We all knew a shootout was coming when Kentucky hosted Alabama on Saturday. Odds were decent that the first team to triple-digits would leave Rupp Arena victorious. Unfortunately, Kentucky ended up on the wrong side.

The Tide won the three-point attempt (34-27) and free throw attempt battle (34-20). Nate Oats saw his team win the shot volume battle and that was enough to knock off the Cats.

KSR Today is taking a look back at the loss and a look ahead to another Sunday Funday for Kentucky women’s basketball and the NFL playoffs.

KSR recaps Kentucky’s first home loss of the season

KSR has you covered from every angle as we recap what all went wrong for Kentucky against the Alabama Crimson Tide.

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More postgame coverage on KSR’s YouTube Channel

Want to know what Mark Pope, Otega Oweh, Brandon Garrison, and Ansley Almonor said after the game? We’ve got you covered. KSR’s YouTube Channel has the postgame press conferences and a Rapid Reaction featuring our staff wrapping up the tough loss.

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Kentucky WBB hits the road to face Georgia

Kenny Brooks has led his first Kentucky team to a 15-1 (4-0) start and is riding eight consecutive victories. But the Wildcats will be playing a road game on Sunday for the first time since the loss to No. 16 North Carolina on Dec. 5.

Georgia (9-10, 1-4) has struggled this season. Before the season, the Lady Bulldogs were picked to finishing 14th in the SEC.

KSR will have live in-game and postgame coverage as UK looks to improve to 5-0 in league play. Tip-off is scheduled for 2:00 p.m. ET. The game will stream on ESPN+.

NFL Divisional Round wraps up

The football was not boring on Saturday. Kansas City beat Houston in a slugfest as the Texans fall to 0-7 all-time in the divisional round. Then Jayden Daniels and the Washington Commanders shocked the football world when they took out the best team in football.

That sets the table for Sunday with two championship game participants locked in. The No. 6 seed Commanders could play an NFC East game next weekend and will hit the road for the NFC Championship no matter what happens in Philadelphia today. The Chiefs will host the winner of Baltimore-Buffalo.

Buckle in for some more playoff football.

• No. 4 seed Los Angeles Rams at No. 2 seed Philadelphia Eagles (3pm ET | NBC)
• No. 3 seed Baltimore Ravens at No. 2 seed Buffalo Bills (6:30pm ET | CBS)

The Kentucky Wildcats have a slight bye week coming up as they have a week off until they make the trip to Nashville next Saturday.

Their opponent? The Vanderbilt Commodores.

However, this is not the Vandy team we have become accustomed to seeing over the last several years, as the Commodores sit at 15-3 on the season. Memorial Gymnasium will also be rocking after the Dores knocked off the sixth-ranked Tennessee Volunteers Saturday afternoon, 76-75.

Although they almost gave the game away, Chaz Lanier of the Vols missed a game-tying free throw that secured the upset for Vandy.

Memorial is always a unique place to play, and will be the first time this staff has coached a game in the one of a kind setup. Will the Cats respond after a tough loss to Alabama?

One thing is for sure: Vandy and their fans will be ready for the chance to knock off another top-25 team.

Kentucky basketball had another top 15 matchup in Rupp Arena, this time against #4 Alabama, and while the Wildcats hung around, the final minutes were the story of how Alabama ultimately came away with the win. Fueled by sloppy play by Kentucky late and a ton free throws from Alabama, the Crimson Tide where able to go on a 9-0 run in the final few minutes to help them get the 102-97 win.

Mark Pope talked with media after the game, where he said Kentucky left ‘so much’ on the table in their loss, and in a game of runs, the Wildcats came up short in multiple areas, and they all point to some slippage in play in the second half.

“We left so much on the table. There is so much room for us to grow. There is so many spaces where we can get better. In particular, playing this style of game. That’s going to be the nature of the season. You know, we played our first five games in the league are against all teams in the top 25 right now. It’s the nature of this league right now. …The first five minutes transition was an issue. The rest of the game, the offensive glass was an issue. We gave up 15 offensive rebounds and that’s really, really tough. We let them shoot 39% from the three point line. That’s really tough. We sent them to the free-throw line 40 times. When you do those things it makes him a really tough package to get a win, right? That’s like the trifecta right now and the answers are those three things. We have to continue our work on the glass. …It felt like we were a little bit late to balls. I don’t think we won the 50-50 ballgame. …Those three things lead to you giving up 102 points at home, right? Those are areas where if we are going to play well and if we are going to win in really really really high-level games. We have to be better in those areas. We can’t bail teams out with fouls. We gotta handle teams in transition and we gotta keep them off the glass. We clearly have to guard the three-point line a little better. Those are things we’ve done. There’s things we are making progress at. Today was a significant misstep for us for sure.”

– Pope on Kentucky’s struggles vs Alabama.

As Pope noted, Kentucky gave up 15 offensive rebounds, much of those in the second half. Alabama also shot a wild 29-34 from the line, which is 14 more attempts than Kentucky had. The Crimson Tide also shot 13-34 from three, showing their volume of shots. Those areas were essentially the makeup of Kentucky’s game. The Wildcats needed stops in the high-scoring game, but those areas costed them late in the game.

The Wildcats get a week off in-between games, so they’ll look to focus on themselves and improve in different areas, but most importantly, getting Lamont Butler and Andrew Carr, who have been playing banged up, healthy before hitting the road to Vanderbilt next Saturday.