Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s lopsided loss to Alabama in the SEC Tournament
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SEC Tournament game day: Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Friday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Alabama in the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville, Tennessee.
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Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 99-70 loss to Alabama in a quarterfinal game of the SEC Tournament on Friday night at Bridgestone Arena.
1. Alabama is too good, by three
Yes, Kentucky was shorthanded. Starting point guard Lamont Butler did not play. Leading scorer Otega Oweh suffered a busted lip in the first half. Starting shooting guard Jaxson Robinson and backup point guard Kerr Kriisa are gone for the season. Even with a full deck of cards, I don’t think Kentucky can beat Alabama, however.
True, the Cats could have made it a closer than the 29-point beating it took at the hands of Nate Oats’ Tide. Turning the ball over 16 times, leading to 29 Alabama points off turnovers didn’t help. Neither did a night in which Kentucky went just 5-for-19 shooting from beyond the 3-point land. That Mark Pope’s team managed less than 20 attempts from 3 spoke to their lack of execution on offense.
“Give credit to Alabama,” Pope said afterward.
Alabama is that good. The Tide was coming off a 93-91 overtime win over archrival No. 1-ranked Auburn at Auburn last Saturday. As the No. 3 seed, compared to Kentucky being the No. 6 seed, Bama had an extra day of rest. It showed.
And three times now Alabama has proved it is the better team. The Tide did it in Lexington 102-97. The Tide did it in Tuscaloosa 96-83. The Tide did it again in Nashville. Case closed.
2. Kentucky gave more blood
There was just under 12 minutes in the first half when Alabama freshman Labaron Philon came flying down the court, while defended by Kentucky’s Otega Oweh and knocked an elbow right into Oweh’s face as he scored on a layup.
Blood went everywhere. On Oweh’s hands. On the floor. On his jersey. When UK’s trainers arrived at the scene of the spill, there was blood on towels, as well. And by the time the Oklahoma transfer returned to the floor with five minutes left in the first half, Oweh was sporting stitched in his upper and lower lips.
By game’s end, Oweh had scored just eight points. He had missed five of his six field goal attempts. He had turned the ball over five times. And you had to ask if that first half collision had anything to do with his lack of production.
“Had nothing to do with it,” the junior guard said in UK’s locker room. “Just a bad night.”
After so many good ones. It was Oweh who scored 27 points, including the basket with less than a second left, that beat Oklahoma 85-84 in Thursday’s second-round game. It was Oweh who had scored 20 or more points in four of his last five, and six of his last eight games.
Yet it was also Oweh who scored just two points in the Cats’ loss at Alabama on Feb. 22. He was 1-for-9 from the floor that day. And it was Oweh who scored just four points in the March 1 loss to then-No. 1 Auburn at Rupp. Foul trouble limited him to 20 minutes that afternoon.
At the risk of stating the overly obvious, for Kentucky to make any noise in the upcoming NCAA Tournament, the Cats have to have “Double 0” at his best.
3. Now for Big Blue’s silver linings
Some positives did come out of an otherwise dark night in Music City.
No. 1: Before the game, Pope told the “Voice of the Cats” Tom Leach that the exam of Butler’s shoulder injury turned out better than expected. It’s a new, unique injury to the shoulder ailment the point guard experienced before. The expectation is that Butler will get a shot to live up to his “LaMarch” nickname come NCAA Tournament time.
No. 2: Kentucky won’t play Alabama again. Well, the Cats could. With as many as 14 SEC teams making the 68-team NCAA field, there’s a chance that the Cats and Crimson Tide could meet again. But the expectation would be that a fourth matchup would happen on down the bracket.
No. 3: A 29-point loss is easier to shake off. A buzzer-beater of a loss is not. A heartbreaking loss is not. Even a loss where you keep it close but just can’t get over the hump is not. A rout you can explain away as “this just wasn’t our night.”
There is another night to come. The hope is there are multiple nights to come. Selection Show is Sunday. The ever-growing bevy of bracketologists out there have Pope’s first Kentucky team as a probable No. 3 seed. Destination unknown. I don’t care what those speculators say. No one knows for sure until 6 p.m. Sunday night.
With a relatively healthy Lamont Butler, an Otega Oweh hitting on all cylinders, a few less turnovers and a bit better defense, this Kentucky team can make it to the second weekend of March Madness. That hasn’t been done since 2019. It can be done now.
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 1:40 AM.
