Kentucky basketball is out of the SEC Tournament. The Wildcats were eliminated from the 2025 conference tournament in the quarterfinals, losing 99-70 to 3 seed Alabama on Friday night at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville.
Alabama’s 29-point victory over Kentucky was the largest in series history, and it gave the Crimson Tide their third consecutive win over the Wildcats for the first time. Alabama has won all three of its games against Kentucky this season.
Mark Pope’s Wildcats battled with turnovers on Friday. The Cats committed 16 of them, resulting in 29 Alabama points.
Kentucky was missing fifth-year guard Lamont Butler for the game after reinjuring his left shoulder during Thursday night’s SEC Tournament second round victory against Oklahoma. Prior to Friday’s game, Pope provided an encouraging injury update on Butler, signaling that he will return for Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament run next week.
And the Cats certainly could use him. Alabama’s offense averaged 1.238 points per possession against UK on Friday. Labaron Philon, a rookie guard for the Crimson Tide, was very productive, scoring 21 points, dishing out four assists and stealing three.
Andrew Carr, a fifth-year forward, led the way with 18 points for UK, which has unable to progress to the SEC Tournament championship game since 2018. So now Kentucky’s NCAA Tournament resume is complete.
The Wildcats will enter March Madness with a 22-11 overall record, basketball 11-9 record against SEC opponents, and eight wins this season over teams rated in the top 15 of the AP poll at the time of the game. Most bracketology analysts appear to think that Kentucky will most likely be a third seed in the NCAA Tournament.
We’ll know for sure at 6 p.m. on Sunday, when the tournament Selection Show takes place.
Until then, here’s everything Pope had to say after Kentucky’s exit from the SEC Tournament.
Opening statement.
Yeah, it’s a completely separate and unique injury. The image was great. So we’re hoping he’ll be back in action—I was hoping for the second half but didn’t quite make it.
Question about moving on from the SEC Tournament and looking toward the NCAA Tournament.
I hope it’s a difficult decision because this is not acceptable to us. I hope it’s incredibly difficult. But we’re here to do difficult things. That’s why we’re here. That’s what we’re after, hard stuff.
I hope it is really difficult, and I hope we succeed.
Question about Kentucky’ turnovers against Alabama.
Always offer credit to your opponent. They played an excellent game. I was disappointed. We were a touch stuck in terms of playing in our usual style throughout the night.
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