No. 14 Alabama men’s basketball blew by the Kentucky Wildcats 89-74 on Saturday in the team’s SEC opener.
Star guard Aden Holloway led the team in scoring with 26 points — tying his career high — on an impressive 7/11 shooting. Four other Crimson Tide players scored double figures, including center Noah Williamson, who had his best performance in an Alabama uniform.
“He’s talented. We just [have] got to get his confidence going,” head coach Nate Oats said of Williamson postgame. “He needed this game in a big way.”
Williamson notched 10 points on 5/7 shooting. He also added four rebounds, two steals, two assists and a block after fellow center Aiden Sherrell went down with a knee injury and missed the second half.
“I appreciate my coaches and teammates for sticking with me,” Williamson said postgame. “I know I had a slow start to the year, but we have a lot of games to go to get to a national championship.”
Rebounding struggles have been an Achilles heel for Alabama this season. Those struggles appear to be waning, as the team outrebounded an opponent for the second game running.
Oats said that his team has gotten better on the glass.
“We haven’t done it for a full 40 [minutes] like I’d like to see, but there’s a reason we play the best teams in the country every year,” Oats said.
The first half saw an onslaught from Alabama’s offense, which shot 51.5% from the field and knocked down 10/22 from beyond the arc. It scored 50 or more points in the first half for the third game running and held Kentucky to just 37.9% from the field and 22.2% from 3-point range.
Guards Aden Holloway and Houston Mallette led the first-half barrage for Alabama, with 16 and 14 points, respectively. Mallette did not miss a shot attempt in the opening 20 minutes and tallied 3 first-half rebounds.
Oats said postgame that Mallette is one of his favorite players he has coached.
Kentucky waged comeback efforts throughout the second half, cutting Alabama’s lead down to 9 points twice. Wildcats guard Jaland Lowe tallied 14 points on 5/9 shooting and snagged two steals.
The Crimson Tide stood tall in the face of adversity, thanks to star guard Labaron Philon Jr., who did not begin the contest on the right foot. He tallied just 2 points in the opening period, but found rhythm in a big way in the second half, with 15 points and two steals.
Alabama will return to action on Wednesday, when it travels to Nashville, Tennessee, for a Top 15 matchup with No. 11 Vanderbilt. Tipoff is scheduled for 8 p.m. CT, and the game can be streamed on ESPN2.
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