Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Kentucky
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — All eyes were on Coleman Coliseum on Saturday morning for ESPN's lone college basketball broadcast of the day.
On national television and with over 30 NBA scouts in attendance, the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide dismantled Kentucky by a final score of 78-52.
A lot happened, much of which were positives for Alabama, so here are some of my takeaways from the game.
1. Charles Bediako outmatched Oscar Tshiebwe.
I wrote about this in my story from the game here, but it still can't go without mentioning.
Tshiebwe was the National Player of the Year last year and is one of the best players in all of college basketball, and Charles Bediako made him look like he didn't belong on the floor.
From burying him offensively in ball screen coverages to walling up defensively and using his strength and frame to make Tshiebwe alter his shot, Bediako was nothing short of spectacular on Saturday.
There are many other great bigs throughout the SEC — Auburn's Johni Broome and Florida's Colin Castleton to name a few — so to see that Bediako has this ability to shut down an opposing star big man, it raises Alabama's already-high ceiling.
2. Kentucky is still a very talented team, yet Alabama was on a completely different level.
Don't be mistaken, this Kentucky team has very good basketball players.
Everyone knows Tshiebwe is good. Kentucky's point guard, Sahvir Wheeler has led the SEC in assists in two seasons. Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston were both McDonald's All-Americans. Antonio Reeves averaged 20 points per game last season.
Despite all of this, Alabama outclassed Kentucky in every sense of the word. From its defense, to its shooting, to its playmaking offensively. Alabama had more points in the paint, more assists, more steals, more field goals, more 3-point makes.
Kentucky should be fine this year, as Alabama head coach Nate Oats said in his postgame press conference. This seemed more like an announcement of how good Alabama can be, even against a very talented team, when the Crimson Tide is clicking on all cylinders.
3. Alabama once again blew out another team without shooting particularly well.
We can now officially bury the "live by the three, die by the three" narrative surrounding Oats-coached teams, if we hadn't already.
Normally, if you see that Alabama beat a team by 25+, you'd assume it hit 13, 15, even 17 or more 3-pointers. That wasn't the case on Saturday, as it beat Kentucky by 26 with only eight 3-point makes — less than its season average.
At halftime, Alabama led by 11 while shooting only 2-for-10 from beyond the arc.
The Crimson Tide shot 8-for-22 for the game, but was just 6-for-20 before freshman Rylan Griffen nailed two deep threes in garbage time.
The shooting wasn't necessarily bad throughout the game, but Kentucky was making a point defensively to take away that facet of Alabama's game. That was fine for Oats, because he just utilized his crafty guard play to work the ball inside for layups and dishes to big men for dunks.
Alabama can beat you in a wide variety of ways, and if the 3-pointer happens to be falling at a more rapid clip than normal that day, good luck.
4. Mark Sears was excellent defensively.
Sears has been heralded all season long, but mostly for his efforts on the offensive end as Alabama's second-leading scorer. As a defender, fans are typically going to think of Jaden Bradley, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako first.
On Saturday, though, Sears was everywhere defensively. He racked up six steals, the most by an Alabama player since Trevor Releford in 2014. His hands were active in passing lanes and on Kentucky's bigs. Anytime a Wildcat big man would bring the ball down below his shoulders, Sears' quick hands were ready to strike and poke the ball away.
Additionally he showed great effort as a perimeter defender, guarding hard against Wheeler and other Wildcat threats on the perimeter.
During his postgame press conference, Oats said Clowney told Sears that the team will be expecting this kind of defensive showing from Sears every game, now that they've seen that he can do it. Oats added that he agreed with Clowney, so watching Sears defensively may be yet another improvement this Alabama team can make.
5. Effort never waivered throughout the entire game.
As I mentioned earlier, Alabama shot just 2-for-10 from beyond the arc in the first half. Despite this, none of Alabama's players let their defensive effort waiver even though their shots weren't falling.
We've seen Alabama teams in the past, last season specifically, where it was obvious that defensive effort decreased when players weren't shooting the ball well or scoring at a high clip.
This season that couldn't be further from the truth. Everyone gives maximum effort on defense, which is part of the reason why Alabama's defensive efficiency now ranks in the top-10 according to the analytics service KenPom.
And it's not just the fact that they play hard when shots aren't falling, they play hard even with a huge lead.
When Alabama led by 25 points or more on Saturday for a large portion of the second half, Alabama players still didn't hesitate to dive on the floor for loose balls or work hard on defense for a block or a steal. Even with the game already decided, there was no let up in the effort category from anyone.
That is the purest sign of a culture that creates winning basketball, and it's showing, to say the least.
6. A few more things...
- The reported sellout crowd inside Coleman Coliseum was fantastic. Sometimes it's been harder to get the place completely filled, but when it is it can be one of the best environments in the SEC.
- Jahvon Quinerly looks more and more like his old self every game. His 12 points on 4-of-7 shooting from the field were a huge boost for Alabama off the bench. He even got a technical foul for chirping with Wheeler while leading by 20, which tells me he's getting his confidence back.
- Alabama once again limited turnovers, giving up just nine in the game. That's the second straight game Alabama has had single-digit turnovers, and coincidentally the second straight game Alabama has won by at least 20 points.
- Alabama scored 21 fast break points in the game, finally being able to push the ball in transition consistently after the amount of steals and live ball turnovers that were forced.
- Alabama has held four straight opponents under 70 points since allowing 100 to Gonzaga on Dec. 17.
See also:
No. 7 Alabama Basketball Obliterates Kentucky, 78-52
Charles Bediako Answers Challenge, Dominates Matchup with Kentucky's Oscar Tshiebwe
No. 7 Alabama Makes Emphatic Statement to SEC, College Basketball
