Damon Bacote scored 25 points and Chauncey Jones netted 17 for the Crimson Tide, who suffered their fourth straight loss. Alabama (9-10, 1-5) was coming off Sunday's 54-point loss at Auburn.
"I was not pleased with what you might call a performance on Sunday," Alabama coach David Hobbs said. "We just wanted to get to the next game and show that we were not that team. It just happened that the next game was on the road against the number seven team in the nation."
Bacote scored 17 of his points in the first half as the Crimson Tide clinged to a 35-33 lead. They built their biggest cushion, 47-37, on Jones' three-pointer with 15:39 to play.
Alabama still led 56-54 with 7:30 to go, but Jeff Sheppard made a layup to tie it, Mohammad sank a short jumper and Sheppard followed with a jumper to give the Wildcats a 60-56 lead with five minutes remaining.
Trailing 63-58 with 3:32 left, the Crimson Tide took the lead back on consecutive 3-pointers by Brian Williams and Jones. Mohammad's short turnaround with 1:56 left put Kentucky ahead to stay at 66-64. A short jumper by Padgett stretched the lead to four before Bacote nailed a 3-pointer to cut the margin to 68-67 with 26 seconds left.
Padgett sank a pair of free throws for a 70-67 lead with 12 seconds left. Alabama had one final chance to send the game to overtime, but Bacote's 3-pointer went awry.
"We wanted to force them to shoot away from the basket," Kentucky coach Tubby Smith said of the game's final play. "We had our switching defense in and Padgett switched to guard the three and did a great job forcing him (Bacote) to shoot across his body."
"It was fun to come to Louisville and get the win," Padgett said. "I got lucky and my shots kept falling. I felt relaxed and wanted to make the shots. I was not going to let UK lose tonight."
Kentucky won despite shooting only 38 percent (24-of-63) from the field. The Crimson Tide finished at 50 percent (27-for-54).
(7) KENTUCKY 70, Alabama 67
ALABAMA (67)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Alexander 36 5-10 2-3 3-8 1 3 12
Bacote 32 9-15 0-0 2-3 3 2 25
Hays 22 0-4 0-0 2-6 2 5 0
Jones 32 6-15 2-2 2-5 1 0 17
B Williams 36 3-13 1-2 0-0 6 2 10
Mazique 20 0-2 0-0 2-3 1 4 0
Martin 8 0-3 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
London 8 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Ashby 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 0
Thrasher 4 1-1 0-0 0-0 0 0 3
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 24-63 5-7 11-25 15 19 67
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.381, FT-.714. 3-Point Goals:
14-26, .538 (Alexander 0-1, Bacote 7-9, Jones
3-5, B Williams 3-10, Thrasher 1-1). Team
rebounds: 1. Blocked shots: 2 (Alexander, Hays).
Turnovers: 12 (Alexander 5, Jones 3, Ashby, B
Williams, Hays, Mazique). Steals: 6 (Jones 4,
Alexander 2).
KENTUCKY (70)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Padgett 36 8-12 6-7 4-8 1 0 24
Edwards 22 2-7 3-4 2-4 2 0 7
Mohammed 32 9-13 4-5 2-10 1 1 22
Sheppard 27 3-8 1-3 2-7 2 2 7
Turner 29 1-3 0-0 0-5 4 2 2
Mills 6 0-1 0-0 0-1 0 0 0
Evans 24 3-7 0-0 3-6 1 0 6
Anthony 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Smith 12 1-2 0-0 0-0 1 2 2
Magloire 8 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 3 0
Bradley 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 27-54 14-19 13-41 13 10 70
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.500, FT-.737. 3-Point Goals:
2-8, .250 (Padgett 2-3, Edwards 0-1, Sheppard
0-2, Evans 0-1, Smith 0-1). Team rebounds: 2.
Blocked shots: 6 (Padgett 2, Mohammed, Turner,
Sheppard, Evans). Turnovers: 18 (Padgett 5,
Turner 3, Evans 2, Mohammed 2, Sheppard 2, Smith
2, Anthony, Edwards). Steals: 4 (Edwards, Mills,
Mohammed, Padgett).
__________________________________
Alabama 35 32 - 67
Kentucky 33 37 - 70
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 19,734. Officials: Jim
Burr, Rusty Herring, Mike Thibodeaux.