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Published Jan 12, 2021
Take Two: UK-Bama Predictions
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Justin Rowland  •  CatsIllustrated
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Kentucky has a chance to continue its early season conference success on Tuesday night. But it won't be easy.

Alabama is undefeated in SEC play and it will take a great effort for the 'Cats to remain unscathed in SEC play as well.

Cats Illustrated's Jeff Drummond and Justin Rowland offer thoughts and predictions for tonight's game.

Jeff Drummond: This is the first big test for Kentucky to see if the “new team” talk is legit. Alabama might be the best team in the SEC this season, so it’s a huge opportunity for the Cats to pick up a resume-boosting win after whiffing on so many of those in non-conference play.

I’ll be interested to see if UK can continue to show improvement in its offensive execution and whether the Cats will be able to keep the turnovers low in what should be a high-tempo affair. Davion Mintz and Devin Askew, in particular, have to be really solid in this one.

I don’t really have a good feel for this matchup at all, so it wouldn’t surprise me if it went either way. I’ve been woeful in these picks so far this season, so I might as well continue along that path and do the Cats a solid by picking the Crimson Tide.

Alabama 76, Kentucky 72

Justin Rowland: This is a tough game to predict. I want to say that if Kentucky plays like it did against Florida then it will be okay tonight. However, Alabama has pretty much been playing at that level since the start of conference play. That leads me to wonder if a best case scenario for Kentucky only puts them within striking distance of where the Tide is probably going to be.

Three games into the SEC schedule I feel confident that Kentucky's improvement is real. But are they ready to play a second straight game at the level they played against Florida? The thing that is so impressive about this Alabama team is they have found ways to win low scoring games and high scoring games. They've been really good in the second half, making clutch plays against Auburn and pulling away from Florida and Tennessee late. The Vols are really good and that was a great win for the Tide.

All that said, Kentucky is currently sitting as a three point favorite. I will go with the 'Cats because although both teams are riding high with a lot of confidence and improving, Kentucky has a real sense of urgency to wipe out what it did early this season and that will lead to tremendous effort and a desire for a statement win.

Kentucky 72, Alabama 68

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