{"id":180162,"date":"2023-01-07T23:02:07","date_gmt":"2023-01-07T23:02:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alabama-blows-out-kentucky-in-rocking-coleman-coliseum\/"},"modified":"2023-01-07T23:02:07","modified_gmt":"2023-01-07T23:02:07","slug":"alabama-blows-out-kentucky-in-rocking-coleman-coliseum","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/alabama-blows-out-kentucky-in-rocking-coleman-coliseum\/","title":{"rendered":"Alabama blows out Kentucky in rocking Coleman Coliseum"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Two years ago, only a few Coleman Coliseum thousand fans witnessed Alabama’s generational basketball team beat Kentucky by 11.<\/p>\n

It was one of many moments muted by the pandemic that was far from consciousness when an even better<\/i> Crimson Tide team hosted the SEC basketball blue blood Saturday. And the old airplane hangar was rocking Saturday in a two-hour deconstruction of a powerhouse.<\/p>\n

The 78-52 Alabama win over the preseason pick to win the SEC saw the Crimson Tide lead by a staggering 31 late in the second half. With Nick Saban sitting on the baseline, the Coleman Coliseum crowd was chanting \u201cNIT, NIT, NIT\u201d at a Kentucky team that lost its fifth game of the year. It was the most lopsided Alabama win over Kentucky in the 157 meetings and the worst loss for the Wildcats since a 118-84 loss to Duke in 2018.<\/p>\n

It was one of those days where even the randomly selected Alabama student nailed a half-court shot during a TV timeout for a barbeque gift card.<\/p>\n

Alabama (13-2, 3-0) saw the usual crowd fill the scoring column while center Charles Bediako did the dirty work on the interior. The 7-foot center got a standing ovation when he came out late after holding reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe to a season-low four points. The 6-foot-9 senior didn’t score until the 11:16 mark in the second half as Alabama’s interior defense locked him down.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was fading away on some of the stuff and that gave Bediako a chance to block shots instead of going through him,\u201d Kentucky coach John Calipari said. \u201cAnd this guy has bothered him in the past. He’s 7-foot. He’s long. They collapsed and I think he needed to kick out. But we got rattled.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brandon Miller scored 12 of his game-high 19 after halftime when Mark Sears had 13 of his 16. Jahvon Quinerly also hit double figures with 12.<\/p>\n

It was an 11-point game at halftime before Alabama went off and send the home crowd into a frenzy. The lead hit 20 with a Jaden Bradley layup 5:30 into the half before crossing the 30-point barrier 10 minutes later.<\/p>\n

Kentucky slipped to 10-5, 1-2 in the SEC with the loss. Antonio Reeves had 20 for the Wildcats.<\/p>\n

Alabama blew the doors off Coleman to open the day on an 11-2 run. John Calipari called a quick timeout after Noah Clowney’s dunk made it 6-0 but the onslaught wouldn’t subside for a few more minutes. With the Wildcat defense fronting center Bediako, Alabama was throwing over the top for ally-oops or layups in the opening moments.<\/p>\n

From there, the first half became a slog of shooting droughts. Miller missed his first four shots before a layup with 6:27 left in the half helped kick-start a slow-moving but effective end to the half.<\/p>\n

Kentucky cut it to 21-19 before the Tide outscored the Wildcats 14-5 to close the half. Miller’s 3-pointer and Jahvon Quinerly’s 3-point play in the final minute sent Alabama to the locker room up 35-24. The Tide had missed eight straight 3s before Miller found just enough room to shoot one with 52 seconds left in the half.<\/p>\n

More than anything, Oats was proud of the way Alabama kept building the lead after getting stagnant with a big lead Tuesday against Ole Miss. He wanted to see better defensive rebounding but the fact Kentucky missed 52 of its 73 shots created more opportunity.<\/p>\n

Alabama also avoided double-figure turnovers for a second straight game. Those nine giveaways translated to just two Kentucky baskets but it was the defense Oats lauded most. Holding Tshiebwe to four points when he was averaging nearly 17 was a credit to Bediako and the rest of the swarming defenders.<\/p>\n

\u201cHis length causes Tshiebwe some problems,\u201d Oats said. \u201cTshiebwe is tough and physical but he’s not nearly as tall as Charles and he was able to fight his catch enough and push it out when he did get it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Tshiebwe finished 1-for-7 from the field with two made foul shots. Cason Wallace, a top-10 recruit in last year’s class, went 1-for-13 while missing all six 3-point shots. <\/p>\n

More stunning was Kentucky’s 3-for-17 success rate shooting layups on an afternoon Alabama’s defense made the statement Oats has been craving.<\/p>\n

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter <\/i>@ByCasagrande<\/i><\/a> or ten <\/i>Facebook<\/i>.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/div>\n