Alabama
14-9,4-6SEC
Kentucky
19-4,8-2SEC
Alabama Falls to No. 5 Kentucky, 66-55, Saturday Night in Coleman Coliseum
2/5/2022 10:46:00 PM | Men's Basketball
The Crimson Tide drops to 5-3 this season when playing AP-Top 15 teams
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The Alabama men's basketball team fell to No. 5/7 Kentucky, 66-55, in Coleman Coliseum Saturday night.
Not only was it a season low in points scored for the Crimson Tide, which came into the game ranked 12th nationally in scoring average (81.4 ppg), but UA also set low marks for field goals made (18), field goal percentage (28.1 percent) and three-pointers made (3).
Freshman Charles Bediako led the Tide (14-9, 4-6 SEC) in scoring and rebounding on the night, matching his career-high in both points with 12 and rebounds with eight. Guard Jahvon Quinerly added seven points, five rebounds and four assists.
Kentucky (19-4, 8-2) was led by freshman TyTy Washington's 15 points while forward Oscar Tshiebwe added 10 points and 15 rebounds.
Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"It was a frustrating shooting night for us. It's hard to win games going 3-of-30 from three. I thought we had some good looks. Our missed shots affected us on the defensive end of the floor as the game wore on. I thought we played hard on defense for the most part. We can't let missing shots affect how hard you play on the other end. We started to think about it too much. We just needed to lose ourselves in the game. If you miss some shots, you miss some shots and that's just the game of basketball. But when you start overthinking all of your missed shots, it affects your effort on defense and you start to feel a little bit of a tail spin. I think then you begin to overthink your offensive stuff, and it turned into one of those nights. We have got to be a little more mentally tough. We have to be able to handle the bad shooting nights and still play hard. I mean we have won big games where we didn't shoot it well, and some of our bad loses was where we did shoot it well. So, I thought our defense was better overall than it had been in some of our loses which was a good thing. Otherwise, we would have gotten blown out, but our offense really failed us tonight."
Team Stats
- The matchup marked the Crimson Tide's third-straight game against an Associated Press Top-5 opponent, which is the first time it's occurred since the 2008-09 season when Rutgers played consecutive games against No. 1 North Carolina (12/28/08), No. 3 Pitt (12/31/08) and No. 2 UConn (1/3/09)
- Alabama outrebounded Kentucky, 47-44, to become only the third team this season to win the battle of the boards over the nation's top rebounding team
- Bediako, the only Alabama player to post double-digits, finished a perfect 4-of-4 from the field and 4-of-4 from the charity stripe while also leading the team in offensive rebounding (4)
- The Crimson Tide went 8:31 during the second half without making a field goal (0-of-12 over the stretch) while the Wildcats went on a 15-4 run between Alabama field goals made
First Half
- Alabama came out of the gate hot, scoring nine of the first 10 points for a 9-1 lead in the opening 2:23 to force an early Kentucky timeout
- The Wildcats responded with a 14-5 run over the next 8:39 to take a one-point lead, 25-24, with 8:55 remaining
- The teams continued to trade baskets until the Wildcats finished the opening stanza on a 14-6 run over the final 5:13 to carry a 33-27 lead into the break
- Bediako led all scorers in the half, shooting 4-of-4 from the field and knocking down a pair of free throws to total 10 points
- The Tide outrebounded the Wildcats 23-17 in the opening half, pulling down eight offensive boards to Kentucky's three
Second Half
- After a back-and-forth start to the half, Kentucky went on a 11-2 run to establish a 13-point lead, 50-37, with 10:22 left to play
- The Tide would cut the lead to single digits at 50-41 at the 9:14 mark, however, the Wildcats went on an 11-3 spurt to give UK its largest lead of the contest at 17, 61-44, with 2:53 remaining
Up Next
- Alabama will travel to Oxford, Miss., to take on the Ole Miss Rebels Wednesday night at 7:30 p.m. CT. The game will be broadcast live on SEC Network and will be the lone meeting between the two teams this season.
