Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s win at Alabama
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Game day: No. 5 Kentucky 66, Alabama 55
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s game between Kentucky and Alabama at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa, Ala.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 66-55 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa on Saturday night.
1. It’s a bird, it’s a plane, it’s Daimion Collins
From out of nowhere, UK’s Daimion Collins popped up off the Kentucky bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds in just nine minutes on a super Saturday, giving the Wildcats a much-appreciated lift, especially in the first half.
This is the same Daimion Collins who had not played a single minute in UK’s previous two games, at Kansas last Saturday or at home against Vanderbilt on Wednesday night. This was the same 6-foot-10 freshman from Atlanta, Texas, who had played all of 25 minutes in UK’s nine SEC games and had not scored in double figures since his 12 points against North Florida way, way back on Nov. 26.
“Everybody in the program knows what he can do,” said UK guard TyTy Washington, who led all scorers with 15 points. “He’s 6-10 with a 45-inch vertical.”
And in the middle of the night in his Alabama hotel room, Calipari woke up thinking “lob, lob, lob” and knew what he should do with that actually 42-inch (measured at Pro Day) vertical leap. Put Collins in the game.
“Daimion Collins was the difference-maker,” said the coach.
“If you throw it up there,” said Washington, “he’s gonna catch it.”
Indeed, Collins either dunked off the lob or got fouled on the attempt. He was 2-of-3 from the floor and a perfect 6-of-6 from the foul line. Collins collected five rebounds on the defensive end and one on the offensive end. He was a force.
Moreover, his super-sub production gave Calipari a glimpse of having another weapon off the bench the coach can use moving forward, teaming with Lance Ware to spell or complement Oscar Tshiebwe, who produced his 17th double-double of the season with 10 points and 15 rebounds.
2. Alabama brought a box of bricks to the fight
Nate Oats’ team entered the game 13th out of 14 in the SEC in three-point shooting at 28.3 percent in conference games. If only the Tide had shot that well Saturday. Talk about a big chill. The Clanging Tide was 3-of-30 from three-point range, including 1-of-16 in the second half.
The off-target rundown: Jaden Shackelford missed all seven of his attempts from beyond the arc. James Rojas missed all four of his tries. Jahvon Quinerly and Noah Gurley were each 0-for-3. Juwan Gary was 0-for-2. Keon Ellis was Stephen Curry compared to the rest of his teammates. Ellis was 2-for-7. Freshman JD Davison was 1-for-3. Fellow freshman Jusaun Holt missed his only attempt.
Some of the three-point tries were contested, others were wide-open heaves that missed.
“It wasn’t their night to hit threes,” Calipari said.
Overall, Alabama was 18-of-64 from the floor for 28.1 percent. That’s the lowest shooting percentage by a UK opponent since Eastern Kentucky was also 18-of-64 against the Cats on Nov. 8, 2019. It was the lowest percentage by an SEC team versus the Cats since Georgia shot 22 percent (11-of-50) at Rupp Arena on Feb. 9, 2016. And that was pre-Tom Crean Georgia.
Pro tip: You are not going to win many games shooting 28.1 percent from the floor, and indeed Alabama dropped to 14-9 overall and 4-6 in the SEC.
Kentucky improved to 19-4 overall and 8-2 in the conference.
3. The Cats are suddenly road warriors
When Kentucky lost 80-71 to now No. 1-ranked Auburn at Auburn Arena on Saturday, Jan. 22, Calipari’s club was just 2-3 in true road games for the season. In the two Saturdays since, however, Kentucky has learned to love life on the road.
There was last Saturday’s 80-62 ultra-impressive drubbing of then No. 5 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence. And then there was this Saturday’s win over an Alabama team that was 10-1 at Coleman Coliseum, its lone loss coming against the aforementioned Auburn Tigers last month.
“They don’t lose here,” said Calipari.
So what changed? Well, the two wins were achieved in two different ways. At Kansas, the Cats were an offensive juggernaut, scoring 51 points in the first half, shooting 50.8 percent for the game. In Tuscaloosa, the Cats excelled at the defensive end, winning despite shooting just 40 percent themselves and losing the battle of the boards 47-44.
These back-to-back Saturday specials should give the Cats confidence for the remainder of the regular-season schedule. After all, UK’s road work is farm from done, what with four more road games on the calendar — Tuesday at South Carolina, Feb. 15 at Tennessee, Feb. 26 at Arkansas and March 5 at Florida. Tennessee, Arkansas and Florida all won on Saturday, by the way. Arkansas has won eight straight games and is tied with Tennessee for third place in the SEC at 7-3.
Still, you have to like the way this Kentucky team has learned how to travel.
This story was originally published February 5, 2022 at 11:51 PM.
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