DAVID SISK:

Let’s start out with the obvious. Kentucky won two physical, competitive rock fights this week against Vanderbilt and Alabama. They will have to have this type of grit to win in Knoxville in a few days. Offensively, they never looked comfortable. Bama’s length gave Oscar Tshiebwe and Sahvir Wheeler problems. But TyTy Washington thrives with the mid-range shots the Tide were allowing. What about the Damion Collins coming-out party? He plays over the rim and was able to catch lobs over the outstretched defense that Tshiebwe could not reach. The defensive effort was tremendous. The Tide missed some open looks, but they ended up only shooting 28.1% for the game, and they died by the 3 going a woeful 3-30. This was another big road win for Kentucky that reinforces its reputation as a serious contender come March Madness.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

Given that Alabama has knocked off four or five ranked teams already this season -- including Gonzaga and defending national champion Baylor -- to go on the road and win by a wide margin is another really impressive showing by the Cats. Kentucky did not play its best on the offensive end of the floor, but in some ways that John Calipari will probably appreciate more (including holding an opponent to 28.1% FG), the Cats demonstrated for the second time this week that they could win a physical, "rock-fight" type of game. A number of guys played well for UK tonight, but Daimion Collins will obviously be the big talking point after this one. We had almost closed the door on the possibility of Collins being part of the rotation heading into the tournament, but now it looks like he could be a very important piece of the puzzle after coming off the bench to score 10 points and grab six rebounds in nine minutes of action. It reminded me a bit of the late-season surge that Marcus Lee made when he was a freshman.

JUSTIN ROWLAND:

The appropriate thing to say after a game like that is it was a very nice win. Indeed it was. Alabama has lost a bunch of games this year but they're still dangerous, especially on that court. They've beaten Baylor and Gonzaga. They entered the game as the betting favorite. So viewed in that light you can only say it was a very good win. Kentucky did show a lot of toughness. It was about as much as Oscar Tshiebwe is going to struggle. Bediako's length bothered him and he never looked comfortable out there. It showed a lot of maturity and toughness to win in that building given Tshiebwe's struggles. At the same time, you have to concede that Alabama shot very poorly. A lot of that was Kentucky's defense. If you rely so heavily on the 3-ball Calipari's teams can usually take that away or neutralize it a bit. You just couldn't have guessed their make-and-miss numbers would be that bad. Another positive: TyTy Washington looked much more comfortable out there tonight. He looked less hesitant and careful on his shot attempts. Remember when folks wondered how well this team could play on the road?