TUSCALOOSA, Ala. _ Kentucky's 67-58 victory at Alabama on Saturday was an advertisement for longer, more exhausting practices.
UK coach John Calipari held a three-hour practice earlier in the week after a five-game streak of poor defense.
The apparent benefit of this attention to defense appeared here.
Alas, Kentucky did not completely shed its inconsistency. Despite leading by 18 points with less than 10 minutes left, UK had to make clutch plays to win.
Isaiah Briscoe rode to the rescue. With the lead down to 55-49, he drove to a basket against Riley Norris to ease the tension. It was his third straight basket.
Briscoe posted a double-double with 11 points, 11 rebounds and four assists. Malik Monk led UK with 17 points.
Kentucky improved to 20-5 overall and 10-2 in the Southeastern Conference.
Alabama fell to 14-10 overall and 7-5 in the SEC. Braxton Key led the Tide with a game-high 21 points.
Earlier in the week, Calipari had decried poor defense (especially the lack of help on drives) and a quick-shot offense that ignored time-and-score considerations.
"You can't be on defense 70 percent of the time," Calipari said. "Which means you can't just come down and shoot a quick contested shot."
Kentucky's intent to play defense and play prudently on offense was evident from the start. Alabama did not get a shot to the rim in the first two minutes.
All those opponents lately driving all the way to the basket for uncontested scores? Twice before the first television timeout, Adebayo and Gabriel came over on help defense and blocked shots.
The four blocks before the third TV time were more than UK got against Florida (three) and LSU (two), and as many as the Cats had in seven of their most recent 14 games.
Kentucky held Alabama to one basket in the final 6:06 of the first half. In that time, established its first double-digit lead (29-19) and took a 29-20 advantage into intermission.
The defense extended to free-throw shooting (the SEC actually used to keep a free-throw defense statistic). Alabama made only three of 11 free throws in the first half.
The defense came at a cost. Kentucky committed four fouls by the 16:46 mark. The seventh foul came three minutes later.
Monk got into the defensive mindset. He had two fouls in the first half, which is more than he'd had in 10 of UK's previous 24 games.
Of course, Kentucky's defense in the second halves has been the issue lately. The last five opponents made only 39.7 percent of their shots the first halves. Alabama's 32 percent accuracy was only a slight decline.
But in the second halves, those five opponents shot with 58.8 percent accuracy. That included 56.8 percent from 3-point range.
For Alabama, which made only one of seven 3-point shots in the first half, this had to be encouraging.
Nothing changed early in the second half. Kentucky's defense and Alabama's bumbling extended UK's lead to 39-24 at the first television timeout.
But a warning sign appeared a minute early. On the fast break, Briscoe tried a risky lob that failed to connect. Judging by Calipari jabbing his right fist, it was one of those "cute" plays that he abhors.
Briscoe went to the bench. Hawkins replaced him.
After Kentucky twice extended its lead to 18 points, a telling moment occurred. UK had committed two straight turnovers, then threw an errant pass on the break that Mulder retrieved.
Briscoe held the ball rather than attack. This tranquil interlude seemed just what Calipari had been wanting.
The good feeling didn't last. Alabama kept charging despite continuing to miss free throws.
Perhaps unnerved by the chaotic nature of the game, Kentucky gave its fans an unwanted flashback to the bumbling eight minutes against LSU on Tuesday. In that time, a 25-point UK lead dwindled to six points in the final seconds.
Alabama reduced an 18-point deficit with 10 minutes left to 50-43 with 4:46 left.
That set up the will-to-win finish.
