Go back a decade and the moment was something beyond the unthinkable. Anyone around the Coleman Coliseum at that time could not have imagined the scene that unfolded on Saturday afternoon.
Beneath a scoreboard with the No. 7 Crimson Tide leading the 29-year-old unranked Kentucky, a chant began in Alabama’s coed section – a chant that would have stunned an early years college basketball fan 2010.
“SLOW! SLOW! NIT!” they shouted as the margin broke the 30-point barrier in what ended a 78-52 Alabama win over Kentucky.
We’re still starting to think a little bit that the power dynamic between these two programs has shifted to where it’s not laughable. But with Kentucky losing for the fifth time and not a single Quad 1 victory to their name, this 13-2 Crimson Tide program is taking further steps to shift the center of gravity of SEC hoops away from Lexington.
Alabama led by as much as 31 points in what ended as Alabama’s most lopsided win over Kentucky in their 157-game streak.
“We were shaken,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “We had a group of guys who were shaken up in the game and even in the second half when we opened it up and went to dribble straight we couldn’t move and get where we could go. .”
Kentucky shot just 28.8 percent from the field, and returning National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe had a season-low four points.
The Coleman Coliseum crowd – reported at 13,474 – was held off from the jump but rolled with the surge of momentum in the second half.
“I feel like our fans really shook them up,” Alabama rookie Brandon Miller said after scoring a team-high 19 points. “I think they came out with a lot of energy from the jump. I think with us, playing hard rocked them too. I mean you have Charles (Bediako) guarding one of the best crosses in the country.
Nick Saban joins Alabama AD Greg Byrne in the stands to watch Crimson Tide’s 78-52 victory over Kentucky. (AP Photo/Vasha Hunt)PA
Alabama coach Nate Oats, while appreciating the savage support from the students, didn’t quite agree with their parenthesis. He was proud of how his team continued to extend the lead after breaking the 20-point mark.
“I mean, Kentucky is not going to the NIT,” Oats said. “They’re going to be an NCAA tournament team. They have a lot of talent there. Cal did a good job there gathering talent. They have very good players but they didn’t shoot the ball well tonight.
Since this is the only regular season game with Kentucky, Oats said he would like to see the Wildcats get hot enough for this game to be a league tiebreaker.
But the NIT talk is more part of the character of the college game.
“Students are going to be students,” Oats said with a smile. I love them. They are awesome. That’s why college environments are better than NBA environments because the student sections are after it, but it’s still the college students who are the students.
Alabama faces No. 13 Arkansas on the road next week, its next challenge in what is likely a third straight trip to the NCAA Tournament.
Ten years ago, the NIT seemed inevitable for the Crimson Tide as Kentucky made a January trip to Tuscaloosa.
For Oats, he was still a high school coach in suburban Detroit just 10 years ago.
Imagine convincing him that he would lead Alabama’s top 10 to a 26-point win over Kentucky back then.
But in January 2023, the former math professor steers a once-dormant program into a position to make its deepest postseason run in program history.
That’s a far cry from early 2013, when the NIT would be Alabama’s eventual playoff destination.
A year later, they were going 13-19.
Those days have passed, and the chants of a packed Coleman Coliseum only made this ride a little more surreal on Saturday afternoon.
Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande Or on Facebook.
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