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  • No. 4 Alabama Rallies To Beat No. 17 Kentucky And Earn A Season Sweep Of The Wildcats

No. 4 Alabama Rallies To Beat No. 17 Kentucky And Earn A Season Sweep Of The Wildcats

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Basketball

The No. 4/4 Alabama men's basketball team erased a 12-point first-half deficit to push past No. 17/21 Kentucky, 96-83, inside Coleman Coliseum on Saturday night. With the win, Alabama completed the series sweep over the Wildcats, doing so for just the fourth time in program history.

Despite trailing by more than 10 points in the first half for the third game in a row, Alabama (22-5, 11-3 SEC) completed its largest come-from-behind win of the season, thanks to a game-high 30 points from Mark Sears. Sears was joined in double figures by Aden Holloway (19) and Chris Youngblood (14) as the trio combined for 63 of the team's 96 points to lead the offensive effort.

Kentucky (18-9, 7-7) was led by Koby Brea's 20 points on 7-of-16 shooting and 4-of-10 effort from deep.

Head Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments

"I thought our guys did a good job once we kind of dug ourselves a hole. You've got to give Kentucky a ton of credit to come out like they did, knowing that they were down bodies. I think Coach Pope has done a really good job at galvanizing that crew and had them ready to go; I give them a bunch of credit but I thought that our guys didn't really panic when we were down by 12, we just stuck with it and started getting stops.

"Our defensive efficiency numbers after the first four minutes were really good. We held them to a 0.8 (points per possession) and they only scored 24 points on their next 30 possessions. So, the defense, from that point on, was where we need it to be. We are still having turnover issues, we had 15 turnovers and only 14 assists. Part of putting Labaron Philon in the starting lineup was to allow Mark Sears to get off the ball a little bit more like he did last year - it's worked for Mark (Sears) with back-to-back 30-point games for the first time in his career and it's been pretty efficient, too, but we just need Labaron to stop turning it over as much as he is. Sears is playing the best basketball I've seen him play since he's been here, on both sides of the ball."

Team Stats

  • The win was Alabama's eighth against an AP Top-25 opponent this season, setting the program record for most AP wins in a single season
  • The victory was also head coach Nate Oats' 26th win against a ranked opponent since arriving in Tuscaloosa, surpassing Wimp Sanderson for the most ranked wins in program history
  • Saturday's victory completed Alabama's fourth-ever regular season sweep of Kentucky and the second in Oats' Alabama tenure
  • Mark Sears scored 30 points in the victory, scoring at least 30 points in consecutive games for the first time in his career (35 at Missouri)
  • His 30-point effort against the Wildcats was the seventh of his career
  • For the game, Alabama shot 32-of-61 (52.5 percent) from the field, 11-of-31 (35.5 percent) from deep and 21-of-25 (84.0 percent) at the charity stripe
  • Conversely, the Wildcats shot 29-of-68 (42.6 percent) from the floor, 9-of-26 from long range and 16-of-22 (72.7 percent) at the free throw line

First Half 

  • After Clifford Omoruyi opened the scoring with a dunk on Alabama's first possession, Kentucky went on a 20-7 run over the next five minutes to take an early 20-9 lead
  • The Crimson Tide immediately responded with a 7-0 run of their own to trim the deficit to 20-16
  • Again, Kentucky extended the lead back to double figures, using a 10-2 run over two minutes to take its largest lead of the stanza, 30-18, with 9:37 to play
  • Alabama owned the next seven minutes, by going on a 24-4 run to take a 42-34 lead with 3:18 remaining in the half
  • The teams traded baskets over the last few minutes of the half with the Tide taking a 47-40 lead into the locker room
  • Mark Sears led all scorers with 15 points on 5-of-10 shooting in the half
  • The Tide outrebounded the Wildcats, 23-17 in the first 20 minutes and scored 10 points off of six UK turnovers
  • UA's bench accounted for 22 of the team's 45 points in the opening stanza, led by Aden Holloway's 12 points on 4-of-8 shooting from deep

Second Half 

  • The second half was much different than the first, with neither team putting together a significant scoring run in the early going
  • Alabama stretched its lead to 11 points with 17:13 to play in the ball game, but the Wildcats slowly chipped away at the Tide's advantage
  • Kentucky pulled to within one possession on three occasions in the half, but never tied the game
  • After the Wildcats trimmed the Alabama lead to 70-66 with 8:18 to play, the Crimson Tide went on a outscore UK 26-15 to close the game
  • Chris Youngblood accounted for 12 of the Tide's points over that stretch
  • Alabama finished the game by shooting 11-of-15 from the floor (3-of-4 from behind-the-arc)

Up Next
Alabama will close out its two-game homestand against No. 21/23 Mississippi State on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at Coleman Coliseum. Tipoff is set for 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on either ESPN2/ESPNU.