Mark Pope has never beaten Nate Oats. In 4 tries, the Tide are averaging 96.5 points with Kentucky sitting at a cool 81 per game. After the game, Pope sounded even more defeated, "...First two or three minutes we were good, then we hit a wall." Only one of the matchups was even close, and that was the first one in Lexington when Alabama knocked off the Cats 102-97; the rest have been brutal:
That is bad, and made worse when Mark Pope built this team to beat Alabama. He built a roster full of guys who should be good defensive players, guys who will talk and communicate and play together.