'Bama destroys Kentucky 85-65

     If this had been a prize fight, John Calipari would have thrown in the towel in the second half. The Crimson Tide didn't just whip the Wildcats. They embarrassed them on their own home floor.  Rupp had never seen a beatdown like Alabama put on Kentucky since Calipari. The Wildcats have a lot of talent, but Alabama, despite two injuries to starters*played great defense and great shooting to take home their fifth consecutive SEC win. We should be impressed. The rest of the SEC will be. 

        Alabama's five-out offense confused a young Kentucky squad. Alabama shot a blistering 46.8% from behind the arc. In NBA terms, a lot of those shots were from Downtown Freddie Brown territory. Those high arcing John Petty shots were stunning, and Kentucky had no answer. Petty finished with 24 points. Petty's defense set the town for shutting down the Wildcats in the first half,  and Alabama defenders picked it up in the second half. In the last 30 minutes of the game, the only way Kentucky could score was by offensive rebounds and free throws. The Wildcats always get the benefit of the officiating in Rupp.  Kentucky made 19-24 free throws. Bama made 9-13. Draw your own conclusion.

    Herb Jones and Jordan Bruner were injured. It appeared that Herbert dislocated a finger on his shooting hand. I suspect that Jordan has severely injured an ACL. Either injury will hurt the Tide in the future. My take is that Herb will be back "soon".  Bruner's injury is more problematic. Alabama's big man situation was obvious before his injury. Alex Reese played with an intensity not shown before. He played angrily. If Reese can pick up the slack,  Alabama might be okay in the middle. Juan Gary will help, and I wonder if Ambrose-Hilton might get more some increased minutes. Rojas is always working inside. He also drained a three-pointer.

    Quinerly might be back this weekend. I am not sure what the time frame is with the contact tracing. For today, the Tide finds itself atop the SEC and is the only undefeated team standing. Progress is being made.  The future looks bright. 

*No news at the time of this article regarding injures of Bruner and Herbert