Connect with us

Kentucky stays unbeaten, rolls past Alabama 70-55

Karl-Anthony Towns and No. 1 Kentucky shot a season-best 59 percent to stay unbeaten, topping Alabama 70-55 Saturday night and completing a season sweep.
Karl Towns - photo by Walter Cornett

Karl Towns – photo by Walter Cornett

Karl-Anthony Towns and No. 1 Kentucky shot a season-best 59 percent to stay unbeaten, topping Alabama 70-55 Saturday night and completing a season sweep.

Two weeks after romping 70-48 in Tuscaloosa, the Wildcats (21-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) made 24 of 41 from the field to surpass their previous best of 58 percent against Boston University in November.

Kentucky also committed just five turnovers while forcing Alabama (13-8, 3-5) into 13 mistakes that resulted in 20 points.

Towns scored 12 points in the first half to put Kentucky ahead. Willie Cauley-Stein snapped out of a mini-slump with 12 points and four rebounds, Devin Booker added 11 points with three 3-pointers and Aaron Harrison had 10.

Shannon Hale’s 13 points led the Crimson Tide, who shot 46 percent but fell behind as Towns made all four shots to get Kentucky started

 

Related Topics

Walter Cornett, of Glendale, Kentucky, is the owner and operator of Walter’s Wildcat World. He founded WildcatWorld.com in 1998 making it one of the oldest Kentucky basketball fan sites in operation today.

On This Day in UK Basketball History

On March 8, 1949, Kentucky ends the year ranked No. 1 in the first season of the Associated Press basketball poll.

 

On March 8, 1976, Jack Givens keys a late rally as UK outlasts Mississippi State, 94-93 in overtime, in the last game played at Memorial Coliseum.  The final UK regular season game ever in the venerable Memorial Coliseum seemed headed for a crushing letdown. Kentucky trailed Mississippi State 84-77 with 1:23 left in regulation. Lifted by a crowd of 12,200, the Cats fiercely rallied, and, with eight seconds left, Jack Givens buried a short jumper to force overtime.

 

On March 8, 1984, Melvin Turpin scored 42 points against Georgia in the 1984 SEC Tournament. The 42 - his 42nd came on the game's last shot — established a new scoring record for the SEC Tournament.  Turpin's 18 field goals also made him No. 1 in the SEC tournament annals.

 

On March 8, 2025, Kentucky defeats No. 15 Missouri, 91-83, for its eighth win over an Associated Press Top 15 team in Mark Pope's first season as head coach. It is the most wins over AP Top 15 foes in program history and ties Indiana (1992-93) and Duke (1978-79) for the most top 15 wins ever in a single season. Pope's team finishes the year 24-12 overall and earned a trip to the program's first Sweet 16 since 2019.

 

Wildcats Born on This Date

March 8, 1934

32 Clay Evans

More in Kentucky Basketball