By Keith Taylor
Kentucky Today
Kentucky and Alabama are the top two scoring teams in the nation and all signs point to an offensive showdown when they meet Saturday at Rupp Arena.
Alabama (19-7, 11-2 Southeastern Conference) has reached the century mark eight times this season and leads the nation in scoring offense with an average of 91 points per game. The Wildcats (18-8, 8-5) have scored 100 or more points four times and are third in the country in scoring offense at 87.6 ppg.
“I’m sure Coach (John Calipari) is trying to get his guys to guard a lot better, as am I, but we’re both gonna be preaching defense and maybe the first to 100 wins,” Alabama coach Nate Oats said Friday.
The 13th-ranked Crimson Tide survived a close call in a 98-93 overtime triumph over No. 24 Florida Wednesday night. Kentucky dropped a 75-74 in a buzzer-beater thriller in Baton Rouge.
While scoring points hasn’t been an issue for the Wildcats, the team’s defense has been hit and miss. Kentucky limited the Tigers to 27 points in the first half Wednesday, but surrendered 48 in the final 20 minutes.
Kentucky freshman guard Rob Dillingham, who scored 21 of his 23 points in the second half Wednesday night, said lack of intensity and fatigue played a role in the team’s downfall against the Tigers.
“It’s no different, we should have played better defense,” Dillingham said.
“For sure defense (will be the key) because we can both score,” Dillingham said. “It’s really based on who plays defense and who gets rebounds. We can’t let them outrebound us and we’ve got to play defense if we want to win.”
The loss to LSU, Dillingham said, was a learning experience for the Wildcats and said “really locking in on the little things” is the biggest takeaway the Wildcats took from the disappointing setback.
“It helps us prepare for those bigger games,” he said.
Oats has noticed the up-and-down roller-coaster ride the Wildcats have endured on the defensive end of the court and took notice of the team’s performances in recent wins over Ole Miss and Auburn.
“I looked, two of their four best defensive performances — and maybe two of their best considering who they played — came in the last three games, so up until that LSU game, the two games previous, they’d really been guarding,” he said. “The road win at Auburn was probably the best they’ve looked maybe all year.”
Coming off a loss, Oats is expecting and inspired Kentucky squad Saturday.
“I do think they’re playing their best basketball. I think they had a little hiccup at LSU but I think we’ll get the best version of Kentucky that anybody’s seen all year is what I expect,” Oats said. “We’re going to have to play well.”
Dillingham added the Wildcats will be ready.
“I feel like we take every game as a challenge, but coming into our gym, I feel like we should take it as a challenge,” he said.
Gametracker: Alabama at Kentucky, 4 p.m., Saturday. TV/Radio: CBS, UK Radio Network.