Kentucky has its chances but can't pull off upset at No. 4 Alabama

Ben Roberts, Lexington Herald-Leader on Feb 22, 2025

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TUSCALOOSA, ALA. — There were plenty of moments throughout Saturday’s game when it looked like the short-handed Kentucky Wildcats might pull off a major upset.

In the end, they came up short.

No. 4-ranked Alabama defeated the No. 17 Cats, 96-83, in Coleman Coliseum, dropping UK to .500 in the SEC basketball standings with just four regular-season games to go.

Kentucky was a 12.5-point underdog to Nate Oats’ Crimson Tide just before tipoff in Tuscaloosa, but it was Mark Pope’s Wildcats who got off to an early double-digit advantage. That lead had evaporated by halftime, however, and UK couldn’t get back on top of Bama in the second half.

The Cats were down seven points at halftime — and that deficit ballooned to 11 less than three minutes out of the break — but a 7-0 run narrowed Alabama’s advantage to 53-49, and remained fairly close from there for much of the game.

On three separate occasions, UK got within three points of the Tide — and the Cats had three 3-point attempts to tie it up during that stretch — but none of them fell. An 8-0 Bama run over a span of less than 90 seconds got the Tide’s lead back into double digits, and Kentucky never got within seven points during the final five minutes of the game.

Koby Brea scored 20 points to lead the Wildcats, with Andrew Carr adding 17 points. Amari Williams tallied 17 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. Travis Perry scored a career-high 12 points with four steals in his third consecutive start for Kentucky, though he was 1 for 7 on 3-pointers.

Otega Oweh, who had scored in double figures in all 26 games as a Wildcat before Saturday night. He picked up his fourth foul with 15:27 left in the game and the Cats trailing 53-49 and fouled out with 6:49 remaining and Kentucky down 75-66.

Oweh had just two points — on 1-for-9 shooting, all of them 2-point attempts — to go with six rebounds, two assists and two steals. The Cats were outscored by only two points with him on the court, however.

Kentucky made six of its first 10 attempts from 3-point range but missed seven in a row from there and ended up going 9 for 26 from long range. Alabama was 11 for 31 on 3-pointers.

Kentucky (18-9, 7-7 SEC) was once again playing without Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson and Kerr Kriisa, the team’s top three point guard options all ruled out with injuries on Friday night’s SEC injury report.

That opened the door for Perry to make his third straight start, and the freshman hit a 3-pointer to help the Cats get out to an early lead.

Despite another makeshift starting lineup, UK led 20-9 in the early going and 30-18 around the midway point of the first half, with Brea and Carr both hitting double figures by that stage in the game. Kentucky was up 30-21 when Carr picked up his second foul with 8:38 left in the first half and headed to the bench, and that’s around the time the Cats hit a rough patch.

Alabama (22-5, 11-3 SEC) ended up going on a 24-4 run, with Kentucky going 2 for 9 from the field over that stretch, and the Crimson Tide ended up taking a 47-40 lead into halftime. Carr had +14 rating at halftime — despite the seven-point deficit at the break for the Cats — and he was a +11 for the game.

Bama star Mark Sears — the preseason SEC player of the year — was listed as probable on Friday night’s injury report and did indeed play against the Wildcats, scoring 15 points in the first half and finishing with 30 points.

Sears hit a 3-pointer with 2:05 left to give Alabama a 91-79 lead and basically finish off the Cats’ comeback hopes.

Last weekend, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee named Alabama the No. 2 overall team for the 2025 bracket — to that point in the season — and the Cats had already beaten the next four teams on that list: No. 3 Duke, No. 4 Florida, No. 5 Tennessee (twice) and No. 6 Texas A&M. UK lost to Alabama, 102-97, in Rupp Arena

Kentucky will play the committee’s top team — No. 1-ranked Auburn — next weekend in Rupp Arena.

But first up for the Wildcats will be the program’s first-ever trip to Norman, Oklahoma for a matchup with the Sooners, newcomers to the SEC, on Wednesday (9 p.m. EST on ESPN).

Oklahoma, which was listed as the final team out of the 2025 NCAA Tournament field in the most recent ESPN Bracketology update, scored a major victory earlier Saturday — a 93-87 home win over No. 21 Mississippi State to improve to 17-10 overall and 4-10 in the SEC.

The two teams have met just three times in the past — twice on Kentucky’s home court and once in the Maui Invitational — and the Wildcats have won all of those games.