Alabama got to the foul line when it couldn't hit field goals and that enabled the Tide to beat UK and it's anemic offense. (SEC Photo)
How bad is the Kentucky offense? Try so bad that Alabama went almost 10 minutes to open the second half without a field goal Tuesday night and still beat Kentucky 70-59 by outscoring the Cats 18-5 the final four minutes. Alabama, one of the nation’s best 3-point shooting teams, had only one 3-pointer the second half and overall missed 13 of 19 shots from the field. But it still beat Kentucky.
The Crimson Tide punished UK at the foul line where it made 24 of 28 tries, including 22 of 26 in the second half. Jaden Shackelford (10-for-10) and Herbert Jones (9-for-10) combined to hit 19-of-20 free throws for Alabama.
Why did Alabama shoot so many free throws?
“(We) Must have fouled and they didn’t. They must not have been fouling. I don’t know, I’ll watch the tape,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said.
Kentucky just could not stop Shackelford from getting inside with the ball and Jones just outworked the Cats on the inside. He had 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists. Kentucky had no answer for him.
Kentucky center Olivier Sarr gave a more realistic assessment of why Alabama got so many free throws.
“I think we got messed up sometimes on our rotation. We got beat on the dribble, man-to-man. We weren’t tough enough to stay in front of the guy a lot of times at the end and that’s what cost us,” Sarr said.
He’s exactly right and those have been problems all season for UK that are not going away.
Alabama coach Nate Oats was gracious and praised UK for not folding after falling behind 13-5 — something many thought could have happened considering two weeks ago Alabama pounded UK 85-65. But at winning time, it was all Alabama.
“Our guys are older, veteran guys that know how to win and show that they know how to win in close games,” Oats said. “They were up two, and then we went on a 10-0 run. We almost shut them out there in the last four minutes except some free throws and a three. I thought our defense was great.”
Almost shut them out! Boom. That’s why UK loses close games. When it is time to score, UK cannot score. The Cats got 49 points in the first half against LSU but only 33 the second half. At Alabama it was 32 the first half and 27 the second half.
Kentucky is giving up 68.3 points per game but is 5-10 because it is averaging only 67.5 points per game and has not scored over 65 points in any of its losses. Get to 70 and you have to believe you have Kentucky beat.
“(Leading scorer John) Petty had a tough game because Kentucky did a great job on our shooters. We only got 20 3’s up which is not how we usually play, but we figured out a way to win with defense and rebounding,” Oats said.
But even on a bad night, Alabama got 70 points and that’s a number Kentucky just can’t seem to reach this year.
