Kentucky's 29-point loss to Alabama made some bad history

Less than 24 hours after Kentucky won its first SEC Tournament game in Nashville in six years, the Cats are headed home. Alabama dominated Kentucky in the quarterfinals, outscoring the Cats by 22 in the second half en route to a 29-point rout. It was the worst, in more ways than one.

Corey Price had a lot of unfortunate stats to share on social media after the buzzer finally sounded. The 29-point loss was Kentucky’s worst in the SEC Tournament in school history, passing the 17-point loss to Florida in the 2005 championship game. If you widen the scope, it’s the second-worst postseason loss in school history behind the 39-point loss to CCNY in the 1950 NIT. So, the worst postseason loss in 75 years. Yuck. Finally, it was Kentucky’s worst loss to Alabama ever, topping the 26-point defeat on January 7, 2023 in Tuscaloosa.

Tonight also marked the first time Kentucky has lost to a team three times in one season since 2014 when Florida beat the Cats twice in the regular season and in the SEC Tournament Championship. The two teams almost met a fourth time, in the national championship game, but UConn upset the Gators, the No. 1 overall seed, 63-53, in the semifinal.

Some more bad numbers in relation to this season: Kentucky’s five made threes were the second-fewest behind the losses to Ohio State and Auburn. Kentucky’s 16 turnovers tonight were the third most in a game behind the losses to Auburn (18) and Vanderbilt (17). Those turnovers led to 29 points for Alabama tonight.

“I hope it’s really hard ’cause this is not okay for us,” Mark Pope said when asked about flushing away this performance and moving on to the NCAA Tournament. “I hope it’s really hard. But we’re here to do hard things. Like, that’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re chasing, is hard things.”

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