By Kenneth Cross
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – There’s no doubt about it. John Calipari’s young Kentucky Wildcats have grown up immeasurably after an impressive 76-58 win over Florida for what once seemed an improbable 3-0 start in the SEC.
Kentucky used an intense defensive effort coupled with an imposing offense in the paint to hand Florida it’s second loss in a row after the Gators opened the SEC portion of their schedule with wins over Vanderbilt and LSU.
The Wildcats held the Gators to 37.5 percent from the floor and paralyzed the Gators with 25 points off 14 turnovers while scoring 34 points in the paint.
“Against other teams that we’ve played this year, those pretty good looks became great looks,” said Florida coach Mike White. “But they’ve got elite length, closing speed on the ball and they blocked some shots of course with seven, but altered another 10.”
The Wildcats had a balanced attack as Brandon Boston, Jr. and Davion Mintz scored 13 points each, but Keion Brooks, Jr., who was medically cleared to play after missing the first nine games with a left leg injury, had his best day in his young career with 12 points, eight rebounds, and four assists.
Florida’s Anthony Duruji led all scorers with 15 points.
Kentucky held Florida to 4-of-15 field goals after Tre Mann hit a three to give Florida a 20-19 lead with 10:32 remaining.
The Wildcats put together a 14-7 run behind four each from Isaiah Jackson and Davion Mintz to go up 33-27 on a jumper by Isaiah Jackson with 3:22 remaining. Jackson had a solid game as he finished with nine points, six rebounds, and four blocks in 20 minutes.
“You’ve got to just know, know that he can do things no one else on this team can do,” said Calipari. “He can go get a block. He can go get a rebound. He can just do stuff other guys can’t do and so you know there are points in the game he needs to be in there.
Immediately in the second half, Kentucky was able to get Olivier Saar looks at the basket and he powered over Colin Castleton with two easy scores from 2-feet as Kentucky took a quick 39-31 lead.
The Wildcats would extend that lead as Mintz hit a three off the left wing and then referee Pat Adams whistled a hold on Omar Payne as the shot went in. Mintz then found Devin Askew who nailed from the same spot for a 51-33 lead with 14:37 to play.
“Knowing that you’re not just exchanging baskets, it’s that you’re trying to beat that other guy and that other team,” said Calipari. “That’s the culture here. If you don’t want that culture, then you can’t be here. So that’s where we’re now going to. This was a good game for us, but look we’ve got other games.”
In the period of that 12-2 run, Florida was only 1-of-5 from the field with four turnovers. Kentucky was up in the passing lanes and not allowing looks which frustrated the Gators as they could not find any flow and rhythm offensively.
Kentucky later had another huge run at 13-0 over three minutes which was powered by Jackson and gave the Wildcats a 66-41 lead with 8:03 to play
“I thought they were really good with their interior offense, with their interior passing, with their decisions versus some of the defensive looks we gave them and their finishing ability at the rim was high-level,” said White.
Florida started quickly with a 10-5 lead, canning four of its first five shots, but Dontai Allen came in and hit a pair of threes off the left wing for a 13-10 Wildcats lead with 14:19 remaining in the first half.
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Ken Cross, the self-proclaimed “CEO of College Hoops,” has a plethora of experience over a 20-plus year period in both print and broadcast journalism as a free-lancer on the east coast and in the Charlotte, NC area, in particular. He started with the now defunct Sports Fan Radio Network in 1997 as a reporter, giving in-game updates and then facilitating postgame interviews with players on winning teams after games via smart phones. He has also worked in the same capacity for ESPN Radio, CBS Sports Radio, Fox Sports Radio, Sporting News Radio, Yahoo! Sports Radio over the same period.
In print and on the Internet, Cross continues to write for Lindy’s Sports Annuals as one of the primary writers for the College Basketball preview as well as a writer on the Lindy’s College Football preview staff. He also contributes frequently to the Lindy’s Sports website with articles on all sports throughout the year in a feature, editorial, and game summary mode. He also writes preview material for Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook and covers Wake Forest basketball for Rivals.com.
Cross has a Bachelor’s degree in Mass Communications from Appalachian State University and a Master’s in English and Education from Radford University in Virginia. He is a member of the US Basketball Writers Association and the Football Writers Association of America.
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