hit 11 of 11 foul shots — and played a big role in fouling out two UK guards.
Auburn transfer Aden Holloway rifled in 19 points for the Crimson Tide, and wing Chris Youngblood chipped in 14.
Meanwhile, Kentucky again played without its starting point guard, Lamont Butler, and its second-leading scorer, wing Jaxson Robinson.
UK leading scorer Otega Oweh (see below) endured his worst game of the season at Alabama.
Kentucky got 20 points from Koby Brea, and freshmen Travis Perry (career-high 12, four steals and no turnovers in 28 minutes) and Collin Chandler (five) combined for 17 points.
But, on this night, the gulf in the quality of the guard play between the Crimson Tide and the Wildcats was vast.
2. Kentucky continues to struggle closing out halves. When Otega Oweh hit a contested 13-foot jumper with 9:37 left in the first half, UK led Alabama 30-18.
From that point, Bama outscored UK 29-10 to turn that 12-point Wildcats advantage into a seven-point, 47-40, halftime deficit for the Cats.
That run proved to be the game’s tipping point.
It may owe to injuries having thinned out Kentucky’s depth, but closing out halves has been an ongoing issue for the Wildcats in SEC play.
In Kentucky’s 74-69 loss at Vanderbilt, the Wildcats were outscored 20-5 to end the first half and 23-11 to finish the second.
Even in winning 78-73 at Tennessee, UK was outscored 11-0 to end the first half.
Last Saturday at Texas, Kentucky led 69-64 after Amari Williams scored with 3:51 left in the game. The Longhorns proceeded to outscore UK 18-9 the rest of the way to earn an 82-78 comeback victory.
3. Oweh’s double-figure scoring streak ends. A transfer from Oklahoma in his first season playing for Kentucky, Otega Oweh entered play Saturday night having scored 10 or more points in every game in which he had worn UK blue and white.
That is no longer the case.
With Alabama using longer defenders on the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Oweh, the UK guard — Kentucky’s leading scorer entering the contest at 16.2 ppg — endured an offensive slog.
Before fouling out with 6:49 left in the game and UK down 75-66, Oweh made only 1 of 9 shots and finished with two points.
Going back to the 16 points Oweh scored against TCU while playing for Oklahoma in last season’s Big 12 Tournament, the Newark, New Jersey, product had a streak of 27 straight double-figure scoring games snapped in Tuscaloosa.
4. A power forward reversal. In Alabama’s 102-97 win at Rupp Arena in January, the Crimson Tide’s Grant Nelson had his way with an injured Andrew Carr.
Nelson hit 7 of 13 shots, 9 of 10 free throws and had 25 points and 11 rebounds in Lexington. Meanwhile, Carr, battling the back problems that would go on to hinder him for nearly a month, made only 1 of 4 shots and had only four points and one rebound.
Even as his team went down to defeat, Carr turned the tables on Nelson at Coleman Coliseum.
On Saturday night, Carr made 6 of 9 shots, 3 of 5 treys and finished with 17 points, six rebounds and two assists.
Meanwhile, limited by foul trouble, Nelson had five points, three rebounds and two assists in 15 minutes.
5. Cats suffer a rare sweep by Alabama. With Saturday’s result coupled with UK’s 102-97 loss to Alabama in Lexington last month, the Crimson Tide swept the season series from the Wildcats in 2024-25.
That means Alabama has now beaten Kentucky twice in the same season four times.
Prior to this season, the other instances were:
▪ 1973-74: Alabama won 81-77 in Tuscaloosa and 94-71 in Lexington.
▪ 1988-89: Alabama won 76-64 in Tuscaloosa and 71-67 at Rupp Arena.
▪ 2020-21: Alabama won 85-65 in Lexington and 70-59 in Tuscaloosa.
Those three are Kentucky men’s basketball’s worst seasons in the past five decades plus.
UK finished 13-13 in 1973-74, 13-19 in 1988-89 and 9-16 in 2020-21.
So this season is the first time Alabama has ever earned a season sweep over a Kentucky team that is expected to be good enough to play in the NCAA Tournament.
This story was originally published February 22, 2025 at 8:38 PM.
