The excuse of Kentucky basketball not being healthy doesn't work anymore

The Kentucky Wildcats headed to Tuscaloosa on Saturday fully-healthy for just the second time this season, outside of the 16 minutes we saw against St. John's, which was when they pulled away for the win. You could say they were healthy in the win against Indiana, as Jaland Lowe and Mo Dioubate returned. In their losses, Kentucky has used the excuse of not being healthy. But that excuse doesn't work anymore after getting blown out by Alabama with a fully-healthy team.

That excuse was warranted early in the season, as it was clear the time had no identity at all without Lowe on the floor, and no energy with Dioubate's influence down low. But, after embarrassing performances against Louisville and Michigan State, that excuse was pulled back a little by fans once the Nashville debacle happened, where Kentucky lost by 35 points against Gonzaga, a game where fans saw their own team show no fight when they got punched in the mouth early. This Kentucky team had an image of having a lack of effort unless Jaland Lowe was on the floor, who was deemed as the savior for them. Once the Indiana game came around, Kentucky had not had Lowe and Dioubate on the floor together since the Louisville game. Against Indiana, Kentucky held the Hoosiers to 4-24 from three, as they outscored them 30-11 to end the game once Lowe came back in the game early in the second half after going out in the first half. Kentucky won in a different way, and looked to have began to find their identity.

Then, there was the St. John's game, as Kentucky had plenty of optimism heading to Atlanta with not only looking like the team we thought they would be, proving to be the top 10 team they were ranked as heading into the season, but adding a key piece into the roster with star big man Jayden Quaintance entering the fold. Kentucky finally had all of its pieces. Jaland Lowe went out once again with his shoulder injury just seven seconds after checking in. He then returned in the second half, which was when, surprise, Kentucky pulled away for the win, Who could've guessed that? Well, all of that progress to finally get healthy was thrown out the window when they were exposed against Alabama. The small sample size we saw against St. John's that provided Kentucky fans with a lot of excitement turned out to actually be a small sample. Excusing the early-season losses with injuries was no longer as valid as it was. Kentucky really was exposed, and in a bad way. Even with Jaland Lowe on the floor, Kentucky's offense struggled to find looks. Even with Mo Dioubate and Jayden Quaintance on the floor, Kentucky got out-worked all game in the paint against Alabama.

It was embarrassing, and it was very telling to BBN that their team still has issues, and very telling to Mark Pope that his philosophy isn't working with the pieces on this roster. Kentucky has a lot of talent on this roster, no doubt. But they have no identity. They leaned on their defense in their last two games against quality competition, but they completely reverted on Saturday. They could have out-worked Alabama and have an edge on the glass, but they ended up giving up 27 defensive rebounds to a team that ranks nearly 300th in defensive rebounding. It was embarrassing, because Kentucky should've had an edge there, especially to given Bama's starting bigs played nine minutes combined due to injuries, with one not even stepping on the court. Then on offense, the execution was bad. Here's a perfect example. Kentucky couldn't create anything without getting to the free-throw line. What's an even worse look? Kentucky apparently not game-planning well enough to at least know that Alabama loves to shoot. The Tide shot 15-38 from three and Kentucky kept giving them easy looks by helping too much in the lane, leaving good looks for Alabama to pass it out for a three. Think the embarrassment stops there? Nope. After the game, head coach Nate Oats talked about how he was able to game-plan against Kentucky and expose their ball-movement, or lack thereof, especially out of the post.

Kentucky was fully healthy for the entire game, and looked more like the team we saw early in the season that did not have Lowe, Dioubate, or Quaintance. The Wildcats have an identity problem, and it's not just on the players, it's on Mark Pope and the staff, too. Nate Oats put Pope in a blender, out-coaching him in every way, and the Alabama players out-worked Kentucky in every way. Kentucky has started SEC play getting punched in the mouth. How will they respond?