Kentucky men’s basketball continues to excel against ranked opponents ahead of No. 4 Alabama showdown

No. 8 Kentucky men’s basketball improved to 14-3 overall and 3-1 in SEC play on Tuesday night after beating No. 11 Texas A&M 81-69 inside of Rupp Arena.

Through the first 17 games, Kentucky has manufactured a pretty solid resume, holding the current No. 12 spot in the NET rankings with a 6-3 quad-one record, 2-0 quad-three record and a 6-0 quad-four record.

UK’s six quad-one victories is the third most in the nation behind the Auburn Tigers and Oregon Ducks, who each have seven.

The three losses came at Clemson on Dec. 3, against Ohio State on Dec. 21 in New York City and at Georgia on Jan. 7, all three being on the road or at a neutral site.

After beating the Aggies on Tuesday night at home, UK is now 5-0 against top-15 ranked opponents in the AP poll for the first time since the 2011-12 season, taking down No. 6 Duke and No. 7 Gonzaga at neutral sites while beating No. 14 Mississippi State 95-90 on the road on Jan. 11.

With those wins, so far, Kentucky is yet to lose a game in Rupp Arena this year, building a current 11-0 home record while achieving two of those top-15 wins against No. 6 Florida, where it hung up 100-plus points for the fifth time this season and against No. 11 Texas A&M.

The main contributor to UK’s success has been junior guard Otega Oweh, who is averaging a team-high 15.4 points while failing to go a single game without scoring at least ten points thus far.

Fifth-year senior guard Lamont Butler has proved to be crucial as well, averaging a team-high 4.7 assists on the offensive end while averaging a team-high 1.9 steals on the defensive end.

Kentucky looks to continue building a stellar resume on Saturday when it welcomes No. 4 Alabama to Rupp Arena for a noon SEC game. That game can be viewed on ESPN.