KSR Gameday: Kentucky Travels to Inconsistent Alabama

Another Saturday, another road trip for the fifth-ranked Kentucky Wildcats. Saturday night at 8 pm ET they will face an odd Alabama team at Coleman Coliseum.

A year after Nate Oats became a household name with his high-volume three-point shooters, the Crimson Tide might be the most inconsistent team in America. Alabama plays to the level of its competition. It’s evident in one of the most bizarre NCAA Tournament resumes you will ever see. They have wins over Gonzaga, Baylor and Houston, and losses to Georgia, Missouri and Iona.

It’s difficult to make sense of what’s gone wrong for Alabama. After all, they still rank No. 8 in offensive efficiency, No. 24 in three-pointers made per game (9.3) and No. 7 in points per game (81.4). The holes in the Crimson Tide are on the other end of the floor. Last year Oats had a top 20 defense. This year they rank 77th in defensive efficiency and allow 76 points per game (ranked No. 310 out of 358 D-I teams).

Combine Alabama’s high-scoring offense and poor defense with Kentucky’s fourth-ranked offense and you’ve got a recipe for a shootout. It could be a fun one tonight in Tuscaloosa.

Kentucky “Roadkill”

The Wildcats have been road warriors, embracing the “roadkill” mantra for each and every sell-out crowd. UK must once again be at their best away from home. Kentucky has not won at Coleman Coliseum since 2017.

“We already know they’re going to give us their best shot because I feel like every team we play against, they’re always going to give us their best shot just because the name we have on our jerseys,” said TyTy Washington. “They’re playing at home too so they’re going to be feeling really good, they’ve probably put up a million shots on those rims already so they’re going to be used to that. The crowd’s going to be on their side, so we know going into it it’s going to be a really fun and challenging task.”

Another rowdy road environment awaits Saturday night.

We wouldn’t want it any other way. pic.twitter.com/1UJVcEpjuW

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) February 4, 2022

TV, Radio Info

The game tips off at 8 p.m. ET as Tom Hart makes his UK basketball debut for the 2021-22 season. Jimmy Dykes will join him on the call for ESPN. If you can’t watch it, you can listen in a variety of ways:

• AM: 840 WHAS, 630 WLAP
• FM: 98.1 WBUL
• Satellite: XM 84, Sirius 84, SXM App: 84
• Online: iHeart Radio

The KSR Pregame Show will begin at 5:30 pm ET on 630 WLAP and iHeart Radio. Get your pregame kicked off even earlier with Jack Pilgrim on Sources Say.

Vegas, KenPom Prediction

Kentucky opened as a 1.5-point favorite, but if you’re lucky you can get them as an underdog (like I did on DraftKings). The conensus remains UK -1.5, but the line has bounced around all over the place, depending on where you look. You can still get the total at 157.5.

Alabama has only covered the spread once in its last eight games. KenPom gives the Wildcats a 60% chance to win, predicting an 81-78 UK victory. ESPN’s BPI is slightly more favorable, giving Kentucky a 61.9% chance to win at Coleman Coliseum.

Kentucky Lineups are Elite

Evan Miyakawa is proficient in next-level college basketball analytics. This week he crunched the numbers to see what is the most efficient five-man lineup in the sport. Kentucky has two in the top 15, and the starting lineup isn’t the highest-ranked.

Here are the top five-man lineups in the country (100+ possessions), found on the Lineup Ratings page at https://t.co/cegyfz8ykZ.

Teams with a lineup in the top 10:
Duke
Xavier
Texas Tech
Arkansas
Murray St.
Illinois
Davidson
Utah
Purdue
Kentucky pic.twitter.com/hDCmfD1YG8

— Evan Miyakawa (@EvanMiya) February 4, 2022

Oats, Calipari Preview Matchup

The two head coaches spent some time Friday afternoon discussing Saturday’s game with members of the media. Hear everything they had to say.

LOADED College Basketball Slate

Snowed in? The basketball action tips off at noon on ESPN and does not stop at any point throughout the day. There’s only one downside: Duke and North Carolina will tip-off after 6 pm ET. There’s a 99% chance that game runs long, into the UK-Alabama game. Prepare to pull up the app or flip to ESPNews to see the start of the Kentucky basketball game. Here’s a look at some of the best games on the slate.

• Illinois at Indiana | Noon | ESPN
• Tennessee at South Carolina | 1 pm | CBS
• Louisville at Syracuse | 2 pm | ESPN2
• Texas Tech at West Virginia | 2 pm | ESPN
• Baylor at Kansas | 4 pm | ESPN
• USC at ARizona | 5 pm | Fox
• Duke at North Carolina | 6 pm | ESPN
• Gonzaga at BYU | 10 pm | ESPN

Three Wildcats in the Senior Bowl

Kentucky will be well represented in the nation’s premier NFL Draft prep event. Yusuf Corker, Darian Kinnard and Luke Fortner will be wearing Kentucky helmets while suiting up for the American Team in Saturday’s Senior Bowl. The all-star game kicks off in Mobile at 2:30 p.m. ET on NFL Network.