They traded blows. Shots. Runs. Triples. Droughts. Turnovers. Fouls. Leads. It was the stuff of entertaining basketball.
Neither Alabama men’s basketball nor Kentucky played perfect. But both showed why they’re top 10 teams. So, the Saturday matchup lived up to the hype between two of the best in the SEC, this year and all-time.
The game went into the final minute, and thanks to Alabama making its free throws, the Crimson Tide finished strong to beat Kentucky 102-97 on Saturday at Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky.
Grant Nelson secured a double-double with 25 points and 11 rebounds. Mark Sears tallied 24 points to go with nine assists.
Here are takeaways from the game between No. 4 Alabama (15-3, 4-1 SEC) and No. 8 Kentucky (14-4, 3-2).
The battle between two of the nation’s top offenses lived up to its billing, and fast. Emphasis on fast. That’s no surprise considering both are in the top 25 for tempo, per KenPom.
Midway through the first half, Alabama was averaging 1.625 points per possession while Kentucky averaged 1.8. Anything above 1.2 is strong.
The two teams had combined for nine triples at that point. It felt like neither defense could get a stop and neither offense could miss. Alabama had an early run where it made four consecutive 3-pointers. There was also a point where it made eight consecutive shots. Around that same time, Alabama went on a 16-2 run over 2:17. There was also an 11-0 Alabama run in the first half that took fewer than 90 seconds.
Kentucky also was scoring at a high clip. It had a run where it went 4-for-4 on 3-pointers.
The hot start didn’t last, though. At one point, the Crimson Tide went 1-for-9 while Kentucky went 1-for-7.
Alabama slowed down beyond the arc, too. It missed its next 12 shot attempts from deep. The Wildcats, who started 5-for-7 from deep, missed its next four.
The game never quite returned to the high-flying, quick scoring pace again in the first half. But Alabama got back on track. The Crimson Tide made three of its final five shots to take a 47-45 halftime lead.
Then Alabama, and Kentucky, went to the locker room to take a much-needed breather.
The Crimson Tide has been in games this season where it didn’t matter that Alabama hasn’t been great shooting free throws. The matchup against Kentucky wasn’t one of those games where Alabama could afford to miss those shots.
Ranked No. 249 in the country in free-throw percentage (69.7%) heading into the game per KenPom, Alabama stepped up at the charity stripe against Kentucky.
In a two-possession game late, the Crimson Tide hit its free throws. Mark Sears, Labaron Philon and Chris Youngblood combined to make all but one of their free throws in the final two minutes. That made the difference late, going 12-for-13 on free thrin the final 2:03.
Alabama finished 29 of 34 (85%) from the free-throw line.
Alabama coach Nate Oats called a lack of effort on the offensive glass “maybe the most disappointing thing” on a night of disappointments in the loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday.
The Crimson Tide, one of the nation’s top teams on the offensive glass, only grabbed four at Coleman Coliseum that night.
The effort showed up at Rupp Arena, though.
Alabama had more than double the offensive rebounds in the first half alone. Those efforts continued in the second half. There was one possession when the Crimson Tide grabbed two offensive rebounds, setting up a second-chance dunk from Mo Dioubate.
Alabama finished the game with 15 offensive boards.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
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