Kentucky’s struggles continued on Saturday as the Wildcats fell 89–74 to Alabama, leaving head coach Mark Pope frustrated with a team that seemed to lose its edge on both ends of the floor.
Kentucky had been trending in a positive direction after returning key players from injury. The offense began to flow better with Lowe on the court, while having both starting big men finally together added much-needed physicality and rebounding presence. But all of that progress stalled against the Crimson Tide.
The Wildcats were unable to find consistency offensively, hitting just 4-of-19 from three-point range and recording only nine assists while committing 12 turnovers. Alabama capitalized on Kentucky’s lack of ball movement, with coach Nate Oats noting how the Crimson Tide exploited the Wildcats’ passing struggles. Kentucky carried a 16-point deficit into halftime and, despite cutting it to nine twice in the final five minutes, failed to execute when it mattered most.
Pope pointed directly to physicality as a major issue:
“We had some breakdowns communication-wise defensively, and we’re really inconsistent. I was really, really frustrated with our physicality and effort on the glass and down low.
That’s a place where we had to come out here and make a massive impact, and we didn’t. We actually got out-rebounded and out-physicaled to the post, even with their starting five sitting on the bench the whole second half. So that’s a massive issue for us.
Our guys are going to have to take that to heart.”
He added:
“For us to walk out of here shooting a really poor percentage and being out-rebounded by four and out-rebounded on the offensive glass by two with Alabama shooting 50-plus percent, that’s a problem. It’s not okay. Our identity, basketball-wise, has got to be something more than that. The physicality was missing. We knew that was something we had to have, and we didn’t get it.
Kentucky managed just 12 offensive rebounds to Alabama’s 27 defensive boards and allowed the Tide to hit 11 more threes than they did. The result underscored lingering questions about the Wildcats’ consistency and identity, leaving the program with plenty to address as SEC play continues.
