Justin Edwards scored a career-best 28 points on 10-of-10 shooting as No. 17 Kentucky whipped No. 13 Alabama 117-95 on Saturday in Southeastern Conference play at Lexington, Ky.
Antonio Reeves scored 24 points and Zvonimir Ivisic added career bests of 18 points and four blocked shots for the Wildcats (19-8, 9-5 SEC). Rob Dillingham tallied 16 points and Adou Thiero added 12 as Kentucky shot 63.1 percent from the field, including 13 of 24 from 3-point range.
Edwards made all four of his 3-point attempts while helping the Wildcats post their fifth 100-point outing of the season.
Rylan Griffen scored 21 points and Mark Sears added 20 for Alabama (19-8, 11-3). Grant Nelson and Aaron Estrada each had added 13 points and seven rebounds, Mouhamed Dioubate scored 12 points and Nick Pringle had 11 for the Crimson Tide, who shot 56.7 percent from the field and 6 of 17 from 3-point range.
Alabama played without guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr., who missed his second straight game due to a concussion. Mohamed Wague also was out due to being suspended for one game by the SEC for his actions against a Florida player on Wednesday.
Kentucky was without Tre Mitchell for the fifth time in six games. Mitchell had missed two games due to a back injury, returned against Ole Miss on Feb. 13, and has missed the last three with a shoulder injury.
Alabama trailed 68-54 after a 3-pointer by Sears with 16:45 left in the game. The Wildcats answered with 12 straight points.
Edwards converted a four-point play to give Kentucky a 75-54 lead with 15:18 remaining. Edwards added a basket 23 seconds later and Reeves finished the run with a three-point play to make it 80-54 with 14:18 left.
Back-to-back 3-pointers by Dillingham pushed the lead to 92-59 with 11:04 remaining.
The Wildcats went over the century mark when Ivisic slammed home a putback dunk to make it 101-65 with 8:47 left. The lead topped out at 37.
Reeves scored 15 first-half points and Edwards added 13 as Kentucky shot 64.5 percent from the field while taking a 58-42 halftime lead. Griffen scored 12 in the half for Alabama.
The Crimson Tide led 29-28 after a 3-pointer by Griffen with 9:39 left in the half.
The Wildcats responded with a 20-2 surge. D.J. Wagner capped it with two free throws to give Kentucky a 48-31 advantage with 3:39 remaining.
–Field Level Media
