| MBB/WBB Alabama Falls Short on the Road Against No. 14 Kentucky, 76-67
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Nope. Team did show some toughness but at the end of the day same result. Wash rinse and repeat. UK won by taking away bama's strength. Difference in the programs, UK can dictate what they want.
Agree with this. When your top scorer is Jones you are likely not winning. None of the main scorers got into any kind of rhythm. Maybe some of the credit is UK's defense. If I was playing Bama this is the strategy to use if you have the matchups to do it. Let Jones try to create and take as many shots as he wants and take away the 3 point shots. Jones is a competitor and one of the hardest playing players we have. He is just not the dangerous scoring threat. He has certainly improved in that area and I love the kid for that.
Shackelford seems to be MIA that last few games. Freshman growing pains?
Down 3 with less than 2 to play then lose by 9. Good effort but poor shooting.
Half this board has ripped him a part over the last two years and all he has done is get better. He has earned the right to load up from three just like any of the others. You say he doesn't yet where was everyone else from three? How come they aren't being discussed by you?
Calipari stopped in the good game line and had a number of words for Herbert, meaning the best in the game noticed what Jones brought against his team.
Like I said I'm one of his biggest fan's but he is shooting 12% from the 3 pt line. You are certainly entitled to your opinion I stand by mine.
Well if no one else is hitting them, someone has to shoot them to keep us in the game, so today's circumstances were different than others. He isn't launching threes at high rates or even often enough to make a comment about his shot selection. So yeah, I guess stand by your opinion even though it isn't really in line with his typical performance. Today was an outlier.
Editing my post after looking at the box score. He shot two freaking threes! Hardly a detriment to the team or to warrant a comment that he has no business shooting them! Reese is the guy to watch in regards to how his performance from three affects the team.
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I've always given Herb praise not sure where the detriment thing comes from. Herb gets his points at the basket and FT line.
A 3 pt shot from him is very low percentage so it's just not a good option. That's just basic BB.
I said detriment as in your comment about him having no business from shooting a three. Because if he shouldn't be shooting them in your mind and he is then he is being a detriment to the team, because it's hurting the team. Simple logic.
Our offense is centered around three point shooting, so "basic basketball" states Jones was doing what he was coached to do. He averages 0.6 threes a game, not even one three a game. Seven footers average that. Noone else was making any at that point, so why is Jones the guy catching your flack on this one? I think we were 0-for... in the first half. Athletes have to have confidence in their entire game, not just from layup range. That's what makes these guys different, because they can do it all and know they can. I'm glad you're a Jones fan, as am I, and I have spent the last two years defending him. I am so happy to see how him and Petty have grown leaps and bounds the last two years. If we can get them both back next season we will be a killer team. Even this season if we can go on a run and get to 17-18 wins we can be one of those near .500 teams to make the tournament. Even Bilas stated how good of a team were and how even with our strength failing us of shooting threes we still managed to hang in there. This was a four point game, not nine like the final. One of our shooters makes one or two threes and we win this game. We were 19% from three. Make that 25%, WAY below our total, and we win. Oh well, just how the ball bounces. I really like this team, and think they will be successful.
You guys are focused on herb shooting threes are focused on the wrong things. We were miserable from the free throw line, we missed at least 5-8 lay ups and we made some careless turnovers. Mix that with how well Kentucky shot the ball and the lack of foul calls that were made on Kentucky when we were driving to the basket and I would say we did great.
I don’t understand how those numbers work or how coaches philosophy keeps us in that game but we were... we played Kentucky in Rupp arena, with calls all going the wrong way, getting out shot from the outside, missing easy layups and free throws and it was a close game at the end.. coach Cal realizes Bama is a tough out
I wasn't focused on the threes. Just making a point Herbert Jones has earned the ability to shoot two threes a game without being ridiculed.
I agree with you and made a statement about Calipari stopping at Jones afterwards and talking to him, and with that I knew Calipari thought he was lucky to beat our boys today and that we have a very solid team.
Alabama Falls Short on the Road Against No. 14 Kentucky, 76-67 - Alabama Athletics
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Alabama men's basketball team came up short after a tough fight against the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats, 76-67, in front of a sold-out crow...
Herbert Jones tied his career-high of 18 points to go along with seven boards and four assists
LEXINGTON, Ky. – The Alabama men's basketball team came up short after a tough fight against the No. 14 Kentucky Wildcats, 76-67, in front of a sold-out crowd at Rupp Arena. After trailing by 10 at the half, the Crimson Tide was able to cut the deficit to just a single possession with just over two minutes remaining. However, the Wildcats held UA scoreless the rest of the way to secure the victory.
Junior Herbert Jones led three UA players in double figures with a career-high tying 18 points, while registering a career-best 20 field goal attempts (8-of-20) to go along with seven rebounds and four assists.
Junior John Petty Jr. finished with 16 points, seven rebounds and a career-high four blocks on the night. He connected on 3-of-8 from deep and doing so, he became the fifth person in program history to reach 200 career three-pointers. Sophomore Kira Lewis Jr. added 10 points, a team-leading eight rebounds and four assists in the loss.
Kentucky was led by Immanuel Quickley, who finished with 19 points on 5-of-6 shooting from beyond the arc.
Coach Nate Oats Postgame Comments
"It was a tough game. I mean, they're one of the better teams in the country. They're hard to score on, did a better job defensively on us than anyone all year. They made it tough for us to score in the paint. Nick Richards, he had five blocks. You try to tell your guys what it's going to be like trying to score at the rim on these guys. We should have taken a few more spaced-out threes to get in the game. Add (EJ) Montgomery and (Keion Brooks Jr.) and that's NBA-level protection. Defensively, they did a great job. We played hard. We went 4-of-21 from three. A lot of that is because of their play. They have length, they contest the threes and they make you miss. We've been shooting at a pretty high clip. We needed to shoot it a lot better from three than the way we did today if we wanted to have a chance in this game. On our defensive end, I thought the second half was a whole lot better than the first half."
Team Stats
- Alabama finished with 14 assists to just eight turnovers – the fewest turnovers and best assist-turnover ratio in any game this year
- After trailing by 10 at the half, UA outscored UK 32-31 over the final 20 minutes
- The Tide had its school record streak of scoring 90 or more points snapped at five
- Both teams concluded the game with 44 rebounds, leaving only four teams in UA's 15 contests this season that has bettered the Tide on the boards
- The Crimson Tide outscored the Wildcats inside the paint, 44-20, for the contest
- Despite coming in as one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation, Alabama connected on a season-low four three-pointers and three-point percentage (4-of-21; 19.0 percent)
- UK entered as one of the worst three-point shooting teams nationally, entering the game at 30.1 percent on the year, but knocked down 9-of-15 (60.0 percent)
- Kentucky got out to an early 8-4 lead at the first media timeout of the day
- Alabama came out of the media timeout on a 6-0 run to grab a 10-8 lead with 14:12 left in the period
- The Wildcats responded with a 13-2 surge to move in front 21-12 at the 11:08 mark of the first half
- The first half of runs continued, as the Tide used a 12-5 spurt to cut the Kentucky advantage to 26-24 with 7:28 to go in the half
- The Wildcats ended the half by outscoring UA 19-11 to take a 45-35 lead into the half
- Jones led the Tide with 9 at the break, while Lewis added 7 in the first
Second Half
- Kentucky extended its lead to 52-37 at the 17:12 mark of the second half
- A 9-1 Crimson Tide run cut the Alabama deficit to 53-46 with 13:22 to play in the half
- Jones converted a three-point play with 7:31 remaining to cut the Kentucky lead to 59-55
- After the Wildcats stretch its lead to 69-62, a Petty triple cut the deficit to 69-65 with just 2:44 remaining in the contest
- The Tide would not give up and made it a one possession game, 70-67, with 2:14 remaining
- Kentucky used a clutch three and free throws down the stretch to outscore Alabama 6-0 the rest of the way to result in the final score
The Tide will return to action on Wednesday, Jan. 15, as it returns home to square off against in-state rival Auburn. Tipoff is slated for 8 p.m. CT and will be televised on ESPN2.
I actually watched an entire game for the first time yesterday. We were horrible from the three point line as many have already pointed out. I did like the intensity that we played with for the most part. As in the past, this is going to be another NIT year, IMO. Hopefully, the players make the necessary steps to improve and we get help from recruits. I think we are trending in the right direction.
Much different from last year. We are a dangerous team. We are learning how to win with this new style but we are constantly improving. Our effort, attitude, style and discipline is way better than last year. If we had Gary, Rojas and Q as a part of this roster I think we are a tournament team this year. Two knee injuries and bs NCAA eligibility ruling cost us 3 major contributors
Completely agree with this. My only concern has been the teams depth or another injure. Also, if the close loses add up will they have they mental toughness to keep working to get better. If they do I think this year ends up better.
Both of you make excellent points. There is a difference in this years team, quality depth is a problem and an injury would really hurt the team.
