Alabama Crimson Tide guard Mark Sears (1) runs a play against the Auburn Tigers during the first half at Neville Arena. Alabama knows that neither success nor failure in the Southeastern Conference tournament in Nashville is necessarily a predictor of what will happen in the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 5-ranked Crimson Tide (24-7) have won the conference tournament twice in the last four seasons but didn’t advance past the Sweet 16 in either season. Then last season they lost to Florida in the first round of the SEC tournament before making a run to the program’s first Final Four.
Third-seeded Alabama will make its debut in this year’s SEC tournament against sixth-seeded and No. 15-ranked Kentucky (22-10) — which defeated Oklahoma 85-84 on Thursday — in the quarterfinals on Friday night.
“We’re going to try to win it,” Crimson Tide coach Nate Oats said. “We’ve won more championships in the SEC than everybody else since I’ve been here. This is a championship we’re trying to win.”
The Tide enter the tournament after a last-second, 93-91 overtime win on the road against rival and then-No. 1-ranked Auburn in their regular-season finale last Saturday.
Alabama has looked like a team poised for a deep March run all season, led by All-SEC first-team guard Mark Sears and SEC all-freshman guard Labaron Philon. But Oats said less-heralded players such as guard Aden Holloway and forwards Mouhamed Dioubate and Jarin Stevenson could be key to the team’s March fate.
“If we get all those guys playing their best basketball,” Oats said, “we’ve got a pretty high ceiling. … If we don’t end up winning (the SEC tournament), there will be some positives we’ll try to sell the guys on.
“But that’s not the goal. The goal is to go there and win three in a row and win a championship and have ourselves playing on a run going into the NCAA Tournament.”
Alabama beat Kentucky twice during the regular season, 102-97 on Jan. 18 in Lexington and 96-83 on Feb. 22 in Tuscaloosa.
The Wildcats lost guard Lamont Butler to shoulder injury in the first half against the No. 14 seed Sooners, and his availability for Friday is in doubt. In his absence, Kentucky turned the ball over three times and got outscored 7-0 in the final minute as Oklahoma took a one-point lead with six seconds left.
But Otega Oweh, who led the Wildcats with 27 points, took an inbound pass in the backcourt, sprinted past two defenders and drove along the baseline to score on a drive in the final second.
“If you’re going to beat us, you have to kill us,” Kentucky coach Mark Pope told the SEC Network. “Now we get to run it back tomorrow.”
Kentucky led 40-38 at halftime and opened a 54-48 advantage early in the second half. The Sooners crept within one point before Oweh and Koby Brea, who finished with 22 points, each made a 3-pointer and Oweh added a 3-point play during an 11-0 run that put the Wildcats ahead 77-65 lead with 4:31 left.
The lead evaporated, but Oweh made sure Kentucky kept playing.
“We’ve just got to build on this great momentum,” Oweh said. “Alabama is a great team, but we’ve just got to worry about us and what we do.”
–Field Level Media