Full-Court Press: Takeaways from Alabama Basketball vs Kentucky

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — All eyes had been on Coleman Coliseum on Saturday morning for ESPN’s lone faculty basketball broadcast of the day.

On nationwide tv and with over 30 NBA scouts in attendance, the No. 7 Alabama Crimson Tide dismantled Kentucky by a remaining rating of 78-52.

Lots occurred, a lot of which had been positives for Alabama, so listed below are a few of my takeaways from the sport.

1. Charles Bediako outmatched Oscar Tshiebwe.

I wrote about this in my story from the sport right here, however it nonetheless cannot go with out mentioning. 

Tshiebwe was the Nationwide Participant of the 12 months final yr and is likely one of the finest gamers in all of school basketball, and Charles Bediako made him seem like he did not belong on the ground.

From burying him offensively in ball display screen coverages to walling up defensively and utilizing his energy and body to make Tshiebwe alter his shot, Bediako was nothing in need of spectacular on Saturday.

There are a lot of different nice bigs all through the SEC — Auburn’s Johni Broome and Florida’s Colin Castleton to call a couple of — so to see that Bediako has this skill to close down an opposing star large man, it raises Alabama’s already-high ceiling. 

2. Kentucky remains to be a really gifted workforce, but Alabama was on a totally totally different stage.

Do not be mistaken, this Kentucky workforce has excellent basketball gamers.

Everybody is aware of Tshiebwe is sweet. Kentucky’s level guard, Sahvir Wheeler has led the SEC in assists in two seasons. Cason Wallace and Chris Livingston had been each McDonald’s All-Individuals. Antonio Reeves averaged 20 factors per recreation final season.

Regardless of all of this, Alabama outclassed Kentucky in each sense of the phrase. From its protection, to its capturing, to its playmaking offensively. Alabama had extra factors within the paint, extra assists, extra steals, extra area targets, extra 3-point makes. 

Kentucky needs to be high-quality this yr, as Alabama head coach Nate Oats mentioned in his postgame press convention. This appeared extra like an announcement of how good Alabama could be, even in opposition to a really gifted workforce, when the Crimson Tide is clicking on all cylinders.

3. Alabama as soon as once more blew out one other workforce with out capturing notably nicely.

We are able to now formally bury the “stay by the three, die by the three” narrative surrounding Oats-coached groups, if we hadn’t already.

Usually, if you happen to see that Alabama beat a workforce by 25+, you’d assume it hit 13, 15, even 17 or extra 3-pointers. That wasn’t the case on Saturday, because it beat Kentucky by 26 with solely eight 3-point makes — lower than its season common.

At halftime, Alabama led by 11 whereas capturing solely 2-for-10 from past the arc.

The Crimson Tide shot 8-for-22 for the sport, however was simply 6-for-20 earlier than freshman Rylan Griffen nailed two deep threes in rubbish time.

The capturing wasn’t essentially dangerous all through the sport, however Kentucky was making a degree defensively to remove that aspect of Alabama’s recreation. That was high-quality for Oats, as a result of he simply utilized his artful guard play to work the ball inside for layups and dishes to large males for dunks.

Alabama can beat you in all kinds of the way, and if the 3-pointer occurs to be falling at a extra fast clip than regular that day, good luck.

4. Mark Sears was glorious defensively.

Sears has been heralded all season lengthy, however largely for his efforts on the offensive finish as Alabama’s second-leading scorer. As a defender, followers are usually going to consider Jaden Bradley, Noah Clowney and Charles Bediako first.

On Saturday, although, Sears was all over the place defensively. He racked up six steals, probably the most by an Alabama participant since Trevor Releford in 2014. His palms had been lively in passing lanes and on Kentucky’s bigs. Anytime a Wildcat large man would deliver the ball down beneath his shoulders, Sears’ fast palms had been able to strike and poke the ball away.

Moreover he confirmed nice effort as a fringe defender, guarding arduous in opposition to Wheeler and different Wildcat threats on the permieter.

Throughout his postgame press convention, Oats mentioned Clowney informed Sears that the workforce might be anticipating this type of defenivse exhibiting from Sears each recreation, now that they’ve seen that he can do it. Oats added that he agreed with Clowney, so watching Sears defensively could also be one more enchancment this Alabama workforce could make.

5. Effort by no means waivered all through your complete recreation.

As I discussed earlier, Alabama shot simply 2-for-10 from past the arc within the first half. Regardless of this, none of Alabama’s gamers let their defensive effort waiver despite the fact that their pictures weren’t falling.

We have seen Alabama groups prior to now, final season particularly, the place it was apparent that defensive effort decreased when gamers weren’t capturing the ball nicely or scoring at a excessive clip.

This season that could not be farther from the reality. Everybody provides most effort on protection, which is a part of the explanation why Alabama’s defensive effectivity now ranks within the top-10 based on the analytics service KenPom. 

And it isn’t simply the truth that they play arduous when pictures aren’t falling, they play arduous even with an enormous lead.

When Alabama led by 25 factors or extra on Saturday for a big portion of the second half, Alabama gamers nonetheless did not hesitate to dive on the ground for free balls or work arduous on protection for a block or a steal. Even with the sport already determined, there was no let up within the effort class from anybody.

That’s the purest signal of a tradition that creates successful basketball, and it is exhibiting, to say the least.

6. A number of extra issues…

• The reported sellout crowd inside Coleman Coliseum was unbelievable. Typically it has been tougher to get the place fully stuffed, however when it’s it may be the most effective environments within the SEC. 

• Jahvon Quinerly seems an increasing number of like his outdated self each recreation. His 12 factors on 4-of-7 capturing from the sphere had been an enormous increase for Alabama off the bench. He even acquired a technical foul for chirping with Wheeler whereas main by 20, which tells me he is getting his confidence again. 

• Alabama as soon as once more restricted turnovers, giving up simply 9 within the recreation. That is the second straight recreation Alabama has had single-digit turnovers, and coincidentally the second straight recreation Alabama has received by no less than 20 factors. 

• Alabama scored 21 quick break factors within the recreation, lastly with the ability to push the ball in transition constantly after the quantity of steals and stay ball turnovers that had been pressured.  

• Alabama has held 4 straight opponents beneath 70 factors since permitting 100 to Gonzaga on Dec. 17. 

See additionally:

No. 7 Alabama Basketball Obliterates Kentucky, 78-52

Charles Bediako Solutions Problem, Dominates Matchup with Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe

No. 7 Alabama Makes Emphatic Assertion to SEC, Faculty Basketball