Aden Holloway made six 3-pointers and tied his career high of 26 points to lead No. 14 Alabama to a solid 89-74 victory over Kentucky on Saturday afternoon in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams at Tuscaloosa, Ala.
Labaron Philon Jr. returned from a one-game absence due to a leg injury to register 17 points and three steals for the Crimson Tide (11-3). Houston Mallette drained four 3-pointers while scoring 14 points, Amari Allen had 11 points and nine rebounds and Noah Williamson added 10 points for Alabama.
Otega Oweh recorded 22 points and eight rebounds and Jaland Lowe added a season-best 21 points for Kentucky (9-5), which fell to 1-5 against ranked foes this season.
The Crimson Tide have defeated the Wildcats four straight times. Prior to this streak, Alabama had never defeated Kentucky more than twice in a row in the long series dominated by the Wildcats.
Alabama shot 46.3% from the field, including 15 of 38 from 3-point range. The Crimson Tide lost key shot blocker Aidan Sherrell (right knee) in the first half.
The Wildcats made 42.4% of their shots and were just 4 of 19 from behind the arc.
Kentucky trailed by 16 at halftime but narrowed its deficit to 55-45 on two free throws by Lowe with 16:30 left in the contest.
Alabama later increased its lead back to 19 as Philon scored the final four points of a 6-0 run to give the Crimson Tide a 76-57 lead with 9:44 remaining.
The Wildcats rattled off the next nine points with Kam Williams draining a 3-pointer to cap it and bring the Wildcats within 10 with 6:23 left.
Lowe’s layup allowed Kentucky to creep within 77-68 with 5:55 to play.
A short time later, Philon made two free throws and Holloway drilled a 3-pointer from 30 feet to give Alabama an 84-70 lead with 3:32 left and the Crimson Tide closed it out.
Holloway scored 16 first-half points and Mallette added 14 as Alabama led 50-34 at halftime.
Latrell Wrightsell Jr. and Mallette made 3-pointers and Sherrell converted a three-point play as the Crimson Tide ran off nine straight points to open up a 30-16 advantage with 7:34 left in the half.
Mallette canned another trey to push the lead to 40-21 with 3:58 remaining. The lead reached 21 at 44-23 on Noah Williamson’s putback with 2:22 left.
The Wildcats later ran off eight straight to move within 47-34 before Holloway drained a trey just before the buzzer.
