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Kentucky stays unbeaten, rolls past Alabama 70-55

Karl-Anthony Towns and No. 1 Kentucky shot a season-best 59 percent to stay unbeaten, topping Alabama 70-55 Saturday night and completing a season sweep.

Karl Towns - photo by Walter Cornett

– photo by Walter Cornett

Karl-Anthony Towns and No. 1 shot a season-best 59 percent to stay unbeaten, topping 70-55 Saturday night and completing a season sweep.

Two weeks after romping 70-48 in Tuscaloosa, the Wildcats (21-0, 8-0 Southeastern Conference) made 24 of 41 from the field to surpass their previous best of 58 percent against Boston University in November.

Kentucky also committed just five turnovers while forcing Alabama (13-8, 3-5) into 13 mistakes that resulted in 20 points.

Towns scored 12 points in the first half to put Kentucky ahead. snapped out of a mini-slump with 12 points and four rebounds, added 11 points with three 3-pointers and had 10.

Shannon Hale's 13 points led the Crimson Tide, who shot 46 percent but fell behind as Towns made all four shots to get Kentucky started

 

On This Day In UK Basketball History

On March 28, 1992, in what many called the “best NCAA Tournament game ever,” Kentucky takes defending NCAA champion Duke into overtime before losing 104-103 in the East Regional finals in Philadelphia. A last-second shot by Christian Laettner sends Duke to the Final Four, and breaks the hearts of Wildcat fans everywhere. It is Cawood Ledford’s last game as the “Voice of the Wildcats.”

 

On March 28, 1998, against Stanford, Kentucky rallied from a 10-point second-half deficit, then grabbed a 5-point overtime lead, before fending off the Cardinals to advance to the title game for the third straight season. Jeff Sheppard canned three long-range three-pointers - two in the final three minutes and one in overtime - en route to a career-high 27 points.

 

On March 28, 2014, unranked Kentucky beat No. 5 Louisville 74-69, in the 2014 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16.  Aaron Harrison buried a three-pointer from the left corner with 39 seconds left that put UK ahead to stay before 41,072 in Lucas Oil Stadium.

 

On March 28, 2015, No. 1 Kentucky defeated No. 8 Notre Dame, 68-66, in the 2015 NCAA Tournament Elite Eight.  With its 37-0 record on the line, Kentucky trailed Notre Dame 59-53 with 6:14 left. UK rallied in front of 19,464 fans in Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena and preserved its perfect season thanks to a crucial blocked shot by Willie Cauley-Stein and two game-deciding free throws from Andrew Harrison in the final seconds.

 

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