Alabama basketball's defense has never been its strength this season. That was no secret entering the game against Kentucky.

It's one thing for the defense not to fuel the team's success, but it's another thing completely for it to be porous, ugly and often nonexistent. That's what happened Saturday.

That's the defensive performance the Crimson Tide put together on an afternoon it seemed like the Wildcats couldn't miss. As a result, Kentucky ran Alabama out of the building, beating the Crimson Tide 117-95 at Rupp Arena.

That's the most points the Wildcats have ever scored against Alabama, surpassing 111 scored in 1973. The 117 points allowed is also tied for third-most in program history for the Crimson Tide with the Vanderbilt game in 1967.

Here are observations and takeaways from the game between No. 13 Alabama (19-8, 11-3 SEC) and No. 17 Kentucky (19-8, 9-5) at Rupp Arena.

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Turnovers plague Alabama basketball in first-half shootout

At first, the Crimson Tide and Wildcats stayed stride for stride in an absolute race of a game.

Whenever Alabama scored, Kentucky did too. And vice versa. Point after point after point in the initial minutes. Kentucky kept up that pace, but Alabama didn't. Turnovers made the Crimson Tide offense sputter.

A little after midway through the first half, Alabama had committed three turnovers in a 90 second span, and Kentucky took advantage. The Wildcats went on a 7-0 run over 1:19 to start building its lead.

Then those problems only got worse. At one point, Alabama committed a turnover a minute with six giveaways over six minutes. Kentucky turned that into a 20-2 run.

The Crimson Tide offense couldn't settle, and the defense couldn't get stops. It made for some ugly possessions in the first half. That ultimately led the Wildcats to hold a 58-42 lead at halftime.

Defense doesn't improve after halftime

The break didn't slow Kentucky. Far from it. If anything, the Wildcats played even better for much of the second half.

Kentucky already had a strong 1.568 points per possession in the first half. That already should win most basketball games. The Wildcats improved that number in the second half for a while, at one point reaching 2.0 points per possession late in the second half.

The points per possession started to dip later on and finished at 1.475 in the second half, but the Wildcats took their foot off the gas some with a colossal lead late.

Justin Edwards was even better in the second half, scoring 15 after he tallied 13 before halftime. He went 10-for-10 on the day to score 28 points and lead all scorers.

What's next?

Alabama will stay on the road for the next game with a trip to Oxford, Mississippi to face Ole Miss on Wednesday. Then, the Crimson Tide will return to Coleman Coliseum on Saturday, March 2 for a game against Tennessee that could very well end up deciding who wins the SEC regular season title.

Nick Kelly is the Alabama beat writer for The Tuscaloosa News, part of the USA TODAY Network, and he covers Alabama football and men's basketball. Reach him at nkelly@gannett.com or follow him @_NickKelly on X, the social media app formerly known as Twitter.

This article originally appeared on The Tuscaloosa News: Alabama basketball vs. Kentucky: Wildcats obliterate Tide