Takeaways from Alabama Basketball's Embarrassing Loss to Kentucky
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Alabama basketball looked reminiscent of its mid-2010's form on Saturday afternoon, not the monster that Nate Oats has built the program into over the past five years.
The 13th-ranked Crimson Tide went on the road to Rupp Arena and got completely run out of the gym, falling to No. 17 Kentucky 117-95.
So, what do you even take away from a loss this stunning and embarrassing? Here are a few of my thoughts below:
1. The offense hurt itself too many times.
Through the first eight or so minutes of the game, we looked to be in for a treat. Both teams were getting up and down the floor at a fast pace and scoring at a high clip. It was competitive and fun.
After Alabama took a 29-28 lead, Kentucky proceeded to go on a 20-2 run, spearheaded by Crimson Tide turnovers. Alabama's offense, which came into the game ranked No. 1 in offensive efficiency as well as No. 1 in points per game, looked completely out of sorts.
Live ball turnovers led to easy Kentucky looks in transition, where the Wildcats thrive. Once the turnover bug hit, the Crimson Tide guards got wide-eyed and started to look nervous to make plays. That led to a frantic and erratic offense that couldn't find a way to calm down until the game was already out of hand.
Alabama totaled 16 turnovers in the game, which led to 29 Kentucky points, six of those turnovers came from Mark Sears. In Alabama's worst losses, which have all come in road games against top teams in the SEC, turnovers have been one of the worst areas of the Crimson Tide's play.
Alabama really felt the absence of Latrell Wrightsell, who missed his second consecutive game with a head injury suffered in practice on Monday. Wrightsell has the lowest turnover average of any guard on the Crimson Tide team, just 0.6 turnovers per game, and his calm and steady presence was needed when the turnovers started to pile up.
Now, there's no guarantee the game would have been close even with Wrightsell, but Alabama certainly would like to get him back soon.
2. The defense looked incapable of stops.
Kentucky scored 117 points. Just seeing that number on the page is enough to make your eyes widen. It flirted with the Alabama program record for most points allowed in a game, which is 122.
Just about everything Kentucky did offensively was flawless. The Wildcats shot 63 percent from the floor, and made 13 of its 24 3-point attempts. They scored 1.46 points per possession, the exact opposite of what Oats wants to see from his teams.
Alabama's defense couldn't stay in front of its man, it allowed wide open looks from deep time and time again, and showed a distinct lack of pride defensively once the game got out of reach.
"Any kind of decent defense was being played in the last 8 minutes when the game was already over," Oats said. "If the defense isn't fixable, we're not going to be able to win any big games."
He's right. Just like how turnovers have been a major issue in blowout road losses to Auburn, Tennessee and now Kentucky, the defense has allowed at least 90 points in all of those games as well.
Sometimes there are players that just can't miss, like Kentucky's Justin Edwards, who shot 10-for-10 from the floor in the game and scored 28 points. But even when guys are having career days, there's no excuse for allowing 117 points.
When the floodgates opened, there was seemingly no turning back with the way Kentucky played offense. It goes without saying, but for Alabama to win the SEC regular season title it has to get a better effort defensively.
3. Everything is still in front of Alabama, but margin of error is slim.
Yes, the loss was bad. Embarrassing, in fact. But it's still not the end of the world.
Alabama ended the day Saturday tied for first place in the SEC standings with an 11-3 record, matched with Tennessee. The goal is a third SEC regular season title in four years, and the Crimson Tide still has the chance to do that in front of it.
With four games to go on the schedule, one of which being Tennessee's trip to Coleman Coliseum in one week, Alabama controls its own destiny to a championship.
"The only positive is that we've played good enough offense over the course of the year to be tied for 1st after that horrendous effort," Oats said.
First, it's going to need to bounce back in a big way going on the road against Ole Miss on Wednesday, but if it does come out of Oxford with a win, it sets up an absolutely monster matchup with College GameDay coming to town and first place in the SEC standings on the line.
Alabama has been good in bounce-back games this year in SEC play, and it's going to need another one on Wednesday. But don't walk away from this bad loss thinking the season is over quite yet.
Nate Oats still has his eyes on some hardware, and the team has every chance to make it happen.
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