NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It may be hard to beat the same team three times in a season. But No. 5 Alabama made it look easy Friday night in its 99-70 win over No. 15 Kentucky. After picking up a home and road win over Kentucky, the Crimson Tide crushed past the Wildcats inside Bridgestone Arena to advance to the semifinals of the SEC Tournament.

The Tide’s offense got going early, running effective half-court sets early to open Kentucky’s defense and go on a 3-point barrage in the second half. Alabama’s efficient offense was matched with a strong effort against the Wildcats' best player and outstanding transition defense to bury any hope of a Kentucky upset inside Bridgestone Arena.

Here are three takeaways from Alabama’s win over Kentucky.

Alabama’s final 3-point percentage might not seem like the Tide had any struggles. But Alabama had to get hot after starting the game 0 of 9 from beyond the 3-point line.

That could have been a dangerous prospect against one of the nation’s most prolific offenses that can turn games into a track meets, but Alabama’s efficient 2-point offense was on full display to get the Tide in a rhythm. The Tide ran effective half-court sets to stretch Kentucky’s defense. That allowed for a second-half blitz from beyond the arc, as the Tide shot 9 of 16 from deep.

Well-executed pick and rolls allowed Alabama to operate its offense with very few mistakes and create mismatches. Labaron Philon thrived against Kentucky’s defense, taking over as Alabama’s leading scorer and creator while the Wildcats attempted to corral Mark Sears. Philon led Alabama with 21 points, and had four assists with just one turnover in one of the guard's better performances of the season.

Alabama successfully ran ball screens and dribble handoffs to find points and weather a poor first-half shooting display from deep. When the Tide finally connected on a triple in the opening 20 minutes, it came after forward Jarin Stevenson curled over to the right wing while Mark Sears ran a pick-and-roll and found the sophomore for a clean look. The Tide ran a similar action that led to a Chris Youngblood 3 early in the second half.

Instead of a 3, it was a pick-and-roll that led to a lob to center Clifford Omoruyi that got Alabama its first points of the game. The Tide ran that action three times in the first three minutes, leading to two easy dunks. Out of the under-16 timeout, coach Nate Oats switched up the look, putting more size on the floor running a big-to-big pick-and-roll with Grant Nelson feeding Stevenson for an and-1.

Stevenson getting in rhythm offensively early allowed him to get some open shots from deep in the second half. The sophomore had one of his better outings after Oats called for him to step up, finishing with 16 points on 6 of 8 shooting, including three 3s. Oats also challenged Mouhamed Dioubate to continue stepping up his game, and the forward got whatever he wanted in the second half, finishing with 13 points and eight rebounds.

Alabama’s guards continually recognized and attacked their mismatches whenever possible to get easy looks inside. Sears targeted Kentucky’s Travis Perry either by himself or by using pick-and-rolls to hit the rollman when Perry tried to overcompensate to stay with Sears. The star guard finished with 13 points.

For a second straight game, Alabama won the battle in transition, which became critical in a back-and-forth matchup against a Kentucky game that is able to generate scoring runs even against the nation’s elite defenses.

The Tide did an excellent job taking care of the basketball offensively but was equally as strong at cashing in opportunities created by Kentucky turnovers. Alabama finished with just 10 giveaways as it comfortably ran its offense. Kentucky, however, gave the ball away 16 times, which Alabama turned into 25 points.

Alabama is also able to feed its transition offense on the glass. The rebounding battle finished 40-33 in favor of Alabama, and the Tide limited the Wildcats to just six offensive rebounds, which not only prevented free points but allowed Alabama to get the ball up the floor before Kentucky could set its defense.

The Tide’s prowess on the glass coupled with some estute defending sucked the energy out of a primarily Kentucky-fan-filled Bridgestone Arena. It wasn’t only takeaways that helped Alabama set the tone defensively. The final blow to the Wildcats' hopes of an upset came when Alabama didn’t let them hit a field goal stretches of over three minutes and five minutes at two intervals in the second half.

But any hopes for Kentucky felt dashed long before that. Alabama turned six Kentucky turnovers into 10 points in the opening 12 minutes of the game. It got going on the defensive end to put the shorthanded Wildcats in an early hole it was never able to climb out of.

Alabama found its formula for Kentucky’s star in the two teams’ second meeting. The Tide held Wildcats' leading scorer Otega Oweh to just two points after he ran into some early foul trouble inside Coleman Coliseum.

Oweh had a much taller task on his hands Friday. One game after lifting the Wildcats past Oklahoma with a buzzer-beating layup, Kentucky needed all it could get as it was down second-leading scorer Jaxson Robinson and veteran Lamont Butler, who got hurt in the loss to the Sooners.

Kentucky’s depleted guard rotation allowed Alabama to focus much of its defensive intensity on Oweh. The normally productive scoring guard was held to just eight Friday night, ending a streak of three games where he scored over 20.

Oweh had to leave the game for a stretch in the first half after an elbow from Philon and never got his rhythm back after he returned. Other Widcats stepped up in Oweh’s place early, namely center Amari Williams, who led all scorers with 12 points in the first half. Forward Andrew Carr got going after some early foul trouble and finished with 18 points

But Alabama’s high-powered offense was just too much for the Wildcats' supporting cast to match without Oweh firing. Philon relished any chance he got to guard Oweh and some stagnant offense by Kentucky didn't help the star find his usual scoring edge.

Alabama will play Florida in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament. The Gators defeated Missouri earlier Friday night. Tipoff is set for 2:30 p.m. CT Saturday inside Bridgestone Arena. The game will be televised on ESPN.