The talk happened at halftime, inside the Alabama locker room at Bridgestone Arena. The Crimson Tide was leading Kentucky and wanted to avoid letting up.
The message?
If we want to be dominant and set the tone for the tournament, we’ve got to come out and show them what we are capable of doing in the second half.
Then, the Crimson Tide did. The offense was easy to spot, but the defense impressed even more in what turned out to be a 99-70 victory for Alabama over the Wildcats in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament.
Alabama outscored Kentucky 54-32 after halftime and shot 56.3% from beyond the arc. But the defense was the bigger surprise.
A Kentucky offense, ranked 8th in the country in adjusted offensive efficiency per KenPom, managed only .842 points per possession in the second half. That’s the fewest the Alabama defense has allowed in the second half all season against SEC opponents.
“We wanted to turn up our defensive intensity,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said.
Consider it done.
Alabama forced 16 turnovers, scoring 29 points off them. The Crimson Tide held one of the best offenses in the country to 38% from the field and 26% from deep.
“I think our ball pressure caused them some problems,” Oats said. “Our plan was to try to keep them out of transition, get them off the three-point line, pressure the ball on defense.”
Kentucky wasn’t at full strength. But Alabama wasn’t doing that to anybody, much less one of the country’s best offenses.
The last time Alabama allowed anything below one point per possession in the second half of a game, well that happened against LSU, almost two months ago. And the Tigers are nowhere near as good as Kentucky’s offense. LSU ranks 132nd in offensive efficiency.
The question becomes, how can Alabama do that again?
More challenges await this postseason, whether it be in March Madness or the next day: Alabama will play No. 2 seed Florida on Saturday (2:30 p.m. CT, ESPN) for a spot in the tournament championship game and likely a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament.
Stout defense will be needed then, and in future games.
“It was great to see the potential we have defensively,” forward Grant Nelson said.
It reminded Nelson of what happened last year in the postseason, en route to the Final Four.
“I hate to say it: when we needed to play defense, we did,” Nelson said. “Throughout the whole season we weren’t really guarding last year. I think we have an extra level to us even this year too.”
Alabama will welcome that defense. Better March than never.
Nick Kelly is an Alabama beat writer for AL.com and the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on X and Instagram.
