The expression of frustration was plastered on John Petty’s face after another unsuccessful possession in the second half.
Alabama’s winning streak was in trouble in what was turning into a rock fight at the Coleman Coliseum on Tuesday night. The SEC’s hottest team suddenly lost its offensive and, with Kentucky in town, this is usually a death sentence.
However, with just over 2,000 spread across the cavernous arena, Alabama found enough energy to get through a cold night of shooting. A 70-59 win came through a 10-0 streak, when the Wildcats were left without a basket in the final stretch for more than four minutes and maintained Tide’s dream season.
With him, the winning streak in Alabama reached 10 for the first time since 1996 and the first game in the top 10 in 14 years did not end in disaster.
Kentucky (5-10, 4-4 SEC) took a 54-52 lead with 4:27 remaining for Davion Mintz of 3 points in the corner, but would not score again until the final minute. Alabama, meanwhile, faced offensive enough after hitting 3 of 14 on the pitch to start the second half. It was an impressive offensive offense for an Alabama team that scored 105 the week before in a 30-point win at LSU.
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Alabama’s 70 points were the lowest since the 65-56 loss to Clemson on December 12.
Alabama moved to 14-3, 9-0 in the SEC, having won every game since losing to Western Kentucky on December 19. This is the first time Alabama has beaten Kentucky since the 1988-89 season.
Jaden Shackelford’s 21 led an attack by Tide that was just 1-to-4 from the perimeter after the break. Herbert Jones scored 13 points, mostly for hitting 9 out of 10 false kicks. Tide complemented his lack of field kick with a 22-26 hit on the free-kick line in the second half.
Herbert Jones said Kentucky has a good game plan to prevent an Alabama offensive averaging 13 to 3s per game in the winning streak.
“So we just had to find ways to attack him,” said Jones, still slowed by a fall on Saturday against the State of Mississippi, but narrowly missed a triple-double with 13 points, nine rebounds and eight assists.
The six hitting 3s were the lowest since the 3-for-22 in Clemson’s defeat and the 20 attempts drew the season low.
Alabama coach Nate Oats said they missed a few open jumpers and “pushed the ball over” into the ring.
“I thought we saw a little frustration from some of our guys who used to shoot,” said Oats. Over twenty-three 3s there are two games to hit just six is a game that we could easily have lost. “
The game started with the flavor of the 105-75 explosion at LSU last week, with Alabama running to a 13-5 lead. He made the first five shots – three from a 3-point streak – with Josh Primo scoring seven of the first 10 points. Juwan Gary came off the bench for four quick points at the edge, while Alabama seemed to be scoring at ease again.
With striker Jordan Bruner still out due to a knee injury, James Rojas still returning from a week away and Alex Reese injured, Oats said redshirt freshman Gary played great minutes against Kentucky. He finished with six points, but played crucial minutes on the front line with a thin front line playing against the Kentucky giants.
Things took a turn after the hot start, when the changes blurred the action the rest of the time. Tide missed seven consecutive 3s and was in a 1 to 11 skid when Jahvon Quinerly hit the break bell to put Tide 35-32 in the break.
Alabama was four minutes without a basket at one point, while Kentucky followed in a slow 8-0 run to reduce what was a nine-point lead to 17 to 16. The first draw came when Davion Mintz 3-point circus hit the clock with 1:36 to the end of the middle to make the 30-30.
Kentucky took its first advantage with 12:49 remaining, but never got a greater advantage than two points. Oats thanked the visitors for showing their hearts on Tuesday night.
“Obviously, they are fighting and I thought they brought him tonight,” said Oats. “They could have easily given up when we jumped on them and they didn’t. They fought back. “
Alabama’s steps outside the SEC play Saturday with a street game in Oklahoma as part of the SEC / Big 12 Challenge. Oats said he would postpone watching too many tapes about the Sooners, at least in the short term.
“I have to do a lot of cleaning in this game because it was disastrous, Oats said,” especially offensively. “
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or in Facebook.