Five things you need to know from No. 6 seed Kentucky’s 99-70 loss to No. 3 seed Alabama in the men’s basketball SEC Tournament quarterfinals:
1. Alabama is becoming Otega Oweh’s kryptonite. In what has been a standout junior season for the Kentucky guard, his worst contest of 2024-25 came against Alabama in the Wildcats’ 96-83 loss in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 22.
With the mobile, 6-foot-11, 215-pound Jarin Stevenson and the burly 6-4, 223-pound Chris Youngblood alternating in defending Oweh last month, the Crimson Tide limited the 6-foot-4, 215-pound Oweh to 1-of-9 shooting and two points.
It was the first game of the season in which Oweh, a Newark, New Jersey, product failed to score in double figures.
On Friday night, Oweh had another rough go against Stevenson, Youngblood and the Tide.
In 21 minutes of game action, Oweh hit only one of six shots and turned the ball over five times. He did cash in six of eight free throws. He finished with eight points.
It proved a challenging night all around for Oweh. With 11:24 left in the first half, he left the game with blood streaming down his face after Alabama’s Labaron Philon appeared to whack the UK guard in the face while scoring on a driving layup.
After leaving the bench area to go back to the Kentucky locker room, Oweh returned to the game with 5:40 left in half one. But, one night after he scored 27 points and hit the game-winning basket in UK’s 85-84 win over Oklahoma, Oweh never really got untracked against Alabama.
Oweh did play well against Alabama in UK’s 102-97 loss to the Tide in Lexington on Jan. 18, going for 21 points, six rebounds, three assists and two steals. In that game, Oweh shot well, hitting eight of 14 field-goal attempts.
2. Wildcats go without Lamont Butler again. Kentucky announced before Friday night’s game that its starting point guard, Lamont Butler, would miss the contest with Alabama after re-aggravating the injured left shoulder that has plagued him throughout the second half of the season in Thursday night’s win over Oklahoma.
The SEC Tournament quarterfinal vs. Bama was the ninth game this season the Butler has missed due to either the ailing shoulder or an early-season ankle injury.
UK is now 4-5 in the nine games in which Butler has not played at all.
Without their lead guard, the Wildcats beat Gonzaga in Seattle, Colgate and Vanderbilt in Lexington and Tennessee in Knoxville.
Minus Butler, Kentucky lost at Mississippi, to Arkansas at home, at Alabama and at Texas and to Alabama in the SEC tourney.
The positive news for the Wildcats is that UK coach Mark Pope indicated the results from the imaging done on Butler’s injured shoulder was “the best possible news.”
That would suggest that Butler could be available for Kentucky in next week’s NCAA Tournament.
With Butler sidelined, UK coach Mark Pope inserted former Lyon County star Travis Perry into the starting lineup.
Perry played a strong first half, going into halftime with 10 points, three rebounds, an assist and no turnovers.
The freshman did not fare as well in half two, and finished the game with 11 points, four rebounds, an assist and two turnovers.
Amari Williams (22) finished Friday night’s loss with 16 points, seven rebounds and four assists for Kentucky. Ryan C. Hermens [email protected]
3. Turnovers told the story. Without Lamont Butler to keep Kentucky organized, the Wildcats turned the ball over 16 times in comparison to Alabama’s 10.
The Crimson Tide enjoyed a gargantuan 29-6 advantage in points off of turnovers.
That, more or less, was the game.
4. Alabama achieves a rare distinction vs. the Wildcats. The Crimson Tide’s win over Kentucky made Bama only the third SEC team ever to beat the Wildcats three times in the same season.
Those teams are:
▪ Tennessee in 1978-79: The Volunteers beat the Wildcats 66-55 at Rupp Arena, 101-84 in Knoxville and 75-69 in overtime in the SEC Tournament finals in Birmingham.
▪ Florida in 2013-14: The Gators beat the Cats 69-59 in Lexington, 84-65 in Gainesville and 61-60 in the SEC Tournament finals in Atlanta.
▪ Alabama in 2024-25: The Crimson Tide beat UK 102-97 at Rupp Arena on Jan. 18, 96-83 in Tuscaloosa on Feb. 22 and 99-70 in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals Friday night.
5. UK coaches in the SEC tourney quarterfinals. With Kentucky’s loss to Alabama on Friday night, 2018 remains the last time the Wildcats won more than one game in an SEC Tournament.
UK is now 46-16 all-time in SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
This is the record in the quarterfinals for each Kentucky men’s basketball head man to have coached in the SEC tourney:
▪ Adolph Rupp: 17-2.
▪ Joe B. Hall: 4-3.
▪ Eddie Sutton: 2-2.
▪ Rick Pitino: 6-0.
▪ Tubby Smith: 7-3.
▪ Billy Gillispie: 0-2.
▪ John Calipari: 10-3.
▪ Mark Pope: 0-1.
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 12:12 AM.
