NASHVILLE — No. 6 Kentucky men’s basketball bowed out in the quarterfinals of the 2025 Men’s SEC Tournament, losing to Alabama, 99-70, for the third time this season.
Alabama is the only team in the country that has beaten this year’s Kentucky team more than once.
Entering the matchup against a rested No. 3 seed, Kentucky was already at a disadvantage with severe depth concerns after needing an Otega Oweh game winner to get past Oklahoma in the second round.
The Cats brought out a starting lineup of Andrew Carr, Amari Williams, Oweh, Koby Brea and freshman Travis Perry, who was forced to step up with starting point guard Lamont Butler reinjuring his shoulder versus the Sooners. The loss of Butler was compounded by Jaxson Robinson’s and Kerr Kriisa’s season-ending injuries.
Things started off rough for the Wildcats, who couldn’t have bought a field goal in the early goings. The first points for UK came courtesy of free throws from Williams before Oweh managed to finally find the bucket.
Amazingly, after Oweh’s opening field goal and the addition of Collin Chandler, Kentucky pushed back to tie the game 14-14 by the first timeout.
Soon, UK fans were treated to the additions of Brandon Garrison, Ansley Almonor and Trent Noah, but lost Oweh, who was sent to the locker room after having his face busted open on defense. The game had to be briefly paused to clean up blood on the court.
With Alabama getting ahead by a couple baskets, the Cats would find themselves in a purgatory of about six points as every run or drought would eventually see them trailing by around that much.
In fact, this trend would last into halftime as, after a goal tend on Williams was erased, the Wildcats trailed after one half by… seven. Not even the return of Oweh was able to break the spell.
Unfortunately for the Cats, the purgatory would be broken in the second half… but not in their favor.
Going against the nation’s top offense with depth issues from the jump, Kentucky was simply outmatched in the second half, being outscored 12-6 to start play.
It would only get worse from there, with the Alabama lead ballooning into 19 and then 20+.
As time continued to tick away, the score continued to tick in favor of the Tide, which cracked 90 points with over four minutes remaining on the clock as UK fans headed for the exits.
Ultimately, it would never be close and Alabama would cruise into the semifinals while Kentucky departed Nashville.
With the loss, Kentucky will turn its eyes toward Sunday for the NCAA Tournament Selection Show. The Cats, who are easily in the NCAA Tournament, will await their seeding, first round opponent and playing location as the SEC looks to make history with 14 teams in the big dance. The show is scheduled to air live at 6 p.m. ET on CBS.
