Hanging Tough: Kentucky Basketball Advances to SEC Finals With a Hard Fought Win Over Alabama
By J Bill Sosh
Kentucky Basketball pulled out a win in the SEC Tournament semi-finals. Here is how it went versus a stubborn Crimson Tide in Nashville on Saturday.
Not That Again
A day after getting off to a good start in their win over Georgia, the Cats reverted to their old habit of stumbling out of the gate. Alabama jumped out to a 17-7 lead in the first 6:45 of the game. That advantage was due in large part to their work on the offensive glass.
The Tide grabbed six of their own misses in the first half, and all but one came during that early stretch. The Cats, on the other hand, only had one offensive board and lost the battle of the boards 19-14 overall in the half.
A Malik Monk three pointer got Kentucky headed in the right direction. The regular season champs started finding their footing, and a few rebounds. Dominique Hawkins capped an 8-0 run with an inbounds steal and driving layup. That gave the Wildcats their first lead at 18-17 with 9:51 left until half.
Kentucky eventually stretched that edge to 29-22 on another Monk three at the 5:37 mark. But Bama wasn’t going away. They fought back to trail only 33-32 at the break. Poor foul shooting kept the Cats from a larger lead. They went only 6-13 from the line for the half, compared to 6-7 for the Tide.
It’s A Grind
By this time Kentucky Basketball fans probably knew a win wouldn’t come easy. Alabama underscored that fact by scoring the first four points of the second half to take a three point lead.
A Derek Willis three gave the lead back to the Cats 38-36. The Cats took the lead for good on a Fox jumper to make it 42-40 with 15:06 remaining. Kentucky led by as many as nine and when Willis hit another three with 8:14 left, they were up 58-51. Big Blue may have thought they could breathe a little easier.
Avery Johnson’s crew had other ideas. They fought back again and cut the lead to only one on a couple of occasions, the last at 62-61 with 5:35 remaining. Kentucky fans were getting nervous and were looking for someone to step up. They found that someone in their freshman point guard.
Fox On The Run
De’Aaron Fox took the game over. He scored nine straight points for the Cats. He did it with jumpers, FT’s and his trademark driving layups. The end of his run gave Kentucky a 71-63 lead with only 1:41 left and the game was essentially over. He got his season high 28 points on 8-12 shooting from the field and 11-15 from the foul line.
One can make the case that Fox is even more critical to Kentucky’s post season success than leading scorer Malik Monk. The Cats have shown they can win when Monk has an off night. Fox has a great ability to drive to the basket to score and set up his teammates for open shots. If he keeps hitting his free throws and play some defense, the Wildcats can go far in March
Kentucky Basketball in the Championship Game
Kentucky will play the winner of the Arkansas-Vanderbilt semi-final in the championship game Sunday at 1:00 pm ET.
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The Wildcats will be seeking their 31st SEC tournament title overall and their 18th since the tournament was re-instituted in 1979. Then they will wait to discover their seeding, location and possible opponents when the NCAA tournament bracket is released Sunday evening.