NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Alabama succeeded in making it the kind of choppy half-court affair the Crimson Tide would need it to be to advance.
Kentucky had seen that show before though. The Wildcats found a way to win anyway.
“Give credit to Alabama,” Isaiah Briscoe said. “Good team. They came out, played hard. Those type of games like that, in crunch time we just know that it’s time to win and we gotta make winning plays.”
Down in the early going, struggling with turnovers and without Briscoe – UK’s best player in a win on Friday – for long stretches due to foul trouble, the top-seeded Cats (28-5) overcame Alabama (19-14) in the Southeastern Conference Tournament semifinals, 79-74. Surviving a team desperate for a résumé-boosting win, UK advanced to face the winner of Vanderbilt and Arkansas in Sunday’s final.
“I thought Avery had his team ready to go, and those kids fought like heck and we were lucky to get out alive,” John Calipari said.
No one came up bigger than De’Aaron Fox, the player best known for his speed and electric open-floor ability. But on this afternoon, Fox didn’t need a free-flowing game to excel. He scored a career-high 28 points in a game that featured just 68 possessions, the second fewest of any UK game this season. Fox hit one of his two 3-point attempts – giving him six makes in his last 11 3-point tries – and a handful of other jumpers.
“It’s something I was working on,” Fox said. “As the season went on, I knew it was going to progress and get better. We’re in the postseason and as a point guard you have to shoot the ball better. That’s what’s I’m trying to do, just not overthinking it.”
Fox saved his best for last, and he went to his bread and butter to do it.
After trailing by as many as 10 points in the opening minutes, UK had battled back and surged ahead to take a nine-point lead at the 11:24 mark of the second half. The Crimson Tide found a way back in it though, three times closing to within a single point. The last time, Fox took over.
“He came up big down the stretch,” Briscoe said. “We needed him to do just that and he rose to the occasion. He put the team on his back.”
Fox scored nine straight points for UK, attacking the basket and absorbing contact. His clutch play lifted UK to an eight-point lead that was too much for Alabama to overcome and also prompted Briscoe to say Fox has a “dog” in him.
Fox knew exactly what his backcourt mate meant by that.
“A pit bull or a shark, they smell blood,” Fox said. “When I was able to get, I think, two layups in a row, then it was like, let me get the ball again. I’m going to go at them. I was just able to attack the big, pull up and things like that. Just having that dog mentality, when you smell blood keep attacking.”
While Fox closed it out, it was Malik Monk who kept the Cats in it early. Shaking off back-to-back performances in which he failed to score in double digits, Monk scored eight of UK’s first 10 points to steady the ship and avoid an even bigger deficit. For the game, he scored 20 points and joined Fox as one of only two UK players to score more than 10.
Coach Cal, however, was pleased with much more than their scoring. Fox and Monk’s ability to adjust and willingness to battle is why he would rather have no backcourt combination than UK’s.
“They had nine rebounds between them,” Calipari said. “They had eight turnovers at halftime. Eight. They had none in the second half. That’s why we won the game. Two warriors right here and now they got a third game in three days.”
