Kentucky-Alabama Preview: Six Questions for BamaCentral's Austin Hannon

Opportunity awaits the Kentucky Wildcats on the road this weekend. After notching its first win of SEC play on Tuesday over LSU, UK heads south for a big-time tilt against the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide in Tuscaloosa.

Year four of the Nate Oats era is off to a bang, as the Tide boast a 12-2 record, including four wins over top-25 opponents, two of which were the No. 1 team in the land at the time of the loss.

Freshman forward Brandon Miller is a bonafide superstar. He leads the conference averaging 19.1 points-per-game and adds 8.6 rebounds-per-game. He will provide an interesting matchup when he gets in the paint alongside Oscar Tshiebwe.

To preview the SEC clash, Wildcats Today spoke with BamaCentral's Austin Hannon to learn more about the Tide and what UK should expect upon entering Coleman Coliseum this Saturday:

Q: What's your overall assessment of Alabama so far this season?

HANNON: Yeah, I mean, I think a lot of people were surprised a little bit. They came into the season ranked, but I don't think anybody expected them to be No. 7. And you know, if they keep up the way they're going, they're gonna be even higher than that soon.

But last year was just inconsistent. I mean, Alabama's expectations last year were probably higher than they were this year. You had JD Davison, you had (Jaden) Shackelford last year, you still have (Jahvon) Quinerly, you had a lot of guys, and then that team kind of disappointed the fans and obviously lost to Notre Dame in the Round of 64. But yeah, a lot's been different this year, they've got a very deep team. Oats plays 10-11 guys every game, the length is way better.

It's just a great rebounding team. You know, the defense was 92nd last year in KenPom, It's now 12th. There's just been a lot that has improved just as a clean basketball team, and then of course Brandon Miller stands out as the guy that's gonna lead the charge."

Q: Can you even put into words what Miller means to this team? It feels like he's exceeding expectations

HANNON: Oh, absolutely exceeding — I mean, people were scared because, like I mentioned JD Davison last year was one of those — he was a McDonald's All-American too, and he never really — he had a good game every now and then, but he never really had a consistent year for Alabama.

Miller's been the complete opposite. I mean, he had his coming-out party against Michigan State in the PK Invitational up in Portland, and then ever since then, he's just kind of been playing well every single game. Three SEC Freshman of the Week Awards, he's on the Wooden watch list with Oscar (Tshiebwe) — the only two guys from the SEC, i'll add. So yeah, he's playing like the best players in the country, if he keeps it up and you know, the team success keeps it up. He could definitely win that award by season's end.

Q. Alabama has played a tough non-conference slate. What does it say about the Tide that they've been able to win a few big games already?

HANNON: When Oats came in, he said that the best route to get to the NCAA tournament was having a good schedule because you know, if things work out, you're at least gonna win a couple games against really good teams. It's better to go that way. And maybe you pick up some losses and learn about your team rather than you know, take the Mississippi State or LSU route and just play nobody in non-conference, and then you walk into SEC play with one loss and you feel good about yourself, but you haven't really seen anything about your team yet, whereas Alabama came out, their strength of schedule is No. 6 right now.

They had the win at Houston. They played North Carolina when they were No. 1, they played Michigan State, they played Connecticut who was No. 1. You get to figure out more about your team, what's working, what's not working early in the season before you have games like this against Kentucky, games like Arkansas next week. So you've already tested yourself.

The Houston wins stands out. I mean, everybody believes they're a Final Four-caliber team. Alabama went in there at Houston and were trailing by double digits in the second half, Brandon Miller had zero points in the second half, and then somehow, someway, they figure out a way to win that game on the road.

Q: 3-point shooting has been a contentious topic for UK this season. Alabama is 11th in 3-point defense, how crucial is taking away the deep ball on Saturday?

HANNON: It is crucial. I think Cason Wallace is a good 3-point shooter, I think Sahvir Wheeler — at times — is a good 3-point shooter. (Antonio) Reeves, (Chris) Livingston the same way, they've got a lot of good shooters.

Obviously Kentucky, first and foremost they're going to try and get the ball to Oscar, whatever way that is, if that is putting up shots and letting him get offensive rebounds and putting it back, or isolating him in the post, everything's going to go through Oscar, it's been that way for two years now.

So, when he gets the ball, you're gonna expect Alabama to double every now and then, and that's gonna leave shooters open. So it's really just gonna come down to can Kentucky make the three pointers when they have them? There's gonna be open shot for Kentucky because I believe that Oats and the staff are going to try to do whatever they can to stop Oscar first.

Q: Tshiebwe was the key to victory for UK in both of the Wildcats' wins over Bama last year. Do you expect Oats and the Tide to try and do anything different against him on Saturday? Is there even anything you can do?

HANNON: I was just about to say, I don't know if there's any way to really stop him. Oscar's a guy that — he's got to do whatever it takes to get the numbers he needs to make the team win. And he fights harder than anybody else does on the court. He goes for every single rebound it seems. When I watch Kentucky games, he's got like some kind of cheat code in his brain that just tells him where the ball is gonna be when it gets there.

Alabama is a good rebounding team this year, but Oscar is a different animal. He's a double-double guy every single game, but can Alabama limit the offensive rebounds? I think that's a big thing because Kentucky's offense has been a little inconsistent, but if you give them second chances, and third chances down the stretch, they're gonna make you pay for it.

Q: What is Alabama's one big key to victory? Score prediction?

HANNON: I think just play the way they have been. Obviously, Kentucky's the big-bad SEC team that has been the benchmark for the SEC for decades. I mean, really history. But you can't think of it that way. I think you got to just think of Kentucky as any other team.

You gotta go in there to protect your home court and just play the good basketball they've been playing for weeks now. I think if they do that, I haven't seen enough from Kentucky to think that they could go to Coleman Coliseum and get a win on Saturday.

I want to say it's gonna be a close game...I just need to see what Kentucky is gonna show up. I think the last two games, obviously Louisville is not a good basketball team, but they went in there and took care of business and then they held on to beat LSU on Tuesday night, behind a great performance from Jacob Toppin. So if he can come in and play like that, again — you're gonna get the same Oscar.

In Kentucky's biggest games this year they haven't played their best. They've shown flashes against some of the lesser competition, obviously LSU is not that but I don't think they played a perfect game on Tuesday either. So if they if they come in and mess around like what's happened a lot of the year, if they don't play to the Kentucky standard that we've seen for so long, I think Alabama could run away with this one.

But just because I think it's a big game. I think it's close, I'll go Alabama 84-77.

Follow Austin Hannon on Twitter here.

Are Kentucky's 3-point shooting numbers a hoax? More here.

More on the Wildcats' win over LSU here.

More on Kentucky's new slim rotation here.

Game notes from the victory here.

Want the latest on national football and basketball recruiting, including Cats targets? Head over to SI All-American for the latest news, blogs, and updates about the nation's best prospects.

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