Alabama Travels to Square Off Against No. 14/14 Kentucky on Saturday Afternoon - Alabama Athletics
LISTEN LIVE | LIVE STATS | WATCH LIVE | ALABAMA PREVIEWS KENTUCKY
The Crimson Tide and Wildcats will tipoff at 11 a.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – Alabama will play its lone road game in the current four-game stretch when it travels to square off with No. 14/14 Kentucky on Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena. It will mark the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season.
Saturday's game is the 152nd meeting in series history between to two schools and will be the only contest between the teams during the regular season. The 151 games played in the series stands as UA's fifth-most common opponent in program lore. Kentucky owns a 113-38 edge in the all-time series.
Most recently, the Crimson Tide won for the fourth time in its last five games and the six over the last eight when it captured a 90-69 victory over Mississippi State last Wednesday night inside Coleman Coliseum. Alabama matched a season-low of 10 turnovers and a balanced offensive attack with four players in double figures to help secure its 16th win over the Bulldogs in the last 21 meetings between the squads.
The Broadcast
- Saturday's game will be televised on ESPN with Dan Shulman (play-by-play) and Jay Bilas (analyst) on the call.
- The radio broadcast can be heard on the Crimson Tide Sports Network with Chris Stewart (play-by-play), Bryan Passink (analyst) and Roger Hoover (sideline) on the call. The pregame show will begin one hour prior to tipoff.
- Alabama has scored 90 or more points in five consecutive contests coming into the game at Kentucky, which set a program record for consecutive 90-point games. For some perspective, the Tide had just one 90-point game a year ago and have had only 10 total 90-point contests – three of which went into overtime – in the last 11 years dating back to the 2008-09 season.
- Over the current five-game span, Alabama is outscoring the competition by 13.0 points a game, 95.0-82.0, while shooting 47.6 percent from the floor, 42.9 percent from beyond the arc and 72.5 percent from the charity stripe.
- UA comes into Saturday's game leading the SEC in scoring offense (84.4) and threes made per game (11.1), while ranking second in three-point shooting percentage (.372). Nationally, the Tide ranks third in the nation threes made per game, fourth in scoring offense and 38th three-point field goal percentage.
- After opening the season with a 2-4 mark over its first six contests, the Tide owns a 6-2 mark in the eight games since. Turnovers have proved to be the biggest difference. Alabama averaged 18.8 miscues (113 turnovers) over the season's first six games but have since average 13.9 turnovers (111 turnovers) in the eight contests since.
- Alabama's John Petty Jr. needs just one more three-pointer to become just the fifth person in program history to make at least 200 treys for his career.
- Alabama enters Saturday's game having played the toughest strength of schedule in the SEC (as of 1/10). According to the latest NET rankings which were release on Jan. 10, the Crimson Tide owns the No. 22 overall strength of schedule and the No. 17 non-conference SOS – both of which lead the SEC.
- The Tide has scored 1,181 points through its 14 games thus far. With 18 more guaranteed games this season, the Crimson Tide is on pace to program's single-season scoring record of 2,761 points set during the 2000-01 campaign.
- Alabama will take on No. 14/14 Kentucky on Saturday afternoon in the lone meeting between the two programs this season. It is the first of two consecutive games for the Crimson Tide against teams ranked in the top 15 in the nation. Next Wednesday, Alabama will welcome rival No. 5/7 Auburn to Coleman Coliseum (8 p.m. CT on ESPN2).
- Three Alabama players average double figures, while six average over 9.0 points per game through its 14 contests played. Junior John Petty Jr. (16.7 ppg) and sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. (16.6 ppg) are tied atop the squad in scoring average, while ranking sixth and seventh, respectively, among the league's scoring leaders. Combined the duo produces the third-highest combined points by any two players on the same team in the SEC (33.3 ppg).
- Lewis leads the SEC and ranks seventh in the nation in minutes per game (37.5), while also leading UA and ranking among the league leaders in assists (8th - 4.6 apg) and steals (5th - 1.9 spg). A first-team All-SEC preseason honoree, he also tops the team in field goals made (87) and attempted (203), and is shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 32.9 percent (23-of-70) from beyond the arc.
