Despite Kentucky Blowout, Rylan Griffen Continues Steady Improvement
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Even in the darkest of games, there's always a little bit of light.
On Saturday, No. 13 Alabama was obliterated in embarrassing fashion by No. 17 Kentucky, falling 117-95 at Rupp Arena.
During the performance, the Crimson Tide allowed an explosive 41-for-65 Wildcat night from the field, as John Calipari's team scorched their way to a 22-point victory, leading by as many as 37 points in the second half.
While there wasn't much to write home about, Alabama guard Rylan Griffen still managed to post a solid performance, tallying 21 points on 6-for-13 shooting, drilling 7-of-8 shots at the free throw line while dishing out four assists. Griffen, a 6-foot-6 sophomore from Richardson, Tex., was the only Crimson Tide guard not to give away one of Alabama's 16 total turnovers versus the Wildcats.
On the season, Griffen is currently averaging 11.2 points on 46.8% shooting from the field, taking a step forward from the 5.9 points he averaged as a freshman off the bench for Nate Oats and company in 2022-23.
Now a sophomore, the former four-star recruit is making a name for himself across the SEC as dynamic wing capable of scoring in bunches – one that's also capable of changing the game on both ends of the floor.
While Griffen didn't have his best defensive night facing Kentucky's prolific backcourt tandem of Justin Edwards and Antonio Reeves, he still managed the effect the game positively on the offensive end – something Alabama head coach Nate Oats commented on postgame.
"He's definitely getting better," Oats said. "Rylan is a pretty smart kid. He's usually been decent on defense. Rylan's been one of the brightest spots, particularly. At least his on ball defense. You know, he needed to be better for us on defense, be nice if he shot it a little better, but we can't rely on just shooting. We'll make 12-to-15 threes to win games. 6-for-17, we didn't get out to as many as we want. Large part of that is how Kentucky guarded us. They wanted to run us off the line, they did a really good job. You know, Rylan got up the most of anybody, but he was solid. Shoot, he didn't have a turnover. That's better than you can say about most of the roster."
After another 20+ point effort, Griffen has now scored double-digit points in eight of his last nine games, including 10 out of the last 13. This comes after Griffen had only scored in double-digit points once through the first nine games of the season for the Crimson Tide.
As Alabama eyes their third SEC regular season championship in four years, they'll be hoping for some outputs similar to this one from Griffen as he continues a fast-moving upward career trajectory.
Now standing at 19-8 overall and 11-3 in conference, No. 13 Alabama will now turn their attention toward a matchup with Chris Beard and Ole Miss coming Feb. 28 at 9:00 p.m. CT at the Sandy and John Black Pavilion in Oxford, Miss.
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