No. 8 Kentucky men’s basketball suffered its first home loss of the 2024-25 season against No. 4 Alabama, 102-97, inside Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon.
The Cats entered the matchup looking to gain a third straight ranked SEC victory after winning at then No. 14 Mississippi State in Starkville and besting No. 11 Texas A&M at home earlier in the week.
Looking to keep its momentum going, Kentucky marched out its familiar starting lineup of Otega Oweh, Lamont Butler, Jaxson Robinson, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams.
Kentucky got off to a hot start in the contest with some key offensive plays, but disaster soon struck as an 11-0 Crimson Tide run put the visitors ahead by the first timeout.
Former North Dakota State Bison Grant Nelson lit it up for the Tide, rocking the Cats early, but a few key runs and a notable 6-0 scoring run allowed the Wildcats to regain the advantage halfway through the first half.
Alabama would begin to struggle from deep, allowing the Cats to control the game for much of the first. In spite of that, however, with Carr unable to truly get going, the Tide regained the advantage with a pair of free throws by Butler sending UK into the break trailing by two.
Back out for the second half, Kentucky once again got hot, stealing the advantage back from Bama and forcing Tide Head Coach Nate Oats into an early timeout.
Just a quarter into the half, though, Carr would pick up his forth foul and the Crimson Tide would take over, nearly leading by double digits on multiple occasions.
The Wildcats refused to yield, however, with Oweh erupting to lead the squad with 21 points with just under eight minutes to go.
For a brief moment, jubilation filled Rupp Arena as the Cats tied things up at 81 following a second-chance 3-pointer by Robinson and a dunk by Brandon Garrison, but the Tide quickly regained the advantage.
Making matters worse for the home fans, Kentucky would concede back-to-back 3-pointers to give Alabama a nine-point lead following the timeout.
Kentucky continued to fight to level the game, but the gap would ultimately be too much to overcome as UK suffered its first home loss of the season.
With the result, Kentucky will take a week off before returning to action on the road against Vanderbilt in Nashville on Saturday, Jan. 25. Tipoff against the Commodores is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN.