The Alabama Crimson Tide punched its ticket to the Southeastern Conference tournament with last week’s buzzer beater over cross state rival Auburn. Kentucky won its chance to play the Crimson Tide just last night with a win over Oklahoma. Otega Oweh made a baseline jumper with 0.5 seconds left after No. 15 Kentucky had blown a late lead in the final minutes and the Wildcats beat Oklahoma 85-84 on Thursday night to advance to the Southeastern Conference Tournament quarterfinals.
The number five ranked Crimson Tide will square off against the number fifteen Wildcats in the SEC Tournament. Friday's game is the third meeting of the season between the two teams. The Crimson Tide won the last matchup 96-83. Alabama is 13-5 against the SEC, and Kentucky is 11-8 against the SEC. Alabama averages 91.2 points, 14.0 more per game than the 77.2 Kentucky gives up. Kentucky has shot at a 48.6% clip from the field this season, 6.3 percentage points above the 42.3% shooting opponents of Alabama have averaged.
The teams square off for the third time this season. Alabama won the last matchup 96-83 on Feb. 22. Mark Sears scored 30 to help lead Alabama to the win, and Koby Brea scored 20 points for Kentucky. Alabama’s star guard is scoring 19.2 points per game and averaging 3.1 rebounds for the Crimson Tide. Grant Nelson is averaging 10.9 points and 6.9 rebounds over the last 10 games. Jaxson Robinson averages 2.6 made 3-pointers per game for the Wildcats, scoring 13.0 points while shooting 37.6% from beyond the arc. Oweh is averaging 17.7 points and 1.8 steals over the last 10 games.
The bookies at BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE give the win to Alabama -6.5; over/under is 180.5.
During last night’s Wildcats/Sooners game that sent Kentucky to the semifinals, The sixth-seeded Wildcats (22-10), who led by 10 with 1:20 left, won their third straight and now will play fifth-ranked and third-seeded Alabama on Friday night. Oweh finished with 27 points. Koby Brea added 22 and Andrew Carr 11. No. 14 seed Oklahoma (20-13) won its SEC Tournament debut only to lose to a former Sooner for the second time since Feb. 26. Oweh led Kentucky against his old school with another late bucket. Jeremiah Fears scored 28 points for Oklahoma, including a basket that gave the Sooners an 84-83 lead with 5.6 seconds remaining.
The Sooners will have to wait for their first win against Kentucky after dropping their second this season and fifth all-time to the Wildcats. They also lost for the first time on a neutral court this season in their seventh such game. Kentucky: Winners of this tournament a league-high 31 times, this was just the second time the Wildcats had played in the second round. Now the Wildcats keep chasing their first title here since 2018.
