Watch the Tape: Alabama Crimson Tide Outlasts Kentucky 102-97

Big Blue Nation was reminded of the binary nature of spots on Saturday afternoon. Back on January 4th, Kentucky outlasted Florida 106-100 to begin Southeastern Conference game. Stops were hard to come by for both teams in that game. However, the Wildcats shot 14-29 from three-point range and found a way to come out on top. Saturday’s matchup with the Alabama Crimson Tide felt very similar for the vast majority of the 40 minutes. There were six ties and six lead changes as two of the best offenses in college basketball had their shot-making ability on full display. While the ‘Cats found a way against the Gators, the Crimson Tide came up with one more haymaker in this matchup to escape Lexington with the 102-97 victory.

Kentucky shot 11-27 from beyond the arc and made 80% of their free throw attempts. However, as they tend to do, Alabama won the volume battle. The Crimson Tide were 13-34 from deep and shot 29-34 at the free throw line. Those additional shots were what they needed to come away with the big road victory. Grant Nelson was excellent scoring 25 points to go with 11 rebounds. Andrew Carr’s back clearly was bothering him, but Nelson’s ability to dominate that matchup went a long way towards Alabama winning. Mark Sears added 24 points and 9 assists, with just 1 turnover, for the Crimson Tide. As for Kentucky, there were seven scorers in double-figures led by Otega Oweh with 21 points, 5 rebounds, and 3 assists.

As always, we’ve been hard at work in the KSR Film Room breaking down Kentucky’s latest contest. Anytime you give up 102 points, even against an offense as good as Alabama’s, there will be plenty of critiques to make on the defensive side of the floor. We will certainly spend some time highlighting areas for improvement defensively. However, there are also plenty of encouraging clips to share. Kentucky was much better, once again, protecting the rim and continues to operate at an incredibly high level offensively. Then, ultimately, this game came down to a two-minute segment late in the second half where the Crimson Tide went on a 9-0 run. We will deep-dive into that game-changing period. Let’s dive on in and take a closer look at what led to Kentucky’s 102-97 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Kentucky’s Defensive Issues Aren’t Going Away

Now that the season has entered mid-to-late January teams generally are who they are. Kentucky currently ranks 84th in KenPom’s adjusted defensive efficiency. Can the ‘Cats get to 50th or so with some improvements? Yes, that is likely possibly. However, massive improvements simply aren’t going to come at this point. That is even more true for the Wildcats that feature one of the oldest rosters in college basketball. Aside from changing coverages or playing more zone we are likely going to see the ‘Cats continue to struggle guarding ballscreens. There are several areas though that can continue to be drilled hard in the film room to make it harder on opponents to score. That is where we will focus in this breakdown. First though we will point out how the ‘Cats let the fouls rack up in the second half.

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Big Blue Nation was not happy with the officiating in the second half. There were certainly a couple of calls that were questionable, but for the most part Kentucky was at fault for the growing number of fouls. This is a bad, lazy closeout by Jaxson Robinson that stems from a lack of concentration. #15 Stevenson was 0-2 from 3 on Saturday and is 11-50 on the season. Him shooting a three-point shot is essentially a turnover. There is absolutely no reason to even closeout to him at all because you WANT him to shoot it. The bad closeout led to Robinson putting two hands on Stevenson as he drove it and the Crimson Tide got the whistle.

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Amari Williams played his best defensive game of the season on Tuesday against Texas A&M. He backed it up with another encouraging performance at the rim against the Alabama Crimson Tide. However, he still needs to improve when it comes to his verticality. Far too often he jumps with just one hand in the air. That is going to get called, especially inside the restricted arc, every single time. He has to get vertical with both hands in the air and use his championship chest.

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This is another example of a lapse in concentration from Jaxson Robinson. When you are guarding a shooter like #8 Youngblood you do not have help responsibilities. If #1 Sears lays it up that is someone else’s fault. This is the perfect clip to showcase why in the KSR Scouting Reports we say “tighten up as the ball is driven towards you.” Instead of Robinson stepping in to cut off the drive he should have already been closing the space between him and Youngblood.

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You cannot go under the ballscreens when guarding #1 Sears. Plain and simple. Otega Oweh had a brief lapse in judgement and it led to Alabama’s best player getting an open three-point look to put them up seven points.

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Lamont Butler getting switched onto #11 Omoruyi obviously puts the Wildcats at a disadvantage. However, his teammates could have helped him more in this clip. #15 Stevenson in the corner is a low-percentage shooter. We WANT Alabama to throw him the ball and for him to shoot it. Therefore, Ansley Almonor needed to be all of the way down at the midline. In fact, he could have taken Omoruyi on the initial roll and sent Butler out to the corner. Then, on the second drive, Almonor definitely needed to be all of the way on the inside of Omoruyi to help Butler and take away the lob. Those recognition and positioning issues are areas where Kentucky can, in fact, improve at this point in the season.

Reasons For Continued Optimism

When it comes to defining Kentucky’s ceiling you should just let the wins speak for themselves. The Wildcats are 6-4 in Quad 1, have no bad losses, and are the only team in college basketball with five Top 15 wins. There is a real argument to be made that nobody outside of Auburn has a better overall resume. However, if the results aren’t enough, there are on-court reasons for optimism as well. That is even true after Saturday’s 102-97 loss to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Coach Pope’s squad remains elite offensively and shows glimpses of in-game improvement on the defensive side of the floor. That is a credit to the way this staff interacts with the team in real time.

