By Chris DePew
TideFans.com staff
March 11, 2016
Where to watch: No. 10 Alabama (18-13) vs. No. 2 Kentucky (23-8) – 6 p.m. Central today, Bridgestone Arena (Nashville, Tenn.), SEC Network.
Who to watch: Retin Obasohan. His early foul trouble in Thursday’s SEC tournament opener against Ole Miss became a perverse blessing, as the All-SEC guard wound up playing just 26 minutes while his teammates were forced to compete and thrive without leaning on him the entire time. But if the Crimson Tide wants to reverse the trend of two ugly losses to Kentucky, it needs Obasohan at his best in both halves. So far this year he has 21 and 29 points against the Wildcats. If Bama is going to pull the upset, he needs to be in that range again and several of his teammates need to step up their games considerably.
What to watch for: A pulse inside. Post play has been Bama’s weakness all year, but nobody has exposed that weakness like the Cats. In a 77-61 loss in Tuscaloosa, Kentucky outrebounded the Tide 43-25 and forward Alex Poythress went 8-for-10 from the floor and scored a game-high 25 points. The rebounding deficit “improved” to 41-29 in Lexington and Poythress scored “only” 14 points (on 5-for-6 shooting coming off the bench in his first game back from injury) but those numbers don’t capture the futile, half-hearted effort of Alabama’s frontcourt in a 78-53 blowout. Michael Kessens isn’t talented enough to stand up to the Wildcats and freshman Donta Hall is too inconsistent and raw. That means either Jimmie Taylor or Shannon Hale (and preferably both) is going to have to shake off any intimidation and make a stand against Big Blue.
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