For Kentucky basketball, defensive 'improvement' fleeting thing. Loss to Alabama proves it

For Kentucky basketball, defensive ‘improvement’ fleeting thing. Loss to Alabama proves it

Posted by author February 23, 2025 Basketball

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TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — In the span of one second of game time in Saturday’s second half, two timeouts occurred. Both breaks in the action gave Kentucky basketball an opportunity to talk through what was to come. And what it could do defensively to ensure Alabama suffered through a fruitless possession.

Instead, the Crimson Tide engineered the perfect out-of-timeout play: Guard Aden Holloway swished a 3 from the wing to extend the hosts’ lead to 56-49 with 15:24 remaining.

For whatever defensive improvements UK coach Mark Pope believed his team had made recently, that progress wasn’t evident Saturday against Division I’s top-scoring offense. Try as they might, the Wildcats couldn’t stem the Tide’s overwhelming offensive attack.

It doomed Kentucky to a 96-83 loss at Coleman Coliseum, as Alabama swept the regular-season series on the heels of a 102-97 victory in January at Rupp Arena.

The Crimson Tide’s point total isn’t surprising; it entered Saturday averaging 90.6 points per outing. But Pope had hoped his group would offer stiffer resistance. The losing performance came one day after Pope had praised the Wildcats (18-9, 7-7 SEC) for their defensive gains this month, using a portion of his news conference Friday to point out his club had the country’s 14th-stingiest unit — in terms of defensive efficiency — in the four games prior to Saturday.

But Alabama (22-5, 11-3) isn’t Tennessee. Or Texas. Or Vanderbilt. And it’s certainly not South Carolina, owner of the least-threatening offense in the league.

The Crimson Tide was considerable levels above the Wildcats’ preceding quartet of opponents.

And while UK certainly has gotten better defensively, Saturday showed how much further it still has to go.

Kentucky remains away from home for its next game, pulling up stakes for the Sooner State to square off with Oklahoma on Wednesday night. OU is fresh off its marquee win in SEC play, upending a ranked Mississippi State squad Saturday. Next week’s matchup will be the first between the Wildcats and Sooners as conference foes; Oklahoma is in its first season as an SEC member.

Wednesday’s contest will tip off at 9 p.m. from the Lloyd Noble Center in Norman, Oklahoma.

The national television broadcast will be carried by SEC Network.

This story will be updated.

Reach Kentucky men’s basketball and football reporter Ryan Black at rblack@gannett.com and follow him on X at @RyanABlack.