Alabama’s Nate Oats says quiet part out loud about Kentucky after beating Mark Pope again

After playing against a grueling non-conference schedule, Alabama basketball is off to a great start in its non-conference slate. On Saturday, the Crimson Tide dominated Kentucky in a 89-74 home victory to get in the win column in SEC play.

Alabama dominated this game right from the jump, racing out to a double-digit lead in the first half and taking a 16-point advantage into halftime. In the second half, Oats and company were able to coast to an easy victory to get conference play going.

This loss was the latest in a string of disappointing defeats for Mark Pope and Kentucky against top competition this season, and Oats commented on that after the game via Jack Pilgrim of On3 Sports.

“Kentucky’s not what everybody was hoping over there that they would be this year, but they still have a lot of talent,” Oats said. “I think they’re going to win some games. They had some injuries, and they’re getting their chemistry back together. Lucky for us, fortunate for us that they don’t have that many games under their belt with everybody available, and I don’t think their chemistry’s quite where they want it right now.”

Oats later added that Kentucky “doesn’t move the ball great” and cited its low assist rate in some of its losses against top teams in non-conference play.

As Oats mentioned, injuries are a big reason why this Kentucky team is still finding its footing at this point in the season. Jayden Quaintance and Jaland Lowe, arguably the Wildcats’ two best players, have been banged up all year and are just getting back on the court. Both came off the bench on Saturday in the loss.

Kentucky is now 9-5 and doesn’t have much more time to get clicking before falling into the middle of the pack in the SEC. The Wildcats play against Missouri at home on Wednesday before hosting Mississippi State next Saturday.

On the other side, Alabama is 11-3 despite playing a brutal schedule and is looking like  a comfortable top-four seed at this point in the season. The Tide have a big game on the road against undefeated Vanderbilt coming on Wednesday night to test just how it stacks up against the other best teams in the conference.

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