Alabama v. Kentucky

Here are the scores from UK's last ten trips to Tuscaloosa (AP rankings in parentheses):

01/24/2009: Alabama 51 - 61 Kentucky
02/17/2007: Alabama 72 - 61 Kentucky (20)
02/26/2005: (16) Alabama 71 - 78 Kentucky (5)
01/25/2003: (15) Alabama 46 - 63 Kentucky (8)
01/23/2001: (18) Alabama 70 - 60 Kentucky
02/06/1999: Alabama 62 - 58 Kentucky (5)
02/19/1997: Alabama 61 - 75 Kentucky (3)
02/21/1995: (20) Alabama 52 - 72 Kentucky (6)
01/19/1993: Alabama 59 - 73 Kentucky (4)
01/26/1991: Alabama 88 - 83 Kentucky (8)

Totals: Alabama 4 wins, Kentucky 6 wins
Total points: Alabama 632, Kentucky 684
Avg. score: Alabama 63.2 - 68.4 Kentucky

As the results show, this has been for the most part a grim, dour series full of missed shots and hard fouls. Alabama has been threw a whole series of coaches over the last 10 years, but they almost always field some variation of the same basic team -- a bunch of very athletic 6' 6" guys who play really tough defense and struggle to score. Not since 1991 -- when Pitino's second team was playing at a breakneck pace -- has either team scored 80 points in this fixture. Since Pitino left UK, the Cats have broken 70 points only once in Alabama -- in 2005, when Patrick Sparks hit seven three-pointers in one game.

Alabama has been playing pretty well lately. The Tide are 2-1 in conference play. And they gave UK two tough games last year, losing 66-55 in Lexington and 73-67 in the SEC Tournament.

So I think we can expect a long, hard slog tomorrow night. We should not expect Knight, Lamb, and Jones to light up the scoreboard like they did in the first half against LSU; we are much more likely to see a series of clunkers from long-range. In order to win this game, the Cats must play extremely good defense without fouling -- they really need to hold Alabama under 60 points. If they can do that -- and win what I expect to be a very difficult game -- I will feel much better about our chances going forward.

One final note: UK's last trip to Alabama marked the high point of Billy Gillispie's tenure as UK coach. After starting the 2008-09 season with losses to VMI and UNC, UK won 16 of 18 games, including their first five SEC games. Leaving Tuscaloosa, the Cats were 5-0 in the SEC and 16-4 overall. They had Jodie Meeks (who scored 27 points against Alabama) and Patrick Patterson. They had a coach who had been co-SEC Coach of the Year in the previous season, and who had an all-time record of 17-4 in SEC games. They had wins at Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. And they had a series of easy games coming up: a road game at Ole Miss, followed by home games with South Carolina and Mississippi State. I thought they would be 8-0 in conference going into the Florida game on February 10.

But it all fell apart. Gillispie's luck had run out, and his string of close wins was at an end. The Wildcats collapsed in the second half against Ole Miss, losing that game 85-80. They lost at home to South Carolina in shocking fashion, 78-77. And then they were dominated in Rupp by Mississippi State, 66-57. Roughly two months after his win at Tuscaloosa, Gillispie would be fired.