Don't worry too much about Kentucky's loss at Alabama

Yes, I know.

Kentucky lost at Alabama tonight.

They dug themselves a 20 point hole with a sluggish start, and thanks to two late Brandon Knight turnovers, Alabama was able to hang on for a 68-66 win at Coleman Coliseum.

Don't fret, Big Blue Nation. These kind of losses happen. Kentucky is a young team -- they essentially play a six man rotation where three of those six players are freshmen -- and young teams have a tendency to get frazzled on the road. Alabama came out fired up, their home crowd was rocking, and a decent team with a couple of quality players got into a rhythm.


Like I said, it happens.

Kentucky came all the way back, and if it wasn't for a couple of miscues late -- Terrence Jones and company missed a couple of free throws, Knight was called for a charge with less than a minute left and the score 67-66, and with less than ten seconds left Ben Eblen got a hand in on Knight's hand-off to Doron Lamb -- the Wildcats probably would have won this game.

But Kentucky put themselves into a situation where they had to play perfect basketball over the final ten minutes to win, and unfortunately they were only really good down the stretch.

The loss does bring to light a bit of a disturbing trend, however.

Kentucky has played five true road games. They lost at UNC, at Georgia, and now at Alabama. Their wins? At Louisville, which is hardly a typical road atmosphere when those two teams get together, and at Portland. The ability to perform on the road -- offensive execution, shooting, and most importantly intensity -- is a learned skill, and it is not an easy one to learn. That's why road wins are emphasized so heavily by the NCAA Tournament selection committee and everyone that votes on a top 25 poll.

With four of their next six games on the road -- and home dates with Georgia and Tennessee -- Kentucky fans better hope this team figures out their road issues.

Two other thoughts from this game:

• Kentucky is developing a bad habit of starting slowly. It cost them in a loss to Georgia. It nearly cost them against Notre Dame. They were down double figures in the first half to Penn. They were down early to Louisville. That's a trend the Wildcats are going to want to buck.
• Late in the game, ESPN's cameras caught John Calipari mother-effing Terrence Jones pretty badly. While the casual hoops fan may be thrown off by this, I don't really have a problem with it. Coaches curse out players. It happens. Jones has heard it before, and Cal has certainly said it before. Moving on.
  
  What's important is that you pay attention to his message, not the way he said it. Cal has been critical off Jones' offensively, saying that the 6'9" freshman is too selfish when he gets the ball. Yes, he can score, and he can do that very well, but too often a possession dies when the balls touches his hands. And if you were one of the folks that read Cal's lips, you certainly saw him call Jones selfish, albeit it in a much more colorful way.
  

UPDATE: Finally found a youtube video of Coach Cal ripping into Terrence Jones: