No. 4 Alabama knocks off No. 8 Kentucky in Rupp Arena

LEXINGTON, Ky. — No. 4 Alabama got back in the win column in a big way on Saturday afternoon, going on the road to Lexington and beating No. 8 Kentucky by a final score of 102-97.

The game moves the Crimson Tide to 15-3 on the season with a 4-1 mark in SEC play.

Even after a poor showing in the previous game, Alabama stuck with its typical starting lineup that it’s used for over a month: Mark Sears, Labaron Philon, Jarin Stevenson, Grant Nelson and Cliff Omoruyi.

HOW IT HAPPENED

Kentucky opened the game by jumping out to a 7-2 run and getting Rupp Arena into it, but Alabama didn’t back down. The Tide answered with an 11-0 run over the next two minutes, featuring two made threes from Nelson and a made three from Sears. At the first media timeout of the game, Alabama had a 13-9 lead.

The offensive pace exploded over the next few minutes, as neither team could seemingly miss any shot. Alabama built its lead up to as many as nine points, but some knockdown shooting from the Wildcats brought them all the way back to take a 1-point lead at the under-12 timeout.

Through the first quarter of the game, the two teams were a combined 9-of-16 from beyond the arc. Alabama was 4-of-9, while Kentucky was 5-of-7.

The offense significantly slowed down for both teams as the first half drew closer to its end. Alabama missed over 10 consecutive threes, while Kentucky’s clip dropped by a substantial margin as well. The Tide went down by as many as six points in the late first half, but by the under-4, Alabama found itself down three with Nelson going to the free throw line.

Alabama made another scoring push in the final minutes of the half, going on a 10-0 run featuring threes from Sears and Philon as the lid finally came off the basket from deep. The Tide went into the halftime break with a 2-point lead, as Nelson led the way with 19 points on 6-of-10 shooting.

Sears and Omoruyi were Alabama’s second leading scorers at the break with eight points apiece. Omoruyi notably upped his aggression at the rim and it paid off, while Sears was struggling a little bit, just 3-for-8 from the field.

Kentucky had a strong start to the second half with the crowd behind them, outscoring Alabama 11-7 over the first 4-minute stretch. The Wildcats found themselves fouling a lot on the defensive end, however, getting called for four fouls already by the under-16.

Alabama answered in a strong way over the next four minutes, going on a 10-0 run with some nice plays from Mo Dioubate and Aden Holloway. Alabama got put in the double bonus with over 11 minutes to go in the game, and the Crimson Tide led 66-60 at the under-12 timeout.

The offenses started to head up over the next 4-minute stretch, with each team making multiple threes and the pace resembling more of what we saw in the opening minutes. Alabama held a slim 4-point head headed into the under-8.

The back-and-forth continued, with Alabama barely holding onto its lead of 84-81 as the game his its final media timeout, setting up for an exciting ending.

Immediately out of the timeout, the Tide knocked down a three, got a stop, and knocked down another three, pushing its lead from three to nine in the blink of an eye and prompting a Kentucky timeout, a lead it would hold onto the rest of the game.

PLAYERS OF THE GAME

Grant Nelson — 25 points, 10 rebounds

Mark Sears — 24 points, 9 assists

Cliff Omoruyi — 12 points, 7 rebounds

WHAT’S NEXT

Alabama will be back at home for two games next week, beginning with a Tuesday night tilt with Vanderbilt. The game will tip off at 6 p.m. CT on SEC Network.