Andy Lyons - Getty Images
One of the teams on the floor at Rupp Arena tonight looked destined to win a national title in April. It wasn't Florida.
The Gators were thoroughly outclassed by Kentucky on Tuesday, falling 78-58 on the road to a Wildcats squad that looked more athletic, more poised, and more ready to make a deep run in the NCAA Tournament.
Anthony Davis dominated Florida down low, with 16 points, six rebounds, and four blocks, three in the first half, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist blew by Florida's defense, getting 13 points and 13 rebounds. Doron Lamb bombed away from deep, making four threes and scoring 18 points to lead all scorers, and Marquis Teague recovered from a shaky start and five turnovers to score 12 points and hand out 10 assists.
I list Kentucky's stats first because they matter more, and because, after the Gators zipped out to a 6-0 start, the Wildcats got whatever they wanted.
Kentucky is better than Florida, and to a degree that Erving Walker going squat-for-seven from the field is both awful and completely within the realm of reason. The 'Cats make things hard for shooters, which is part of why Florida made just six of 27 threes, and part of why Bradley Beal was most effective as a driver, and part of why Kenny Boynton's hot streak in the second half to finish with 18 points came after the outcome was beyond doubt. And Kentucky makes things difficult down low, too, which is why Patric Young had 12 points and just four rebounds.
And Kentucky is resilient enough to recover from an roundhouse to the jaw or two — Florida opened the second half on a 4-0 run after its 6-0 game-opening run, but Kentucky shrugged both runs off and redoubled — and suffocating enough on defense to weather its own bad shooting. The Wildcats made three of their first 12 shots, but Florida led just 10-9 after that stretch, and never led after 15-13 with 11:25 to go in the first half.
Florida's still talented, and still has a chance to make its own season special. But a monstrous team that looks like a squad of octopuses on defense and has a tiger's killer instincts on offense (Kidd-Gilchrist is a terror nonpareil in transition) splattered the Gators on the road tonight.
0 recs | 23 comments
Ok, so it was mostly the worst
but it wasn’t ALL BAD. A couple of things I noted on twitter: Boynton has definitely snapped his slump. This is his third game in a row hitting 3 or more 3 pointers, and his second game in 3 games that he shot .500 from beyond the arc. His temperature is comfortably in the “hot” part of the thermometer right now.
Brad Beal played well. His outside shot wasn’t falling, but he got to the rim and to the line and stole a few rebounds from much larger Kentucky interior players. He also handled the ball well, and looked much more like a combo guard than a guard-forward.
Kentucky is crazy athletic. Nearly nothing from this game can be translated to anyone else that Florida will play this year because of the absolute insanity of the team that Calipari put together this year. This is the best college basketball team since 2007 Florida, and only youth can keep them from winning the tournament.
Chekhov's Spread Gun Option - February 7, 2012
Florida not an easy team to play
Ky at Florida will be the hardest game for us to win, it will be close but I fell Florida will hold on for the W. Your thoughts are welcome.
BKM65 - February 7, 2012
Gator Hunting
Although I enjoyed the outcome of the game tonight, it was a hard game for both our teams, afraid it will be a different ending in Florida, if we can’t get past you guys in your house it will most likely end our hopes. But if we can hold off the Gator Hometown Attack The Cat, we will not be stopped.
BKM65 - February 7, 2012
You guys will beat us at home. Erving Walker will make you guys win.
Gators1 - February 7, 2012
Speaking of Erving Walker, I’m so ready for him to graduate. He is the Football version of John Brantley, only I actually liked John Brantley.
If we shoot 34% from the field, 22% from 3, and 66%(pathetic) we won’t make it out of the first round(or second round as they call it now, still first round to me). My Basketball team in Elementary School had this kid, he was our back-up, back-up, back-up Center, so imagine how terrible he was. Well, he couldn’t hit a free-throw if we moved it 5 feet closer to the hoop. Where I’m going with this is, he would be the best god damn Free Throw shooter on the Gators team.
Gators1 - February 7, 2012
Walker's not that bad
he’s first in the SEC in assists, 1st in ast/turnover amongst qualified players, 5th in O-rank, while shooting 40% from the field and 81% from FT. He makes bad decisions and has more bad games than he should, but he’s a good player.
Chekhov's Spread Gun Option - February 7, 2012
His Napoleon complex flares up against longer teams.
He made one really good decision tonight. That’s not enough to beat Kentucky, believe it or not.
Andy Hutchins - February 8, 2012
Oh, I have no doubt that his play tonight was a big part of why Florida got handled
but I won’t call him “the fooball version of John Brantley”. Mostly because that would be weird since he plays basketball, but also because Walker has been a good starter for the Gators. He’s above average, and we all probably want more than that out of UF’s starting point guard, but saying that he’s been anything less than that is exaggerating quite a bit.
Chekhov's Spread Gun Option - February 8, 2012
People who
unfairly criticize Erving Walker like this may as well carry around a sign that says, “I DON’T KNOW SHIT ABOUT FLORIDA BASKETBALL.”
Of course he makes bad decisions sometimes. Of course he’s an imperfect player. But that’s ignoring all the great things he does. Like someone pointed out, his assist to turnover ratio is tops, his raw assist numbers are tops, his shooting is good, and his free throw shooting is excellent, and he always seems to come through in the clutch. For every game he’s lost us (Butler, NCAAs), he’s won others (UCLA, NCAAs, @Georgia, 2011).
