Kentucky got the early jump on the Gators and never looked back, taking an early lead and stretching to a huge one ultimately winning the game 78-57. Colin Castleton opened the scoring with a mid-range jump shot to make it 2-0 Florida but that was the only lead the Gators would have Saturday, quickly getting overwhelmed by the Wildcats without any answers for their talent, speed, and physicality. Kentucky is one of the hottest teams in college basketball right now and is a National Championship pick for many so losing to them on the road isn’t a bad loss by any stretch of the imagination, but for Florida it was a game that showed just how much ground there is to cover if they want to get back to the top of the SEC.
Handful Down Low
Oscar Tshiebwe is a National Player of the Year contender and he showed just why against the Gators putting up 27 points and 19 rebounds with 10 of those rebounds coming on the offensive end. Tshiebwe leads the country in rebounding by a large margin and is one of the best rebounders college basketball has seen in years so when he came up against the Gators, the 305th best defensive rebounding team in the country, you knew there could be trouble and he smelled blood in the water and pursued every missed shot, coming away with 9 of them. Some of his rebounds were pure overwhelming power but sometimes Florida completely lost him and allowed him to attack the glass unchecked–shocking considering his stature as an all-time great on the offensive glass. As a team Kentucky finished with 18 offensive rebounds to only 20 defensive rebounds for the Gators, as dominant a performance on the glass as you’re going to see. There were times Florida played some really good first shot defense but it was all for not with offensive rebounds from Kentucky leading to easy second chance opportunities.
Coming Out Cold
Florida played pretty good defense at times, even when it was undone with some offensive rebounds, but in a lot of ways what did them in on Saturday was their inability to score, mustering only 57 points which isn’t going to win you many games on the road. One of the reasons was an injury to Tyree Appleby which kept him out for some time and had him limited when he did go back in. For the second time in a couple of weeks he took a knee straight to the quad muscle, reaggravating a deep bruise he was already nursing. Appleby was in a ton of pain, keeping him out for a long stretch. Florida could have used some of his creativity and shot making and without him the Gators struggled to get good looks. When they did get open shots they struggled to make them which is unfortunately far from the first time that’s been an issue this year. They went 5-22 from three (23%) and they could have desperately used some of those shots to fall to soften up Kentucky’s defense. A couple of bright spots were CJ Felder who went 2-4 and Myreon Jones who went 2-3, staying hot after a couple weeks of great shooting. Given how well Jones has shot the ball you would have loved to have seen him get more attempts, something they’ll have to look at doing moving forward.
Rivalry Game
The Kentucky faithful at Rupp arena had a number of Gators to get upset with and much of the second half had the hometown fans raining down boos. Their first target was Brandon McKissic who went aggressively after a loose ball, sliding directly into the legs of freshman phenom TyTy Washington. Washington was in a ton of pain and went straight to the locker room and never returned. Rupp erupted with boos every time he touched the ball after that moment, and if Washington is injured at all the second meeting between the ‘Cats and Gators could get interesting. Next, it was Phlandrous Fleming who got caught up in the chorus of boos from Kentucky. Backup center Lance Ware got a bit tied up with Myreon Jones going for a loose ball and after the play was dead Fleming ran towards the play and gave a slight shove to the back of Ware. Given that the play had been dead for a couple of seconds the Kentucky fans weren’t happy, and after the referees reviewed it and didn’t end up penalizing Fleming they were irate. With both McKissic and Fleming on the floor for much of the remaining game time there were plenty of boos echoing through the arena.
Final Thoughts
Kentucky is an outstanding basketball team and was expected to handle the Gators easily. However, 21 points isn’t a loss the Gators should be taking to anyone and they will be disappointed with their effort on the glass as well as their struggles scoring the ball. It seemed like each of Florida’s issues as a team were spotlighted against Kentucky whether it be their rebounding, perimeter defense, and shot creation, and it was a big indication of how much better the Gators need to be if they want to get back to the top end of the SEC.