Quick takes from Cats Illustrated staff members following Kentucky's 96-83 loss to Alabama in Tuscaloosa.

David Sisk

1. Kentucky got off to a great start, but Alabama’s on-ball defense was much improved after that. Once they couldn’t get into the lane and kick for a three the Cats found it much more difficult. With the roster injury issues, Kentucky just isn’t equipped to beat a team who scores 96 points.

2. Here is one big star that stuck out to me. Alabama had 24 points off 13 Kentucky turnovers. The Wildcats scores 11 points off 15 Tide turnovers. Kentucky just can’t push the ball in transition right now, and they aren’t getting back very well either.

3. On the bright side, Andrew Carr thoroughly outplayed Grant Nelson in the battle of power forwards. He had 17 points and 6 boards. Kentucky missed him the first time around. Travis Perry also settled the team to a degree. They just couldn’t get into anything when he was out. He had 12 points and no turnovers.

Travis Graf

1. Kentucky just needs to get healthy, which is a broken record. Having no quality ball handlers against good teams with athleticism isn’t going to work 90% of the time. The Cats are just in a holding pattern until they get all of their guys back.

2. Kentucky was cooking early on and I wasn’t a fan of Pope’s substitutions whatsoever. They did wholesale substitutions and took away all momentum. Then to make matters worse, he waited way too long to stop the bleeding on the run.

3. Wednesday is a must-win for Kentucky against a team with a coach on the hot seat, with or without a full roster. Kentucky has to finish these last two weeks of the season at 2-2 or better to secure the seeding that they want in the tournament.

Justin Rowland

1. Kentucky needed more from Otega Oweh tonight. Maybe it was just a bad night. But we've been accustomed to the Cats getting more from the OU transfer than he provided tonight. With UK missing who they were, they needed a stronger performance to have a great chance at finishing the upset bid.

2. Andrew Carr is getting interesting. Going into the season I thought there was a chance he could be Kentucky's best player. He isn't that, but he looked much more like the player we saw at times earlier in the season and that gave the Cats a puncher's chance.

3. Kentucky basketball fans aren't for moral victories and this wasn't close to one, but it was simply the most likely scenario playing out. Sometimes UK has surprised with its back against the wall up against a tough challenge but based on the available personnel, Alabama by 10+ seemed to be a good call. So I wouldn't read too much into it beyond what we already knew about these teams given where they are right now.