TUSCALOOSA, Ala. -- Flushing the memories of Thursday night’s loss to Vanderbilt was the easy part.
Turning around 39 hours later to play the No. 2 team in the country adds a degree of difficulty to an already trying week for the Alabama basketball team.
Coming off its second straight loss, the Crimson Tide faces second-ranked Kentucky (18-1, 4-0 SEC) in Lexington today under difficult circumstances. A season-worst shooting night saw Alabama fall behind by as many as 23 in a 69-59 loss to Vanderbilt. Friday travel limits preparation for a Kentucky team averaging 20-point victories every time it hits the floor.
Add in the Wildcats’ 46-game home-court winning streak, and the odds appear long for the Tide (13-5, 2-2). But Kentucky coach John Calipari remembers the 68-66 beating Alabama handed his team a year ago in Tuscaloosa.
“They’re going to be mean and nasty,” Calipari told reporters Friday in Lexington. “I would expect that. It wasn’t so much that they didn’t play well -- Vanderbilt is really good; (Alabama) is good -- but Vanderbilt is really good.
“If Vanderbilt is making shots like they were, we are getting beat by them. They’re that good. I don’t think it’s that they played that poorly. A couple guys didn’t score like they normally do, but that kind of stuff happens.”
Second-leading scorer Tony Mitchell was one of those absentee scorers against Vanderbilt. He went without a point for the first time in his Alabama career on 0-for-8 shooting.
“Tony is one of the best players on the team, and him not scoring really hurt us a lot,” said senior JaMychal Green, who scored a season-low six against the Commodores. “If he would have scored, it probably would have been a different ending.”
Neither Green, nor Mitchell will get many easy looks near the basket at Kentucky.
The country’s top shot-blocking team averages 9.3 a game led by freshman and national leader Anthony Davis’ 89.
“I’m very impressed, watching (Davis) on film, with the different ways he affects the game,” Tide coach Anthony Grant said.
There was one piece of good news for Alabama on Friday.
An initial diagnosis indicates junior Andrew Steele did not suffer another concussion after taking a blow to the head against Vanderbilt. Grant said Steele could play as soon as today, but every precaution would be taken given his history.
The forward left the game feeling lightheaded after colliding with Vanderbilt center Festus Ezeli midway through the first half. The team training staff spent the next few minutes speaking with the wide-eyed Steele at the end of the bench.
Thursday’s game was only the fifth for the younger brother of Ronald Steele, who briefly ended his playing career over the summer. He suffered his fourth career concussion late in a 72-58 loss to Kentucky in the SEC tournament.
