Tide come up short

NASHVILLE — Alabama was on the verge of turning the SEC tournament into a wide-open affair Friday, leading No. 2 Kentucky at halftime, sending the upset-buzz across the nation.

Instead, the favored Wildcats asserted their dominance in the second half, winning 73-67 and crushing all hopes of a Crimson Tide extended stay in Nashville.

The Wildcats’ run will continue today against Tennessee, but they had their hands full in the first half of the second round contest.

Kentucky head coach John Calipari wasn’t surprised.

“You’re in tournament play. You’re in a league that’s a strong league,” he said. “You’re going to be in a tough game. Alabama played us and did a great job and had their chances to win, had us down big early.”

Alabama was up big early, as a Mikhail Torrance layup drove the lead to 11 with 7:15 to play in the opening half.

The key in building the lead centered on rebounding, with the Crimson Tide grabbing 10 more boards than the Wildcats. The extra “effort,” as Calipari described it, gave Alabama the edge.

“You all know rebounding just is effort,” he said, “and they had more effort than we did to go after loose balls.”

Offensively, Alabama kept things simple, using a pick-and-roll set for Torrance, who scored 11 of his team-high 20 points in the first half.

Alabama led 40-35 at halftime. That’s when Calipari decided to give his freshman sensation John Wall more freedom, devising a pick-and-roll set of his own that allowed Wall to make more decisions.

“Basically, the coaches gave us an opportunity to run pick-and-rolls,” Wall said. “If you can take your man off the dribble, go and get to the basket and find your teammates, and we did a great job of that.”

Wall got to the basket and often.

He and fellow freshman Eric Bledsoe converted five consecutive layups early in the second half, first erasing the deficit and then taking the lead, 45-42 only five minutes in.

“He’s a great point guard,” Torrance said of Wall. “There’s a reason he was the SEC player of the year. I tried to make it as tough as I could, and he just made some plays.”

The second half quickly turned into the John Wall showcase, as he poured in 15 of his game-high 23 points. When Wall asserted himself, Kentucky pulled away, keeping the lead for the final 15 minutes of play.

“In the second half, I found the gaps and got into the lane,” Wall said. “Second half, (Calipari) let me run the pick-and-roll and let me make the play, and I was getting to the basket.”

Once the Wildcats evened matters up on the boards, Alabama was effectively cut out of the game.

“We had better rebounding, and got to the foul line in the first half,” said Alabama guard and Wilkinson County product Senario Hillman, who had five points. “If we could have continued that in the second half, things could have turned out better. It just didn’t go our way.”

Kentucky forward Patrick Patterson added 20 points, joining Wall and Bledsoe, who had 10, in double figures.

Alabama’s Tony Mitchell had his third career double-double, finishing with 10 points and 10 rebounds. JaMychal Green notched his sixth double-double of the season, with 14 points and 11 boards.

The Crimson Tide gave the Wildcats a scare, but in the end, all that matters, Green said, is the final score.

“I thought that we played hard, and we fought together,” Green said. “We just came up short. It’s been a great year for us, just sorry it’s going to end.”