Nate Oats believes lack of Kentucky perimeter depth will help Alabama

During this season, John Calipari has committed to a three-guard lineup with his 13th team at Kentucky. Due to personnel, Cal has abandoned his traditional big lineups with Keion Brooks Jr. at the four combined with a pair of dribble creators in the backcourt and a floor stretcher at the three.

That has been a wise move because Kentucky has turned into a top-five offense and has been a challenge for most defenses to slow down. However, bad injury luck is currently throwing a wrench into the lineup combinations for Kentucky.

If TyTy Washington is unable to go on Saturday against Alabama, that will force Calipari to put sixth-man Davion Mintz into the lineup. Alabama head coach Nate Oats believes that could give the Crimson Tide an edge as all depth for Kentucky appears to be in the frontcourt.

“It’s not like they get that much worse in the starting lineup,” Nate Oats told reporters on Friday. “Davion Mintz has been playing great for them. TyTy is obviously good — can score it really well. They’re going to be missing a good player, but they’re going to replace him with a really good player, too. I think where it hurts them is in the depth. Mintz gave them so real scoring off the bench, and they won’t have that if Mintz has to go to the [starting] lineup.”

“You look at the last game — they played nine guys — but Lance Ware only played four minutes. Lance has been playing more lately. Daimion Collins played as many minutes against us as he had played against anybody pretty much. If you look at [Jacob] Toppin, Ware, Collins, and Mintz were the only guys off the bench — well Toppin, Ware, and Collins are all fours and fives. So if they have to start Mintz they’re going to have to go bigger which is hard to do against us with how we play.”

The injury to Washington certainly puts the Wildcats in a bind. Kentucky has a plethora of bigs, but now their lineup is much more matchup dependent. The team can easily hang with big teams that want to post the basketball and play at a plodding pace.

However, Alabama is not one of those teams.

The Crimson Tide rank No. 16 overall and lead the SEC in adjusted tempo. Only two Alabama games have not reached 70 possessions, and a handful have gone into the 80s. Oats plays just one big with a spread floor structure. Alabama wants to drive basketball to create shots at the rim, free throw trips, and three-point attempts. With a lack of foot speed, that could be difficult for Kentucky to handle.

Calipari must be very effective with his lineup management on Saturday afternoon. The Wildcats will be playing a lot of possessions, and keeping his guards fresh will be paramount. Kentucky may need to steal about 10 possessions with a three-big lineup or have Dontaie Allen give the team some production off the bench.

Oats believes that Alabama could have a distinct advantage in the game due to Kentucky’s limited perimeter depth.

“It’s harder to guard us when playing a four at the three and two fives together or two fours in there,” said Nate Oats. “Their depth will take a little bit of a hit.”