The Kentucky Wildcats are coming off their best SEC win of the season as they take their perfect record and travel down to Tuscaloosa in hopes that the wins keep coming. Sitting at 16-0 on the season, Kentucky is the ultimate competition for rebuilding programs like the Alabama Crimson Tide basketball team, but they are up to the challenge as Anthony Grant continues to keep the Tide bouncing back after their first losing season.
Grant is doing everything he can to get Alabama basketball back into relevancy after a losing season last year. The team is currently 12-4 overall while being 2-1 in SEC play. A lot of credit is given to Levi Randolph who has flourished in a starting role. He is putting his best season together with the Tide as he averages 15.1 points per game while leading the team in both steals and assists. Along with Randolph, transfers Ricky Tarrant and Michael Kessens are stepping up to the challenge for the Tide. Tarrant is putting up 13.3 points per game while Kessens is adding 5.6 rebounds. They will the x-factors as Alabama prepares to face Kentucky who is the first No. 1 team to visit Tuscaloosa in a decade.
Alabama is coming off a loss to South Carolina and Kentucky is hoping to catch them when they are down. The Wildcats finally put together a convincing win SEC play by beating Missouri 86-37. Their first two SEC opponents took overtime to beat and the Wildcats are aiming to avoid another close call on the road. According to head coach John Callipari, the win over the Tigers helped boost the Wildcats' confidence, not that they team needed more of it since they are the No. 1 team in the nation.
Aaron Harrison continues to lead the team in points with 11.8 per game. The biggest note for Kentucky is that they are rebounding 45 percent of their missed shots which is the best percentage in the nation mainly due to Karl-Anthony Towns.