TUSCALOOSA — Kentucky isn’t good at multi-tasking, but the Wildcats zeroed in on defense and used some clutch plays down the stretch to hold off Alabama, 67-58.
Although Kentucky’s defense was the obvious difference, the Wildcats weren’t sharp offensively, but withstood Alabama’s late surge down the stretch. Isaiah Briscoe made a clutch bucket underneath with the Wildcats clinging to a six-point lead at the 2:39 mark, while a 3-pointer by Derek Willis and a steal and breakaway slam by De’Aaron Fox provided the dagger in the closing minutes.
“You really zero in on one thing and what happens?” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Two other things fall apart.”
Kentucky (20-5, 10-2 Southeastern Conference) limited the Crimson Tide to 20 points and 32-percent shooting in the first half, but did just enough in the second half to hold off Alabama, which was coming off a quadruple overtime win over South Carolina earlier this week.
Alabama shot 57 percent in the second half, marking the third straight game an opponent has shot more than 50 percent in the second half against the Wildcats.
“In the first half our defense was great,” Briscoe said. “The second half, we weren’t same. We’ve just got to continue to work on our defense.”
BOXSCORE: Kentucky 67, Alabama 58
As with most young teams, Kentucky isn’t good enough to be a great offensive and defensive team. The Wildcats shot just 43.5 percent against the Crimson Tide and missed eight free throws on 18 attempts.
Instead of pushing on the gas once they got Alabama down by 18 in the second half, the Wildcats failed to slammed the door on the Crimson Tide, an issue that has plagued Kentucky, especially on the road this season.
“We did a lot of things offensively where we could have spread the game out, missing free throws and missing shots and taking tough plays,” Calipari said. “The game was a little ugly because we tried to defend for the first time in three weeks.”
In addition to making strides on defense, Kentucky also showed it still had hustle and determination. The Wildcats also collected six blocks and collected seven steals. Dominique Hawkins, Fox and Malik Monk collected three steals each that resulted in 16 fast-break baskets for the Wildcats.
Photo gallery: Kentucky 67, Alabama 58
“We we worried about playing hard, showing energy and having the world look at us and say, ‘these guys care,’” Calipari said. “These guys could be good defensively. They’ve got to be engaged and about defense first and it was. We stunk offensively.”
Calipari admitted the Wildcats haven’t perfected the half-court attack and aren’t a “total grind it out team.” Calipari hopes the Wildcats can become a grinding team by tournament time.
“That’s what we looked like today,” Calipari said. “I’d rather be that than a one-pass, no-pass, shot team. I would rather be what we are. We are something in the middle of what you saw today. That means we have a lot work to do. If you don’t grind it out some games, your season is going to end earlier than you want. You’ve got to be able to grind and execute in the half-court after six, seven and eight passes. Maybe 10 to 15 times in a really good game. Today we were 50-50 on defense and offense.”
Although not pretty, Kentucky proved it hasn’t stopped learning and improving and has the ability to win at the grind game even when things aren’t clicking on both ends of the court.
“That was a happy locker room,” Calipari said. “It’s locker room that cares and cares about each other.”
In moving forward, Calipari plans to keep coaching the Wildcats until they become empowered enough to handle things in their own.
“I’ve got to do the technical stuff and I’ve got to keep coaching them,” Calipari said. “I got away from what I needed to do for three weeks. We slipped and let’s see if I can get these guys on the right path.”
Gametracker: Tennessee at Kentucky, Tuesday, 7 p.m. TV/Radio: ESPN, 98.1 FM WBUL
Keith Taylor is a senior sports writer for KyForward, where he primarily covers University of Kentucky sports. Reach him at keith.taylor@kyforward.com or @keithtaylor21 on Twitter