This was the classic good news / bad news.
The historic Alabama Open basketball match against the SEC included an 85-65 win over Kentucky at the Robb Arena. An eight-game sledge shattered Lexington, winning her first there in 15 years. Before Tuesday, Tide had not been 5-0 in a SEC match since 1987.
This was the most unbalanced home loss of John Calipari’s era that began in 2009.
That was good.
Having two beginners with injuries sheds a bit of shade on this result. Superstar Herbert Jones got down in his hand in the first half. Before the graduates moved in, Jordan Bronner couldn’t put any weight on his foot in the second half.
Most of the attention went to Jones after he broke his wrist last season.
“I don’t think it’s broken,” said Oat. “But I think they want our specialists to look tomorrow before they give us a diagnosis. From what I heard, it wasn’t broken but I think it will be out for some time.”
Oats also said that doctors will have Brunner’s knee evaluated after they return home.
Alabama (10-3, 5-0 SEC) tied almost a season high with 14 shots from behind the arc still following 15 wins over UNLV. It was Tide’s sixth straight win since falling to Western Kentucky on December 19. It is a race that includes wins over the top five in Tennessee, Florida, Auburn, and now Kentucky.
The final 20-point margin was the game’s highest level as John Petty scored a season 23 high on the night Alabama ended the match without three starting players. Point keeper Jahvon Quinerly missed his third match in a row due to an undisclosed medical problem.
Betty did his part efficiently. The top player from Huntsville went 4-on-7 from the 3-point range to their previous season high of 22 sets against UNLV on December 1.
Kentucky (4-7, 3-1) had no answer about the Alabama rangers hacked from Betty to Jaden Shackelford and Jones before he was injured. A handful of easy layups or dives resulted from Wildcats being unable to switch when the ball got into the paint.
Alabama also took advantage of playing dirty Wildcat in the offensive end as well. The 19 turns in Kentucky turned into 28 tide points on one of the nights the Wildcats finished 44-36 rebound points.
“It’s clear that Kentucky has gone down this year, but they’re still Kentucky,” Oates said.
The hosts also continued to struggle for a season of their 3-point range, making it only 4 to 18.
Alabama hosts Arkansas at 2:30 pm Saturday at Coleman Coliseum.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter Embed a Tweet Or on The social networking site Facebook.
