Cats’ 3s take out the Tide
ST. LOUIS — Collin Sexton and the rest of the Alabama men’s basketball team were making another push in the second half, cutting Kentucky’s big lead down to nine points with 5:15 remaining in their Southeastern Conference tournament semifinal Saturday.
But when Wenyen Gabriel knocked down his seventh 3-pointer of the afternoon on the next possession, the Wildcats were on their way to another league title game.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore whipped up his hands, prompting a thundering “Go Big Blue!” chant from the thousands of Kentucky fans at Scottrade Center, and his teammates shoved him around as he repeatedly tossed up three fingers.
Gabriel shot 7-for-7 from 3-point range and matched his career high with 23 points as the fourth-seeded Wildcats rolled the ninth-seeded Crimson Tide 86-63 to continue the program’s push for a fourth straight league tournament championship.
“I think I was in the zone after probably my third 3,” Gabriel said. “I’ve had a game like that before. Obviously, not in a Kentucky uniform yet. That was great to have one of these today for my confidence going forward.”
The Wildcats (23-10) will play 13th-ranked and second-seeded Tennessee (25-7) at 1 p.m. Eastern today. The Volunteers, who beat sixth-seeded Arkansas 84-66 in Saturday’s second semifinal, swept their regular-season series with the Wildcats by winning 76-65 on Jan. 6 in Knoxville and 61-59 on Feb. 6 at Kentucky.
Against Alabama (19-15), Kentucky shot 64 percent from the field, up from its 42.6 percent clip against Georgia in Friday’s quarterfinals and its season average of 46.5. The Wildcats dominated on the defensive end as well, using their unmatched height to their advantage.
Former Hamilton Heights standout Shai Gilgeous-Alexander added 19 points, P.J.
Washington 14 and Kevin Knox 11 for Kentucky.
Sexton, who made a last-second shot in Alabama’s second-round win against Texas A&M on Thursday and led a second-half charge in Friday’s quarterfinal against No. 16 Auburn, scored 21 points on 6-for-14 shooting. John Petty added 18 points on 6-for-11 shooting.
“It did take a little toll on us, three games back to back versus three great teams,” Petty said.
The Tide simply couldn’t stop the Wildcats, especially from long range. Kentucky shot 12-for-18 on 3s and compiled 20 assists.
“It’s probably not sustainable, but let me say this: The people that have watched this, do we rely on 3-point shots to win?” Kentucky coach John Calipari asked. “We don’t. If we make — wow, we made 12, then we’re probably going to win by 20.”
Playing three games in three days definitely looked to have fatigued the Tide early, but they might have played themselves into the NCAA tournament with their runaway victory over Auburn, the regular-season co-champion.
“Not making the excuse, we just didn’t have the energy in the first half like we normally have,” Alabama coach Avery Johnson said. “I don’t know if it’s because we played three in a row. We’re a pretty well-conditioned team, but it just took us a while to get in gear today.”
Alabama forward Donta Hall was ruled out with a concussion, and the Tide certainly missed his minutes against the Wildcats. Hall averaged 10.9 points per game and led the team with 6.8 rebounds per game heading into Saturday. After the game, Johnson said Hall is in concussion protocol and his status is day-to-day.
“Without him, it’s pretty tough,” Sexton said. “I feel like he helps both ends of the floor. When he gets the rebounds, he throws it to us and runs the floor.”