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Mark Sears is used to winning at Alabama, and he’s also gotten used to torching the Kentucky defense.
With the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide carrying a 2-game losing streak into Saturday’s SEC showdown with the No. 17 Wildcats, it was time for the senior guard to make a stand. Alabama’s star did just that, pouring in 30 points to lead the Crimson Tide to a 96-83 victory at a rocking Coleman Coliseum.
Sears did it to Mark Pope’s defenseless team again. A little over a month ago on Jan. 18 in Lexington, Sears scored 16 of his 24 points in the second half to lead Alabama to a 102-97 victory that began Kentucky’s midseason slide. The Wildcats couldn’t slow down Sears on Saturday, either, as he ran circles around them in leading the Crimson Tide back into the win column after losses to Auburn in the then-No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle last Saturday in Tuscaloosa and at Missouri in a midweek meltdown in Columbia.
But Sears and the Crimson Tide weren’t having anything of it on Saturday night. Sears made all 11 of his free throw attempts while adding 4 rebounds, 4 assists and 2 steals to his 30-piece. He was backed up by Aden Holloway, who came off the bench to score 19 points and grab 4 rebounds.
The Crimson Tide shot 52.5% from the field, as the Wildcats once again provided no resistance against Nate Oats’s team. Kentucky didn’t give up 100 points like in January at Rupp Arena, but it came close. Koby Brea was the only Kentucky player to reach 20 points, scoring exactly 20, as the Wildcats went just 9 of 26 from 3-point land in losing for the second time in 3 games.
Kentucky is now 4-6 in its last 10 games, a stretch that began with that first loss to Alabama in Lexington. The Wildcats fell to 18-9 overall and 7-7 in the SEC, while the Crimson Tide improved to 22-5 and 11-3 in the league, mostly thanks to Sears.
Cory Nightingale, a former sportswriter and sports editor at the Miami Herald and Palm Beach Post, is a South Florida-based freelance writer who covers Alabama for SaturdayDownSouth.com.
