In a home loss to Ole Miss on Tuesday, Alabama basketball was out-hustled and out-toughed. The Crimson Tide flipped the script on Saturday in Lexington, consistently making winning plays and hitting timely shots to pull off a 102-97 road win over the Kentucky Wildcats to improve to 4-1 in SEC play.
This was a high-level game between two really good teams. Kentucky made a lot of difficult shots, but a veteran group for the Crimson Tide was unfazed and just kept attacking. After turning it over 21 times against Ole Miss, Alabama only turned it over 10 times against the Wildcats despite a ridiculous pace to this game.
This was a 50/50 game for most of the afternoon, but Alabama had a late spurt to provide some separation. Tied at 81 with a little over five minutes to play, the Crimson Tide went on a 9-0 run.
Labaron Philon got to the rim for a bucket, Mo Dioubate hit a free throw, and then Chris Youngblood and Philon connected on back-to-back threes to push Alabama's lead to 90-81 with under three minutes to play.
From there, Kentucky made some shots to give themselves a chance, but Alabama hit free throws down the stretch to walk away with a massive win that makes Tuesday's loss to Ole Miss more of a missed opportunity than one that will ultimately be costly.
This was the effort everyone wanted to see from the Crimson Tide following the disappointing effort during the week. They fought hard and scored their second victory over a Top 10 opponent on the road in the last seven days.
3 Takeaways from Alabama's win over Kentucky
3. Alabama stepped up and made free throws, finally
Alabama came into the game shooting 69.7% from the free throw line, a number that ranked 249th in the country. If the Crimson Tide would have shot its average from the charity stripe in Rupp Arena, they would have walked out with a loss.
Instead, Alabama finally stepped up and hit free throws. The Crimson Tide connected on 29/34 (85.3%) from the free throw line, including some timely makes down the stretch to put the game away.
Grant Nelson connected on 9/10 of his attempts, his best effort of the season.
2. Mo Dioubate's effort swung the game
Mo Dioubate is never going to be a glamorous player. He's not going to show up on the SportsCenter highlights and casual fans might take him for granted. He doesn't often put up eye-popping statistics, but it's impossible to quantify how much he means to this team. He embodies the blue-collar nature of the program.
Dioubate finished with 8 points, 8 rebounds, 3 assists, and a steal in 15 minutes before fouling out.
It was his effort that keyed the 9-0 run and specifically the back-to-back threes by Youngblood and Philon that gave Alabama the separation it needed.
He came up with a key defensive rebound, boxing out Amari Williams following a Kentucky miss and that led to Youngblood splashing a corner three on the other end to put Alabama up six.
He came up with another key defensive rebound on the next possession and then kept a play alive following a Koby Brea block on a Youngblood three. Youngblood tipped the ball to Sears who then found Philon at the top of the key for another three.
Other players will get more flowers in this one, but Dioubate will be the run away winner of the Hard Hat.
1. Alabama needed its stars, and Mark Sears and Grant Nelson delivered
When things aren't going your way, you need your star players to step up and make things happen. Neither Mark Sears nor Grant Nelson were able to do that in Tuesday night's loss to Ole Miss.
Both wanted to make sure they led by example at Rupp. Nelson was dominant in the first half, putting up 19 points and knocking down a couple of key three-pointers early in the game. He ultimately finished with a monster double-double of 25 points and 11 rebounds.
Sears was a little quieter in the first half, scoring 8 points on 8 shot attempts, but he delivered in the second half and finished one assist shy of a double-double. Sears scored 24 points and dished out 9 assists with only one turnover. He was only 4/12 from three, but he made some timely shots and hit some clutch free throws down the stretch to preserve the win.