Two years ago, only a few Coleman Coliseum thousand fans witnessed Alabama’s generational basketball team beat Kentucky by 11.

It was one of many moments muted by the pandemic that was far from consciousness when an even better Crimson Tide team hosted the SEC basketball blue blood Saturday. And the old airplane hangar was rocking Saturday in a two-hour deconstruction of a powerhouse.

The 78-52 Alabama win over the preseason pick to win the SEC saw the Crimson Tide lead by a staggering 31 late in the second half. With Nick Saban sitting on the baseline, the Coleman Coliseum crowd was chanting “NIT, NIT, NIT” at a Kentucky team that lost its fifth game of the year.

It was one of those days where even the randomly selected Alabama student nailed a half-court shot during a TV timeout for a barbeque gift card.

Alabama (13-2, 3-0) saw the usual crowd fill the scoring column while center Charles Bediako did the dirty work on the interior. The 7-foot center got a standing ovation when he came out late after holding reigning national player of the year Oscar Tshiebwe to a season-low four points. The 6-foot-9 senior didn’t score until the 11:16 mark in the second half as Alabama’s interior defense locked him down.

Brandon Miller scored 12 of his game-high 19 after halftime when Mark Sears had 13 of his 16. Jahvon Quinerly also hit double figures with 12.

It was an 11-point game at halftime before Alabama went off and send the home crowd into a frenzy. The lead hit 20 with a Jaden Bradley layup 5:30 into the half before crossing the 30-point barrier 10 minutes later.

Kentucky slipped to 10-5, 1-2 in the SEC with the loss. Antonio Reeves had 20 for the Wildcats.

Alabama blew the doors off Coleman to open the day on an 11-2 run. John Calipari called a quick timeout after Noah Clowney’s dunk made it 6-0 but the onslaught wouldn’t subside for a few more minutes. With the Wildcat defense fronting center Bediako, Alabama was throwing over the top for ally-oops or layups in the opening moments.

From there, the first half became a slog of shooting droughts. Alabama star Brandon Miller missed his first four shots before a layup with 6:27 left in the half help kick-start a slow-moving but effective end to the half.

Kentucky cut it to 21-19 before the Tide outscored the Wildcats 14-5 to close the half. Miller’s 3-pointer and Jahvon Quinerly’s 3-point play in the final minute sent Alabama to the locker room up 35-24. The Tide had missed eight straight 3s before Miller found just enough room to shoot one with 52 seconds left in the half.

This post will be updated.

Michael Casagrande is a reporter for the Alabama Media Group. Follow him on Twitter @ByCasagrande or on Facebook.