TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — For the second time since the 1986-87 season, Alabama improves to 3-0 to start SEC play after its blowing out Kentucky 78-52 on Saturday.
Here are three takeaways from the No. 7 Crimson Tide’s victory against the Wildcats.
Sears makes his mark
With all eyes fixated on Brandon Miller, it was Mark Sears who stole the show.
While he was held without a basket in the first half, the junior displayed his defensive intensity instead, tallying a team-high four rebounds, four assists and four steals in 18 minutes. He pestered Kentucky’s Cason Wallace and Sahvir Wallace into costly errors as the Wildcats recorded seven turnovers in the first half alone.
In the second half, Sears found his shooting touch scoring 13 of his 16 points on 4-of-10 shooting. During Alabama’s 11-3 run to open up the second half, Sears scored eight points in the run which pushed the Crimson Tide’s lead to 20 points.
Alabama’s impressive first-half defense
It’s rare for Alabama to maintain a lead for an entire first half, but the No. 7 team in the country did just that against Kentucky.
While the offense got the Crimson Tide the lead, it was the defense that preserved it even with two scoring droughts that lasted more than three minutes apiece. The Wildcats shot just 29% from the floor while Alabama held Kentucky’s top scorers in reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe and Cason Wallace scoreless through the first 20 minutes.
As a result, the Wildcats relied on Sahvir Wheeler and Antonio Reeves who combined for 20 of the team’s 27 points in the first half.
Alabama pours it on in the second half
There’s a notion in basketball that scoring comes in waves, and while that may be true, Alabama showed that the proverbial wave can last as long as a team wants it to.
Alabama opened the second half with an 11-point lead coming out of the half and quickly extended it to 20 and then 30 points as the final 20 minutes drew to a close.
Brandon Miller and Sears had huge second-half performances, tallying 12 and 13 points respectively to secure the blowout. Saturday also serves as the team’s best shooting performance in a half this season as the team shot 50% from the field along with a 45% shooting clip from behind the arc.
