Brandon Knight: The freshman again struggled with his shot in the first half, missing all four attempts. But, like against Ole Miss in the first game, Knight found his way in the second half. Early in the half, he scored 10 consecutive UK points that stretched the lead to 51-30. That streak included his first made three-pointer of the Tournament.

“Brandon Knight played like he’s the best point guard out there.” — John Calipari

DeAndre Liggins: Liggins lifted the team in every way. He made all three 3-point attempts, scoring 14 points. He came down with 9 rebounds, second-most on the team. While Alabama didn’t have any perimeter guys who were serious threats to go off on UK, Liggins’ defense keyed a stellar performance by UK as a whole. Bama was the SEC’s No. 1 defense; in this game, it looked like the Cats owned the best defensive unit, holding the Crimson Tide to 41.5 percent shooting. Liggins injured his ankle at the end of the game, but was able to walk off and is considered fine to play in the final.

“When (the injury) first happened, I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can play tomorrow.” — DeAndre Liggins

Josh Harrellson: The big man again had a big first half, scoring UK’s first four points of the game. Even better was this — he didn’t get all of his points exclusively from putbacks. He created some offense of his own, including a drive from the top of the three-point lane straight to the basket for a layup. The best: he held Alabama star JaMychal Green to 12 points. Beating UK with an inside game was Alabama’s best chance to win; Harrellson was a large part of preventing that.

“I thought I did a good job of containing him. I just forced him to catch the ball farther away than he usually does.” — Josh Harrellson

Doron Lamb: Lamb again shot well, hitting 6 of 10 shots and leading the team with 15 points. He credited the shooting to getting in extra shots in shootarounds in preparation for playing at a new place.

However, Lamb’s status is questionable for the title game because of a Terrence Jones: Jones had another subpar game, scoring seven points and grabbing five rebounds. He made 2 of 9 shots and only got the free throw line twice. Jones noted that he and Knight aren’t shooting the ball as well as they normally do, but if they come around, it “will be scary.” Again Alabama, Jones was forcing shots in the paint rather than working to create a good look.

“The (three veterans) have been knocking down open shots. Hopefully I’ll join them one of these days.” — Terrence Jones

Darius Miller: Miller played a solid game, scoring 10 points and pulling down four rebounds. Five of his nine shots were from outside, but his post-up game has improved dramatically. For a team that lacks a pound-it-inside presence, having Miller post up three or four times a game can be huge. His impact can be amplified because he gets to go at smaller forwards, where he has an advantage. Jones and Harrellson have to battle bigger guys when they post up.

“Terrence was a little shaky, and I said we’re not going at him, we’re going at Darius. So we ran off his side and posted Darius, and he makes that shot.” — John Calipari