Kentucky's up-and-down season continues on Saturday afternoon when No. 13 Alabama arrives at Rupp Arena for a game with seeding and SEC standing implications.
Cats Illustrated writers chime in with takes and predictions on the game.
Jeff Drummond: The amusement park ride otherwise known as Kentucky Basketball is coming off another disappointing game that has the fan base predicting doom and gloom once again. Just like I predicted before the Auburn game, this is typically when Calipari and the Cats perform better. I didn’t have the nerve to pick them on the road at Auburn, but I should have, and I’m gonna say they find a way to get the job done at Rupp Arena, where we have blown way past the quota for losses in a season. Alabama may have the best offense in the country, but like UK, the Crimson Tide don’t defend a whole lot. Therefore, the over/under for this one is sky high at 178-ish in most places. Crazy. This looks like a total shootout. Give me Kentucky 95-92 with Rob Dillingham continuing his hot hand.
David Sisk: This is an incredibly intriguing game, and it is as big as it is fascinating. You couldn’t have separated these teams a few weeks ago in either analytics or playing style. They both had high flying offenses who weren’t great defensively. But now, Alabama has averaged 102 points over the past three games while Kentucky has dropped to 73. The Tide is also attempting 39 threes per game over that stretch while UK is only firing up 17. Nate Oats has doubled down on his style while John Calipari is searching, but could that work against the Bama coach? Can they pull Ugonna Onyenso away from the rim? Alabama doesn’t have a great stretch big, and they love to get to the rim. Defending the three and rim protection is key for the Cats. Offensively can Kentucky get back into an offensive flow where all of the guards are clicking? UK can win this game as easily as they could lose it. However, I’m going with the prediction model. Alabama 92 Kentucky 90
Justin Rowland: Alabama is not invincible but that should go without saying. You only have to look back over the last month to find a 20-point road loss to Tennessee and an 18-point road loss to Auburn. But that doesn't tell us a whole heck of a lot, as Bama also handled LSU by 17 and Georgia by 9 on the road during that same time. This is clearly a very dangerous offensive team and Kentucky has not held serve in its home games with reliability. Right now I think Alabama is a better basketball team. It could go either way but I'll say Alabama 95, Kentucky 89.
