Today, Kentucky tied the best start in SEC history at 32 straight victories. The team they are sharing that record with…..the Kentucky Wildcats.
After a double bye, UK came out of the gate a little slow and sloppy. Showing with the time off, they needed to shake the rust off. Coach Calipari’s message all night was one of energy, or the lack thereof from the Cats.
Florida did all they could to play the upset bid but despite being able to shoot well from the field, they couldn’t keep up with the Wildcats for the full 40 minutes.
Karl Anthony-Towns was the player of the game for Kentucky, posting yet another double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. He scored 9 of those in the second half, when UK’s offensive really started to flow. Aaron Harrison added 13 of his own as the Cats pulled away in the second half for a 64-49 victory in the quarterfinal of the SEC tournament.
The previous two meetings between UF and UK have produced some drama filled moments. In Gainesville, the Gators were moments away from putting the undefeated talk to rest. At Rupp Arena, they ran with Kentucky for 30 minutes, scaring the Big Blue faithful into believing that Florida could pull off the upset on their home court, but, UK’s depth proved too much. Tonight, UF outplayed Kentucky in most areas in the first half, but still trailed going into the locker rooms. In the second half it was all UK as they pushed the lead to 11 and then never let it get below a 2 possession game again for the rest of the night.
The key tonight for the Wildcats was keeping Florida from hitting a lot of three pointers and containing Dorian Finney-Smith and Michael Frazier II. Against Alabama, the Gators hit 9 three pointers, and Finney-Smith scored 23 points. If those two things were to happen tonight, we would have most certainly seen the Wildcats headed back to Lexington. Kentucky wasn’t going to let that happen, as they held Florida’s two leading scorers to a combined 6 points. As for 3 pointers, UF went 2-11 for an abysmal 18.2%.
Another dominating point for the Wildcats was how dominating they were at getting to the free throw line and taking advantage. UK was 19-23 from the line, while Florida was only 3-5.
“This team just has the will to win,” said Kentucky coach John Calipari in his post-game conference. Many times after the game, its perplexing how UK wins in such a dominating fashion despite losing any many major statistical categories. Calipari is always quick to respond to those quips by the media by letting them know that these kids know how to win and that the team has big time scorers now, including Freshman Towns.
Florida coach Billy Donovan has went on record to say that his team will not be accepting invitations to any post-season tournaments. Therefore, tonight was the end of the line for this underachieving Gators team, who will hope to find more teamwork during the offseason.
As for Kentucky, they march forward into the semifinals against the winner of the Auburn/LSU game. Looking to make it 33-0 on the year.