- Petty is one of the top three-point shooters in the nation. He ranks second in the SEC in three-point field goal percentage (50.5 percent, 50-of-99) and is third in threes made per game (3.5), while ranking fourth and seventh, respectively, in the categories nationally. Additionally, he leads the squad and ranks ninth in the conference in rebounding (7.3 rpg) and also tops UA in threes made (50) and attempted (99) while ranking second in steals (1.3 spg) and minutes (33.6 mpg) per game.
- Freshman Jaden Shackelford also average in double figures at 12.8 ppg. He leads the team in threes attempted as 96 of 145 field goal attempts – approximately 66 percent – have come from beyond the three-point line.
- Graduate senior Beetle Bolden (9.5 ppg) and juniors Alex Reese (9.1 ppg) and Herbert Jones (9.1 ppg) are all contributing offensively.
- As a team, the Crimson Tide has been outrebounded in just four of its 14 games played this year and owns a +2.5 advantage on the glass (41.4-38.9). The 41.4 rebounds per game rank third in the SEC and 15th-best in the nation. Alabama has outscored the opposition by +5.4 points (84.4-78.9) and is shooting 44.5 percent from the field, 37.2 percent from beyond the arc and 70.6 percent from the foul line.
- Kentucky enters the contest sporting an 11-3 record on the season and a perfect 2-0 mark in league play following the team's 78-69 win at Georgia last Tuesday night. The Wildcats trailed 37-31 at halftime before finally taking the lead on Immanuel Quickley's 3 with 8:06 remaining. UK won the second half, 47-32, shot 59 percent, including 4-of-6 on threes, and had 11 assists on 17 made baskets.
- Four players average in double figures to lead a balanced offensive attack for the Wildcats. Freshman guard Tyrese Maxey leads the team with 14.0 points and 33.4 minutes per contest. Junior forward Nick Richards is second on the team in scoring average (13.0 ppg), while leading UK in rebounding (7.5 rpg), blocks (2.1 bpg) and field goal percentage (69.2 percent, 74-of-107), which ranks fourth-best nationally.
- Sophomores Ashton Hagans (12.9 ppg) and Immanuel Quickley (12.8 ppg) also average double digit scoring for the Wildcats. Hagans, considered one of the premier defenders in the SEC, leads the team with 2.1 steals, which is second-best in the SEC, and 7.1 assists per game, which tops the league and ranks eighth in the nation.
- As a team, Kentucky is outscoring the competition by +12.5 points per game and owns a +6.5 advantage on the glass. The Wildcats are shooting 46.4 percent from the floor, 30.1 percent from beyond the arc and 78.2 percent from the charity stripe, which not only leads the SEC but ranks ninth-best nationally. UK also leads the SEC in assist-turnover ratio (1.2) and ranks among the best in the league in rebounds per game allowed (30.9 - 2nd), field goal percentage defense (3rd - 38.7 percent), assists per game (4th - 15.3) and scoring margin (4th - 12.5).
- Kentucky head coach John Calipari comes into Saturday's game with an all-time record of 761-214 (.781) in his 28th season at the helm of the men's basketball program. Now in his 11th season at UK, Calipari owns a record of 316-74 (.810). Calipari has led his teams to great success, having secured 26 consecutive 20-win seasons coming into the 2018-19 campaign.
- Saturday's game will mark the 151st meeting in series history between to two schools and will be the only meeting between the two teams during the regular season. The 150 games played in the series stands as UA's fifth-most common opponent in program lore. Kentucky owns a 113-38 edge in the all-time series.
- The Tide is 10-57 all-time against the Wildcats in Lexington and owns a 6-25 mark against UK in Rupp Arena. Alabama has lost eight straight games when playing Kentucky in Lexington. The last time Alabama won at Rupp Arena came on Jan. 14, 2006 (won, 68-64).
- Alabama has only won twice in the last 16 games played at Rupp Arena.
- Last season, the two teams split its head-to-head matchups. In the first SEC game of the 2018-19 season, Alabama snapped a 10-game losing streak with a 77-75 league-opening win over the Wildcats in the only regular season meeting which took place on Jan. 5, 2019 in Tuscaloosa. Kentucky returned the favor with a 73-55 victory in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
- The series began in 1923.
.
