Saturday's matchup in Lexington against Kentucky wasn't necessarily a must-win for Alabama basketball. They're standing in NCAA Tournament projections was only slightly impacted by Tuesday's loss to Ole Miss, but losing back-to-back SEC games early in conference play would be difficult to overcome for a team that has its eyes on a league title.
A loss would have put Alabama at 3-2 through five games, two games behind rival Auburn that has gotten off to a 5-0 start in SEC play and has won two in a row without superstar Johni Broome.
Coming off the disappointing effort against Ole Miss at Coleman Coliseum, Alabama bounced back in a big way with a 102-97 win over Kentucky on Saturday afternoon. It was a game that most probably looked at before the season and chalked up as a loss, but the Crimson Tide stole one in Lexington to get to 4-1 in SEC play, which puts them firmly in the SEC Championship picture.
Now, Tuesday's loss to Ole Miss looks more like a missed opportunity than anything else. 4-1 through five games in the SEC with road games in College Station and Lexington is really good.
Bouncing back after losses has been a theme this season for the Crimson Tide, so Saturday's performance on the road shouldn't have come as a big surprise.
Alabama's first loss of the season was on the road in Mackey Arena against Purdue. Five days later in Birmingham against a really good Illinois team, the Crimson Tide won 100-87 in a dizzying display of offensive basketball.
Alabama's second loss of the season came in Las Vegas against Oregon in the Players Era final, a game that was much more costly due to Latrell Wrightsell's season-ending injury than it was in any standings.
Five-days later, Alabama went on the road and beat North Carolina in Chapel Hill by 15 points.
Alabama followed up one of its worst performances of the season on Tuesday against Ole Miss with one of its best in one of the most difficult environments in college basketball.
Winning games on the road against good teams is incredibly difficult. Alabama has now banked three impressive road wins, beating North Carolina, Texas A&M, and now Kentucky. That's probably the best collection of road wins of anyone in the country.
You would expect a veteran group like Nate Oats has assembled to bounce back off of a poor performance. And the Crimson Tide did just that in Lexington.