The Alabama Crimson Tide were smoked in Lexington on Saturday afternoon, falling to the Kentucky Wildcats by a score of 117-95.
A first half in which Alabama allowed 58 points and trailed by 16 at the break was just the kind of day it was for the Tide. Kentucky shot nearly 65% from the field along with nailing 8 of their 13 three point attempts.
Alabama attempted just 8 three pointers in the first frame, uncharacteristically few for a Nate Oats coached team.
Superstar Kentucky guard Antonio Reeves scored 15 in the first half along with 24 for the game.
Oats gave a scathing review at halftime, telling the Crimson Tide Sports Network broadcast at half exactly how he felt.
“Our defense stinks. We got to start to guard the ball better. We can’t keep getting back cut. We don’t have the toughness it takes to win this game, for the first half,” he said.
The second half didn’t go much better for Alabama, as Kentucky led by 20 at the first break after the Tide briefly cut the deficit to 14 before back-to-back turnovers.
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By the time the second break rolled around it got even uglier, with the Cats doing all but putting the game away, leading by 26 and having scored a mind boggling 84 points with 11:55 left.
Right out of the second break, Oats had to call a quick timeout after Kentucky drained two more quick threes, seemingly making everything on the day and extending the lead to 33.
From there, it was simply a formality, with Kentucky passing the 100-point mark with still 8:46 remaining and leading 104-69 at the under-eight timeout, and while Alabama closed out the final stages of the game with 26 points and climbing back slightly, it was still a 22-point drubbing.
With the victory, Kentucky improved to 9-5 in the conference and two games behind.
Alabama drops to 11-3 in the SEC and will likely be in second place in the conference by the end of the weekend pending the results of Tennessee’s matchup at home against Texas A&M.
The Tide must regroup quickly as it doesn’t get any easier over the final four games. Next up is a road game on Wednesday night at Ole Miss before the biggest game of the year, Tennessee at home in matchup that could decide the SEC regular season title.
Michael Brauner is a Senior Sports Analyst and Contributing Writer for Yellowhammer News. You can follow him on Twitter @MBraunerWNSP