The No. 4 Alabama Crimson Tide picked up a huge 102-97 road win over No. 8 Kentucky on Saturday afternoon.
For Kentucky, this marks its first loss against a ranked opponent this season after winning each of its first five games.
The second-best offense in the country (88.7 PPG) coming into Saturday, per TeamRankings, continued to excel by shooting 47.9% from the floor and 40.7% (11-for-27) from deep.
Junior guard Otega Oweh led the way with 21 points and broke free for this fast-break slam with 18:20 remaining to put Kentucky up 52-49.
A major area Kentucky continues to struggle in is defense.
The Crimson Tide shot 44.8% and hit 13 threes in the game. Senior forward Grant Nelson had a team-high 25 points (7-for-13 FG) while senior guard Mark Sears had 24. Freshman guard Labaron Philon put up 15 points and made three long-range shots, including this jumper with 2:55 left to give the Crimson Tide a 90-81 lead.
This is the seventh time this season that Kentucky has allowed 80 or more points and the second time in conference play that an opponent has reached the century mark against the Wildcats. Fouls did not help on Saturday, either, as the team committed 25 total while Oweh and senior center Amari Williams fouled out.
With five players averaging double-figure scoring, Kentucky has the balance and experience to make a deep run when March rolls around. Only three players are averaging five or more points off the bench, so staying out of foul trouble and getting more consistent stops defensively is going to be crucial toward its success the rest of the way.
The Wildcats slightly lost the rebounding advantage, 42-38, which led to many second-chance opportunities for the Crimson Tide. That must improve as well if the Wildcats are going to win more close games.
Saturday represented a huge turnaround for Alabama (15-3, 4-1 SEC) after shooting just 25% from three-point range in a loss to No. 21 Ole Miss on Tuesday. After facing three straight ranked opponents, the Crimson Tide head into back-to-back games against unranked teams, beginning with Vanderbilt on Tuesday.
Kentucky (14-4, 3-2 SEC) gets a week off before returning to the court at Vanderbilt next Saturday.