No. 4 Alabama basketball doesn’t have any time to lick its wounds following a lackluster loss to No. 21 Ole Miss on Tuesday. After suffering its first SEC defeat of the season, the Crimson Tide will need to bounce back quickly if it wants to avoid a similar outcome during a difficult trip to No. 8 Kentucky this weekend.

Saturday's matchup between Alabama (14-3, 3-1) and Kentucky (14-3, 3-1) features the top two scoring offenses in the SEC. The Tide leads the conference with 89.5 points per game, while the Wildcats are close behind, averaging 88.7.

Saturday will be the first of two meetings between the two schools this season, as Kentucky will travel to Alabama on Feb. 22. The Wildcats won last year’s matchup in Lexington, Kentucky, 117-95.

Here’s everything you need to know about Saturday’s game.

Who: No. 4 Alabama (14-3, 3-1) vs. No. 8 Kentucky (14-3, 3-1)

When: 11 a.m. CT, Saturday, Jan. 18

Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Kentucky

Watch: ESPN (Play-By-Play: Dan Shulman, Analyst: Jay Bilas)

Listen: Crimson Tide Sports Network | SIRIUS/XM 134/201 (Play-By-Play: Chris Stewart, Analyst: Bryan Passink)

Mark Sears: 6-foot-1, 190 pounds, graduate

Stats: 18.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 4.5 apg, 40.8% FG, 35.3% 3-pt

Labaron Philon: 6-foot-4, 177 pounds, freshman

Stats: 11.4 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.8 apg, 48.7% FG, 26.8% 3-pt

Jarin Stevenson: 6-foot-11, 215 pounds, sophomore

Stats: 4.9 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 0.9 apg, 35.6% FG, 22.0% 3-pt

Grant Nelson: 6-foot-11, 230 pounds, graduate

Stats: 12.0 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 1.7 apg, 53.2% FG, 25.0% 3-pt

Clifford Omoruyi: 6-foot-11, 250 pounds, graduate

Stats: 7.1 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 0.8 apg, 74.6% FG

Lamont Butler: 6-foot-2, 208 pounds, graduate

Stats: 13.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 4.7 apg, 53.5% FG, 39.5% 3-pt

Otega Oweh: 6-foot-4, 215 pounds, junior

Stats: 15.4 ppg, 4.0 rpg, 1.7 apg, 49.7% FG, 34.1% 3-pt

Jaxson Robinson: 6-foot-6, 192 pounds, graduate

Stats: 13.1 ppg, 3.9 rpg, 1.8 apg, 43.0% FG, 33.9% 3-pt

Andrew Carr: 6-foot-11, 225 pounds, graduate

Stats: 11.4 ppg, 5.8 rpg, 2.4 apg, 54.8% FG, 29.0% 3-pt

Amari Williams: 7-foot, 262 pounds, graduate

Stats: 9.8 ppg, 8.6 rpg, 2.6 apg, 55.7% FG

If Alabama wants to take down Kentucky on Saturday, its first step will need to be getting out of its own way. The Tide coughed the ball up a season-high 21 times in its loss to Ole Miss, including seven times in its first 10 possessions. While the Rebels rank second in the SEC with 272 forced turnovers, several of the Tide’s errors were self-inflicted.

“Some of them were definitely unforced against Ole Miss,” Alabama head coach Nate Oats said. “Some of them, Ole Miss did a pretty good job kind of building out on some passing lanes and we didn’t get the two feet in the lane and didn’t have – we call it – paint patience. We just weren’t very focused.”

Alabama currently ranks last in the SEC with a -2.3 turnover margin, and ranks 14th with 222 giveaways. The continued struggles with ball security have led to a heightened emphasis during practice — one that comes with punishment for any lapses in concentration.

“If you’ve got a casual turnover – we basically made paint patience a casual turnover, driving single gaps where it’s a crowd – if you’ve got those types of turnovers, you’ve got some time with Henry [Barrera] over on the bike and we’ll get a sub in for you in practice. We’ve tried to make that point.”

Fortunately for Alabama, Kentucky ranks 14th in the SEC with just 186 opponent turnovers this season. Still, the Wildcats feature a pesky guard in Lamont Butler, who is averaging 1.9 steals per game.

“I think it’s just making a huge point of emphasis, teaching them you can’t jump in the air with nowhere to go and make a pass like we did multiple times,” Oats said of his message to his team. “You can’t drive it into crowds. If you drive it into a crowd and Butler’s in a crowd tomorrow, he’s gonna take the ball from you. We’ve gotta be smart with the ball.

“Now, Kentucky’s not a high turnover rate defensive team. They’re more solid, stay in front of you, force tough 2s. But Butler will take the ball from you, and if you’re not sound with it, they will turn you over. I would hope that tomorrow we get the turnovers back down while still getting quality shots.”

Alabama’s turnovers weren’t its only issue against Ole Miss. The Tide also managed just four offensive rebounds, including one that was credited to Jarin Stevenson following a missed dunk that was then whistled for basket interference.

Some of that lack of production down low can be attributed to Ole Miss forward Malik Dia, who reeled in a career-high 19 boards. However, after looking over the film of the game, Oats said his players have no one but themselves to blame for their poor performance.

“Yeah it was an effort thing,” Oats said. “When we go with the effort we need to, we get them. When we don’t go, we don’t get them. Our crash rates, they were some of the lowest of the season. We just didn’t go.”

Following Tuesday night’s loss, Oats’ labeled his team’s performance as “disgusting.” Since then, he’s met with his veterans this week, noting that they owned up for their poor effort and realize they can’t afford to come out with the same lack of intensity moving forward.

Alabama will certainly need to come out clicking on all cylinders if it wants to beat a Kentucky team that has won its last 14 games inside Rupp Arena, including all 10 this season.

“I think [the loss to Ole Miss] did give us a wake up call,” Oats said. “We maybe overlooked Ole Miss a little bit, but I don’t know how that’s possible. They’re 3-0 and they beat good teams. Maybe just the history of some of these guys who have been here. We haven’t lost to Ole Miss since I’ve been here. I don’t know if they thought that’s why. I just told them, if you overlook anybody in this league, you’re going to take an L.”

Alabama (14-3, 3-1) and Kentucky (14-3, 3-1) both sit one game behind Auburn (16-1, 4-0) and Ole Miss (15-2, 4-0) atop the SEC standings.

— During Oats' tenure, Alabama is 9-12 against opponents ranked in the AP top-10.

— Since Oats arrived in Tuscaloosa in 2019-20, Alabama has won a league-best 65 games during SEC play tied with Kentucky.

— Kentucky is 5-0 this season against AP Top-15 opponents this year.

— Kentucky guard Otega Oweh ranks No. 18 in the SEC in scoring (15.4 ppg) and has scored in double digits in every game this season.

—Kentucky has seven players that have scored 1,000 points or more throughout their college careers in Ansley Almonor, Koby Brea, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr, Kerr Kriisa, Jaxson Robinson and Amari Williams