[LEX18] — Kentucky falls on the road to the 7th-ranked Crimson Tide 78-52 and is now 1-2 in the SEC. It was one of the worst losses under John Calipari in his time at UK.
Things got off to a rough start for Kentucky, Alabama opened the game on an 8-0 run getting to the basket at ease. Kentucky struggled to keep the league's best three-point shooting team out of the paint and trailed 11-2 at the first media time-out. Cason Wallace also picked up two quick fouls in less than five minutes to start the game.
Calipari went to Daimion Collins off the bench while Oscar Tshiebwe sat for an extended time in the first half after struggling early with Alabama's seven-footer Charles Bediako. At the under 4:00 media timeout, Kentucky's three leading scorers, Oscar Tshiebwe, Jacob Toppin, and Cason Wallace had combined for 0 points but Kentucky trailed by just 2 points 21-19.
Kentucky let go of the rope at the end of the first half and Alabama pushed to an 11-point lead 35-24 into the locker room.
Alabama continued that stretch in the second half and blew Kentucky out leading by 31 points late in the second half. Oscar Tshiebwe had possibly his worst performance as a Wildcat scoring just 4 points and astonishingly only managed 6 rebounds. Jacob Toppin's hot streak also ended he finished with 3 points and 6 rebounds and left the game early with an apparent should injury.
Next up for Kentucky, South Carolina comes to Rupp Arena on Tuesday night. The game is at 7:00 PM ET and will be on ESPN2.
