Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s wild win over Alabama
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Game day: No. 4 Kentucky vs. No. 25 Alabama
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 Rupp Arena.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 90-81 win over the Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday at Rupp Arena:
1. The Cats’ collective effort won the day
Are you kidding? Playing without starting guards TyTy Washington (ankle) and Sahvir Wheeler (wrist)? Alabama throwing in three-pointers left and right to start the game? Down 13 points with 5:33 to go in the first half? Somehow, Kentucky won anyway.
It did so thanks to an impressive collective effort. Kellan Grady scored 25 points. Oscar Tshiebwe scored 21 points and grabbed 14 rebounds. Keion Brooks had 18 points and eight boards. Making a rare start, Jacob Toppin contributed 13 points and six rebounds. Davion Mintz played 39 minutes without a turnover.
“It was probably one of the most rewarding wins I’ve ever been a part of,” Grady said.
In fact, five Cats played 36 minutes or more. Grady, Mintz and Toppin each played 39. Brooks played 37. Tshiebwe played 36. They did so because they had to, what with Washington and Wheeler sidelined, and the five starters playing so well John Calipari couldn’t bring himself to take them out.
The complexion of the game changed when Kentucky trailed 41-28 with 5:33 left. Less than a minute later, a lengthy monitor review resulted in a technical foul on Alabama’s Darius Miles — which was followed by Calipari and Pat Adams going nose-to-nose over the fact that Adams was spending an inordinate amount of time explaining the call to Alabama Coach Nate Oats.
“I like Pat. He’s a good guy,” Calipari said afterward. “He charged me, but that’s OK.”
After that, Kentucky outscored Alabama 17-5 the rest of the half, including a 13-0 run over the final 3:07. When Grady took a cross-court pass and drilled a three-pointer from the left corner to give Kentucky a 47-46 lead 42 seconds before halftime, the place went nuts.
“Keion told me that’s the loudest he’s ever heard it,” Grady said afterward.
The noise continued into the second half as Kentucky shot 60 percent in outscoring the Tide 43-35.
“I want to thank the fans, they were great,” Grady said.
Yes, add the crowd to the collection.
2. Nick Saban, of all people, deserves a hat tip
Calipari said afterward that in preparation for the game, he showed the team a tape of Alabama football coach Nick Saban talking about players being ready for their opportunity when it comes.
That had been Cal’s message over the 36-48 hours when he found out that Washington and Wheeler were going to be no-gos for Saturday. He reiterated that message to the media during his Zoom session on Friday morning, and he preached and preached it to his team right up to the opening tip.
Toppin took it to heart. He fought and scrapped, at one point suffering a scratched eyelid while going for a rebound. (I’ve had worse,” he said.) Mintz took the message to heart. The veteran guard did not shoot the ball well, going just 2-for-9 from the floor, but he had three steals and two assists to go with that big fat zero in the turnover column.
“In the past, people were questioning the depth of his team when we had guys hurt,” Toppin said. “This shows how good our depth is not just to me but my teammates.”
3. Kentucky sends the committee a message
The NCAA Tournament committee held its early reveal Saturday, putting Kentucky as a No. 2 seed — somehow behind Kansas as a No. 1 seed despite the fact the Cats beat the Jayhawks 80-62 in Lawrence on Dec. 29.
The UK-UA score might change that. Alabama came out and hit UK with a strong first punch, scoring on its first seven possessions. The Tide went 6-for-8 and then 9-for-14 from three-point range to start the game. Overall, the Tide did not play poorly. Nate Oats’ club got 28 points from Keon Ellis. The visitors did cool off, however, and ended up 14-for-40 from three-point range.
“They made 14 threes and still lost,” Calipari said.
“That’s a good team,” Grady said of Alabama. “A very good team.”
But Kentucky was better than the Tide twice this season — once at full-strength in Tuscaloosa, once while short-handed at Rupp.
“We scored 90 points without our two primary lead guards,” said Grady of an effort in which UK averaged 1.451 points per possession, second only to the 1.466 the Cats averaged in that home rout of Tennessee. Saturday’s PPP was the team’s second-best offensive performance since 2016.
And where Kentucky had not been able to overcome injuries in losses at LSU, Auburn and Tennessee, the Cats did that and more on Saturday.
“The country knows what we are at full strength,” Grady said.
Now they know what they are even when they’re not.
This story was originally published February 19, 2022 at 4:34 PM.
