Saturday’s 102-97 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats in Lexington was somewhat of a rarity for Alabama Crimson Tide basketball. An impressive feat, no less, but still a rarity, as Alabama is 11-57 all time versus Kentucky on the road.
There is no debate whether Kentucky is the best basketball program in the history of the SEC (it is), but Alabama could certainly make its case for number two. To demonstrate the Wildcats’ dominance over conference opponents, the series rivalry between the Kentucky and Alabama is currently 114 wins to 41—in favor of the Wildcats.
The first matchup in the series occurred during the 1922-23 season, the last year of the Charles “Yank” Bernier era of Alabama basketball. Alabama won by a score of 45 to 35 and went on to a 20-5 record that year. It was the first 20-win season in school history (that same year, the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Association was renamed the Southern Conference, which would later become the SEC) and the game was played in Barker Hall’s Buell Armory.
‘Bama would eke out a 27-26 win in Lexington during the 1928-29 season, and later a 34-31 barnburner during the ’36-37 season. Hank Crisp served as head coach of the Tide on both occasions and the wins came at Alumni Gym, a 2,800-seat box of blue mania that was merely the expanded armory with a new name. Most notably, the ’36-37 victory was against the pioneer and dean of Kentucky basketball, Adolph Frederick Rupp, who would go on to 876 career wins. Rupp lost to the Tide on only eight occasions in his 41-year career in Lexington.
The years 1937-73 in the series produced a tumbleweed-like drought for the Tide in Lexington, as no wins were claimed for the Tuscaloosans. Alabama would not capture another victory on Kentucky’s home floor until the 1973-74 season under head coach C.M. Newton. That year, the Tide (22-4) boasted a roster full of stars—Leon Douglas, Charles Cleveland, T.R. Dunn, and Ray Odoms, to name a few—and won the SEC regular season title.
The Tide’s first win at Rupp Arena, which opened in 1976, arrived on January 12, 1980 when Alabama defeated Kentucky by a score of 78-64 in Newton’s last season as head coach in Tuscaloosa. Joe B. Hall helmed Kentucky at the time and led the ’79-80 Cats to a 29-6 record and an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen.
One name comes to mind when you say “Alabama basketball in the 1980s” and that is Wimp Sanderson. Sanderson dominated the eighties, both in the personality he brought to the Capstone as well as the plaid sport jackets he donned as he patrolled the sidelines. Twice in the decade a Sanderson-coached team marched into Lexington and defeated the Wildcats on their home floor (1986-87 and 1988-89) and both wins were against coaching icon Eddie Sutton.
A Sanderson player/pupil, Mark Gottfried, also won in Lexington on two occasions during his 11-year stint as head coach at Alabama. In 2001-02, the Tide captured a 64-61 win over the Wildcats and finished at 27-8. Four seasons later, Alabama secured a 68-64 win in Lexington over Tubby Smith’s 22-13 squad that included Rajon Rondo.
Which leads us to Saturday. Alabama responded to an abysmal offensive output against Ole Miss on Tuesday (its 64 points was a season low) by posting 102 on No. 8 Kentucky’s home floor. Even more impressive was that Kentucky was on a roll: stealing a big win in a hostile environment in Starkville, Miss., against a good Mississippi State team on Saturday and defeating Texas A&M at Rupp Arena on Tuesday.
Alabama head coach Nate Oats said after the game, “Couldn’t be more proud of the group of guys after the poor showing on Tuesday. To bounce back and play the way we did here today because this is a really good team we beat. They (Kentucky) are a high-powered offensive team and we gave them too many threes late but until then I thought we had done a pretty good job. They still ended up with seven guys in double figures so our defense certainly didn’t win us this game but our offense showed up a lot better than it did against Ole Miss on Tuesday. I thought our defense was good for large stretches against a pretty good offensive team.”
Saturday’s win gave Alabama its sixth victory against a Top-25 team and the third 100-point game against an AP-ranked team this season. It was Alabama’s first road win against a Top-10 Kentucky team since 2002.
Though Kentucky has virtually owned the series with Alabama, the Tide’s recent success has titled the series just a bit: Alabama is 4-6 in the last 10 games against Big Blue.
Finally, if you are looking forward to the next matchup between the Tide and Wildcats, you won’t have to look too far: circle Saturday, February 22 on your calendars when the Tide hosts the Wildcats at Coleman Coliseum in Tuscaloosa. It’s sure to be a donnybrook, as Mark Pope’s team looks to exact revenge and the Tide looks to go 2-0 in a season versus the ‘Cats for only the fourth time in school history. TG
Cover photo: Alabama’s Labaron Philon. All photos courtesy UA Athletics.
