New blood just proved, once again, that it runs college basketball now. And this time, it was at the expense of a blue-blood giant- AGAIN. For the third time, to be precise. After a win over Oklahoma, Kentucky was feeling good heading into the SEC quarterfinals. But Alabama didn’t care. UK walked into Bridgestone Arena hoping to pull off a revenge upset, but instead, got run out of the gym. Bama steamrolled them 99-70. And Mark Pope was left with nothing to say but confess feeling the weight of the situation.
And look, the Crimson Tide wasn’t just a little bit better—they dominated. Labaron Philon dropped 21 points (matching his career-high), Jarin Stevenson added 16, and Mark Sears, Aden Holloway, and Mouhamed Dioubate all put up 13. They controlled the glass with a 41-34 rebounding edge, and defensively? They had 11 steals to Kentucky’s six.
And you know what else went wrong? Turnovers.
Pope’s squad had 16 of them, and Bama turned those into 29 points. Meanwhile, Nate Oats’ crew only coughed it up 10 times, and Kentucky barely capitalized, scoring just six points off those turnovers. That’s the ballgame right there.
Mark Pope on the turnover issues:
“We weren’t making our mistakes. We were making mistakes that were out of character for us.”
Says the pressure Bama put on them had a big effect.
— Wyatt Huff (@Wildcat_wave) March 15, 2025
Speaking on turnover issue, Mark Pope put it bluntly: “We weren’t making our mistakes. We were making mistakes that were out of character for us.” Translation…Alabama’s pressure rattled them just like their previous two meetings. Kentucky has played Alabama three times this season. And three times, Alabama has walked away smiling. That’s not bad luck. That’s just a bad matchup. So, that pressure must have forced the Wildcats to act in ways they normally wouldn’t.
However, talking about turnovers, Kentucky Wildcats men have demonstrated commendable ball control but have struggled to force turnovers from their opponents. In this game, they somehow fumbled both.
And it hurt the most as this is UK’s worst SEC Tournament loss in school history (29 points). The previous worst was a 17-point loss against Florida in the 2005 championship game. And for Alabama, those 99 points are also the most ever scored against the Wildcats in the history of the conference tournament.
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