FINAL: No. 8 Kentucky falls to No. 4 Alabama 102-97, drops first home game of the season

Streaks aren’t meant to last forever. Kentucky saw a few of them break against another Top 25 foe.

On Saturday in Rupp Arena, the No. 8 Wildcats (14-4; 3-2 SEC) came up short 102-97 in a thrilling battle against the No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide (15-3; 4-1 SEC). It marked Kentucky’s first home loss of the season (11-1) and first loss against a ranked opponent (5-1). Otega Oweh led the way for the ‘Cats with 21 points, six rebounds, and three assists before fouling out in the final minute.

Six other Kentucky players finished in double-figures. Lamont Butler went for 17 points and eight assists while Amari Williams added a 13-point, 11-rebound double-double. Jaxson Robinson and Brandon Garrison both chipped in 11 points with Koby Brea and Ansley Almonor going for 10 points each.

Alabama’s Grant Nelson was the problem for Kentucky. The stretch forward posted a season-high 25 points and 11 rebounds for the Tide. Veteran point guard Mark Sears wasn’t too far behind with 24 points and nine assists. Alabama shot 13-34 from deep and went 29-34 from the free-throw line.

If you’re a fan of offense, you were a fan of this first half. Both sides came out firing at will to the enjoyment of a loud Rupp Arena crowd. Kentucky struck first to take a quick 7-2 edge before Alabama punched back to go in front 18-9. But the ‘Cats used the next several minutes to counter, slowly chipping away at the Crimson Tide’s lead. A huge three-pointer from Garrison pushed UK to a 27-26 lead that sent the building into a frenzy.

The scoring would take a slight dip the rest of the half as neither side could jump out to a significant lead. Kentucky went up by as many as six points, 34-28, before Alabama made another run. Nelson was taking over for the Tide. He posted 19 first-half points and made life difficult for Andrew Carr, who was tagged with three fouls before halftime.

Alabama took a six-point lead of its own with 60 seconds until the intermission. But a couple of free throws from Butler right before the buzzer made it just a two-point game, 47-45, in favor of the Crimson Tide as we reached the midway point. Seven different Wildcats had four or more points while the team as a whole went 5-11 from deep in the opening half.

Kentucky came out of the break and regained the lead a little over a minute in, forcing Alabama into an early timeout. Foul trouble became an issue very fast for the Wildcats though. The Tide were already in the bonus not even five minutes into the half. Alabama used that to its advantage, going up by eight points with a little over 12 minutes left in the game. Six straight points from Oweh kept UK alive though as it was a four-point game at the under eight-minute media timeout.

With five minutes in regulation, Kentucky was able to tie the game up at 81-81. But Alabama rattled off a devastating 9-0 run over the next couple of minutes, forcing Mark Pope to call his final timeout of the game. The ‘Cats tried to claw its way back into the contest, but it was too little too late at that point. Alabama hit its free throws and will leave Lexington with a terrific road win on the resume.