Alabama
17-10,7-7SEC
Kentucky
22-5,11-3SEC
No. 25 Alabama Falls To No. 4 Kentucky, 90-81, in Rupp Arena
2/19/2022 2:49:00 PM | Men's Basketball
Keon Ellis led the Crimson Tide with a career-high 28 points and seven threes
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The No. 25 Alabama men's basketball team fell on the road at No. 4 Kentucky Saturday, 90-81. The Crimson Tide held a double-digit lead late in the first half, but Wildcats' hot-shooting over the final 20 minutes was too much to overcome.
Senior guard Keon Ellis led the Crimson Tide (17-10, 7-7 SEC) offense with a career-high 28 points, knocking down 10-of-16 shots from the field and 7-of-11 from deep. He also added five rebounds and tied his career-high of four steals in the losing effort. Junior Jaden Shackelford added 18 points and five rebounds while graduate transfer Noah Gurly came off the bench to account for 12 points.
A 21-point, 14-rebound double-double performance from UK's Oscar Tshiebwe led the Wildcats (22-5, 11-3) while guard Kellan Grady added 25 points on 7-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"It was a disappointing effort. We had Shackelford and Keon go a combined 12-of-23 from three and it got wasted. We told them when we got off to the hot start that our defense wasn't going to be good enough to win the game unless we put forth a better effort. We gave up a 1.48 (points per possession) and that's not good enough. Our offense was good enough to win the game, but we couldn't get stops when we needed. We should've been up 20 with our hot start if we guarded like we were supposed to. They played the whole game without a point guard and we only turned them over seven times. We just didn't play hard enough to win a tough road game."
Team Stats
- Alabama leads the nation, now having played its sixth AP Top-5 opponent this season and fourth in a seven-game stretch
- Keon Ellis recorded 20 or more points in a game for the third time in his career
- Ellis (7-of-11) and Shackelford (5-of-12) went a combined 12-of-23 (52 percent) while the rest of the team finished at 2-of-17 (12 percent)
- Alabama falls to 2-5 in true road contests this season while Kentucky improved to 16-0 in home games
First Half
- Alabama came out hot, making 7-of-10 from the floor, including 3-of-4 threes, in the opening 4:30 minutes of the game to take a 17-9 lead at the first media
- The two teams traded points as Alabama controlled most of the half with its largest lead coming at 5:35 for a 13-point edge over the Wildcats (41-28)
- A late 13-0 run by Kentucky over the final 3:29 of the half flipped an eight-point Alabama lead into a 47-46 Wildcat advantage
- Ellis made 6-of-7 from the floor including 5-of-6 shots from beyond the arc to lead the Crimson Tide with 17 points in the half
- As a team the Tide made 17-of-37 field goals, including 9-of-22 from deep, while Kentucky went 16-of-32 from the floor and 3-of-5 from beyond the arc
Second Half
- After a Shackelford three-pointer gave Alabama a 56-54 lead with just over 16 minutes left, Kentucky went on a 20-2 run that lasted more than five minutes and resulted in a 74-58 Wildcats' lead with 10:50 on the clock
- Alabama cut the lead, outscoring UK 15-6 over the next six minutes of play to move within seven points at 80-73, but would not get any closer
- The Tide allowed the Wildcats to shoot 57 percent (17-of-30) from the field and 67 percent (6-of-9) from the beyond the arc over the final 20 minutes
Up Next
- Alabama heads to Vanderbilt Tuesday for a midweek contest on SEC Network. The two teams will tip off at 8 p.m. CT inside Memorial Gymnasium.
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– UA –