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Game after game Kentucky goes back to the well with Zoom Action. No matter how much opposing teams have seen it on film the Wildcats still find ways to execute every game. This time you see #1 Sears get caught going underneath the downscreen and handoff. That triggers Jaxson Robinson to settle behind the handoff and fire away. Great read and great shot by Robinson.

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Brandon Garrison played one of his best games of the season against the Alabama Crimson Tide. Kentucky’s backup big man finished with 11 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists, and no turnovers. This is an absolutely perfect pass to Lamont Butler on the backcut. Also, notice the gravity of Koby Brea. His defender is completely unaware of anything else going on as he stays tight to Brea. Having big men who can make plays like Amari Williams and Brandon Garrison is what makes this Kentucky offense tick.

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The good news is Kentucky showed some in-game improvement after making a couple of mistakes defensively. However, bad news is that those improvements came after allowing the Alabama Crimson Tide to go on a 9-0 run. Lamont Butler does a great job of not getting screened and pushing #1 Sears outside of the scoring area. Then, Otega Oweh stays tight to #0 Philon and doesn’t allow him to get the handoff. He had previously given up a three-point shot to Sears on a similar action. Amari Williams provided some quality rim protection at the end of the play as well. This team has good enough individual defenders to be better on that end of the floor.

Dissecting Alabama’s 9-0 Run

For so much of the second half it seemed like Kentucky simply couldn’t get over the hump. It would be a one possession game, Big Blue Nation would rise to their feet and get loud, and then the Alabama Crimson Tide would score. That seemed to be the rhythm for quite a while. However, the Wildcats did finally break through and tie the game at 81-81 with 5:12 to play on a dunk by Brandon Garrison on the roll. The next several possessions, on both ends of the floor, for Kentucky were not very pretty. Whether it was defensive breakdowns, bad shots, or turnovers the ‘Cats simply didn’t execute well enough in that portion to deserve to win the game. Let’s dissect this period of just over two minutes where the Crimson Tide won the game.

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Overall, this is actually a decent job in drop coverage by Ansley Almonor. He stayed in front of the ground and continue to give ground in order to stay lower than the roll man. However, at some point, you have to get vertical if Jaxson Robinson can’t get back in front. At the end here Almonor retreated to the roll man without ever stopping the ball. Also, the even bigger issue here is Brandon Garrison not being involved in the play. He is standing in the corner guarding #10 Dioubate who is 3-10 from 3 on the season. We WANT them to throw it to him. Garrison should have been all of the way into the paint stopping the ball here.

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Kentucky has had a bad habit this season of straying away from the offense and going to some “hero ball” when their backs are against the wall. That needs to change. When the going gets tough that is when the ‘Cats should lean even more heavily into their system. Lamont Butler did a lot of excellent things on Saturday, and this shot doesn’t come from a selfish place, but it is a bad shot all the same.

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Generally speaking, if there is no screen there is no switch. However, when you can see the ghost screen coming there is nothing wrong with switching it. #0 Philon was able to beat Otega Oweh around the corner, Amari Williams had to step up at the rim, and #10 Dioubate was there for the pass. He made one of two free throws to make it an 84-81 game. Also, Andrew Carr needed to have dropped down to the rim to help clog things up more off of a non-shooter in #15 Stevenson.

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Sometimes you just need to live to fight another day. This play was obviously designed for Amari Williams to go high-low with Andrew Carr. However, that doesn’t mean that Carr has to shoot the basketball. Along with his back issues, he had a harder time inside due to Alabama’s size and length. Shooting it back into the defender with your right hand over your right shoulder is a really tough shot. This is also one of the few times where Kentucky’s perimeter players haven’t moved when the ball goes in the post. Somebody needed to make themselves more available and get Carr to kick it out.

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Lamont Butler made an outstanding defensive play, but then had an uncharacteristic turnover in transition. In a three-point game, where every possession is so valuable, that really felt like a back-breaker. However, he ended the game with eight assists and just the one turnover so it is hard to get on him too much here.

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Even after a couple of defensive breakdowns and three straight bad offensive possessions, Kentucky still only trailed the Alabama Crimson Tide 84-81 at this point. That was about to change though. Amari Williams came up with a great block, but the Crimson Tide retained possession on the loose ball. Then, #8 Youngblood was left open on the wing and he nailed a three late in the shot clock. This is why those previous three bad offensives possessions were so important.

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We watched the Alabama Crimson Tide finish lobs at the rim all game long. However, Kentucky simply wasn’t able to convert in a similar situation. This has to be two points. The pass from Lamont Butler was a little to hard and a little high for Amari Williams to handle. What essentially became a turnover kept the Wildcats from being able to stop the bleeding.

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Koby Brea made a great effort play here in transition defense and closed out with perfect urgency to get a block. However, nobody for Kentucky went to get the basketball. Alabama eventually came up with the loose ball, kicked it out to #0 Philon, and the nail was officially put in the Wildcats’ coffin.