Obi_Ugochukwu - February 8, 2012
Truth
Erving does A LOT of things right on most nights. Did he have his worst night? Maybe. But he has been clutch before and I know he will be a great leader for us in March.
RowdyTownMayor - February 8, 2012
Erv is very polarizing – either you love him or hate him.
I think he fit the team better a couple years ago when we had no options. We would be better off if he didn’t jack up quick 3s this year. When he misses, the long rebound often results in an easy bucket and a 5-point swing.
skigator93 - February 8, 2012
Let’s look back on a few games this season where Bad Erving showed up….
He will be the death of this Basketball team in the First or Second round long before he will lead us to the National Championship game.
Ohio State- 1-6 shooting for 16%, 0-3 from three for 0%, 3 to’s
Wright State- 2-9 shooting for 22%, 1-6 from three for 16%, 4 to’s
Arizona- 3-16 for 18%, 1-9 for 11%, 4 to’s
Rutgers- 4-11 for 36%, 1-5 for 20% , 4 to’s
Yale- Only 3 points in 27 min
Kentucky- Just wow where was he at here?
If I really wanted to nit-pick I could name more, but those are the worst ones, and they are pretty bad.
His best game this season was the UAB game and he played pretty good against Syracuse as well. So, he CAN be decent. But, he isn’t reliable enough to lead us to a National Championship.
Gators1 - February 8, 2012
I can agree
with that assessment. I just don’t want to see people say he’s ONLY bad. I myself think Scottie Wilbekin will be a great PG for us next year. My dream is a starting line-up of Wilbekin/Boynton/Beal/Murphy/Young next year, but it won’t happen. We’re going to take a real dip next year…
Obi_Ugochukwu - February 8, 2012
Oh no doubt. I know that there is a good Erv. I know last year there were games that without him we don’t win. But, I guess that I was thinking Erv was going to go off this season and we wouldn’t see Bad Erv anymore. Last night was Bad Erv at his most bad self. How can we be a National Title contender if our Point Guard thinks he’s playing on the streets of NYC? That’s on Billy. I’m with you on Wilbekin. I like Wilbekin a lot.
I hope Good Erv is just f’ing with me and is saviNg himself for the tournament because if we get Good Erv, Good KB, and good P Young then this team can easily be a Final Four team. But without them, we’re going nowhere
Gators1 - February 8, 2012 via mobile
dream starting lineup
Why would you have Murphy in there ahead of Yeguete?
….and I feel more comfortable with Wilbekin in there this season than I do with Erv in there.
skigator93 - February 9, 2012
Anthony Davis is just one of those players
Who is so good yet is not exactly “fun” to watch. He so lanky that whatever he does is bound to look slightly awkward. It’s certainly frustrating to see him dominate in the paint like he did tonight.
CanWeBeMature - February 7, 2012
I thought he was pretty fun to watch
With the exception of Bynum and Howard, no bigs cover space so well on both sides of the court like Davis does.
Chekhov's Spread Gun Option - February 7, 2012
I agree with Chekhov
He seems to be a real blue-collar style humble kid. He doesn’t show a lot of emotion and just goes out there and swats shots like crazy. He’s probably going to be a skinny version of Ben Wallace in the NBA.
skigator93 - February 8, 2012
Just like I said in the five players to watch thing, the Gators were gonna get slaughtered. Worst loss since 2008 certainly qualifies.
FlaGators - February 8, 2012
It's one game
Too much being read into it.
BTD - February 8, 2012
That’s what I was trying to say yesterday. It’s one game, in early February. It means about as much as a baseball loss in Spring Training.
FlaGators - February 8, 2012
That was a pretty easy bet – 9 points?!?! That bet would have been in the bag halfway through the first half.
Erv is very frustrating to watch. He is too out of control, spends too much time on the floor, and takes too many ill-advised threes.
I am even more frustrated with Murphy though. Does he bring anything to the table other than a decent outside jumper? Is he capable of dunking? How does a 6’10" guy miss a wide-open unconstested layup? How can a 6’10" guy stand there and watch UK players make easy layups a dozen times? He’s simply a guard in a forward’s body. He cannot play forward and he should not be starting over Yeguete, who is my favorite Gators player.
Young looked a little intimiddated out there. He is so much stronger than Davis, he needed to use his frame more.
Kentucky just has too much talent for us to play with them, although I do think we’ll play them much tougher at home. Their defense is suffocating. the only weakness I saw at all is that they did have some trouble with full court pressure. The only problem with that, is when they did break the press, it almost always resulted in an easy dunk or layup.
One last thought – we certainly could use Vargas more than UK. We REALLY need another big because Pat and Yeguete are our only 2 bigs. We need Pitchford and/or Prather to log some minutes.
skigator93 - February 8, 2012
Criticism of Murphy, though
is warranted. That blown dunk/lay-up was unreal. He’s so ridiculously soft around the basket, it infuriates me. DUNK THE BALL. Unreal. His three-point shooting and ability to pull up over guards that are forced to switch onto him on the perimeter is about the only positive. Rebounding is meh, and post defense is meh. Damn.
Obi_Ugochukwu - February 8, 2012
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