By Chris Woodfin
UA Media Relations
TUSCALOOSA??The 25th ranked Alabama basketball team ended its two-game losing streak with a wire-to-wire victory over the No.20 (AP) Kentucky Wildcats 72-61 in Coleman Coliseum Saturday afternoon. The Crimson Tide improves to 19-7 on the season, 6-6 in Southeastern Conference play.
Alabama took advantage of early shooting struggles by Kentucky, outscoring the ??Cats 15-2 over the opening 10 minutes of the game. The Tide stretched their lead to as a high as 14 points in the first half before taking a 30-22 lead to the locker room.
Kentucky rallied to cut the lead down to two points with 7:28 remaining in the game, but Alabama was able to pull away late and seal the victory.
Richard Hendrix led the way for Alabama with 16 points, 11 of which came in the second half, and nine rebounds. Ronald Steele scored 15 and Mykal Riley added 12 for the Tide.
As a team, Alabama shot 44.9 percent for the game, including 52.6 percent from the field in the second half.
The Tide defense played a big role in the victory, picking up 10 steals and forcing 17 UK turnovers. Alabama held Kentucky to 40.4 percent shooting for the game.
Alabama head coach Mark Gottfried was pleased with the win.
“I was proud of our guys today,” Gottfried said. “Our defense early in the game was good. In the second half, I thought we did a very good job. Our perimeter guys, Justin (Tubbs) and Brandon Hollinger really helped us defensively more than anything, It was good to see Ron Steele have a little bounce in his step today and I think he feels a little quicker and a little bit better. Richard Hendrix made some big plays. It was just a good team win for us.”
Joe Crawford led three Wildcats in double figures, scoring 17 points and grabbing a team high eight rebounds. Randolph Morris and Ramel Bradley scored 15 and 12, respectively, for UK which fell to 18-8, 7-5 in the SEC.
Alabama travels to Knoxville, Tenn. on Wednesday to face the Tennessee Vols. Tip-off for the game is set for 7 p.m. and will be televised by Lincoln Financial Sports.
