Alabama is winning the track meet against Kentucky at halftime

Now is the time you take a deep breath, BBN. In a back-and-forth that saw Kentucky lead by as many as 12 and Alabama by as many as nine, it’s the Crimson Tide holding a 47-40 lead at halftime. The shooting has been fine with the Wildcats going 45.5 percent overall and 40.0 percent from three compared to 48.6 percent from the field and 26.3 percent from deep for the Tide, but the rebounding (23-17) and bench (22-6) advantages have been glaring while UK has missed five free throws.

Koby Brea leads with Cats with 11 points on 4-7 shooting and 3-5 from three, followed by 10 for Andrew Carr, six for Amari Williams and five for Travis Perry. Mark Sears leads the Tide with 15 while Aden Holloway as 12 to round out double-figure scorers. Cliff Omoruyi is feasting inside, too, adding eight points and eight rebounds.

Kentucky jumped out to an 11-point lead in the first 5:15, then pushed it back up to 12 with 9:37 to go. From there, it was all Alabama, using a 15-2 lead to take the lead with 4:06 to go before closing out the half up seven.

Gotta get more from the bench. Gotta slow down the Tide guards. Gotta keep Carr and Brea rolling. Gotta get Otega Oweh rolling.

Plenty of time to go win this thing.