Kentucky beat a Florida Gators team Saturday night that is tied for seventh place in the SEC standings. However, it was the most difficult conference test the Wildcats have to face all season.
Welcome to the bizarre world that is SEC basketball in 2014-15.
Sure, Kentucky was supposed to win this game on paper rather easily. After all, this is the same Gators squad that lost six nonconference games and four of the last six league contests, including an inexplicable defeat at the hands of Vanderbilt.
The only thing is that games aren’t played on paper, and the “Rowdy Reptiles” made life particularly difficult on the young Wildcats before John Calipari’s squad eventually pulled away with a 68-61 victory.
Everything started exactly how the Gators would have drawn it up. Michael Frazier II and Dorian Finney-Smith hit back-to-back threes early to whip the crowd into a frenzy, and Florida eventually built a nine-point lead in the first half. It looked like mighty Kentucky was finally going to lose this year, and it was going to come at the hands of its nemesis, Florida.
After all, the Gators beat Kentucky three times last season, which meant there was something of a mental hurdle for veterans such as Aaron Harrison, Willie Cauley-Stein and Andrew Harrison to overcome to secure Saturday’s victory. Falling behind early like the Wildcats did probably didn’t do much for their confidence in a place they have experienced little success.
It didn’t matter.
Kentucky came storming back to cut the deficit to two points by halftime and eventually overtook the home team after intermission. The win was made all the more difficult by the absence of Trey Lyles as well, because Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns had to play extended minutes down low.
The Wildcats are not going to face that hostile of an environment again the rest of the season, especially since Big Blue Nation makes almost every neutral-site tournament game feel like a de facto home contest.
Florida may be in seventh place in the league, but it is a mere two games out of second in an SEC that is completely wide-open behind the dominant Wildcats.
It is not that much of a stretch to call Saturday’s game the most difficult obstacle Kentucky will face in the league this year. That's especially true when Lyles' absence is combined with the raucous crowd, the early deficit and the mental aspect of beating a team that knocked off Kentucky three times a season ago.
Sports Illustrated’s Seth Davis even went as far as to call it Kentucky’s most impressive win of the year, which is saying a lot considering the daunting nonconference schedule it played leading up to the SEC slate:
So how did the Wildcats come away with their 23rd victory in as many tries?
There are a number of places to look, but the free-throw shooting should not be overshadowed. Kentucky drilled an incredible 21 of 22 from the charity stripe, which made a monumental difference in a narrow seven-point win. The fact that the shots came in front of a road crowd made them all the more impressive.
Florida countered with a terrible 7-of-14 mark on its free throws.
From an individual standpoint, both Aaron Harrison and Karl-Anthony Towns delivered superstar-type performances.
Harrison finished with a game-high 23 points and hit three shots from behind the arc and all eight of his free throws. What’s more, he made a number of crowd-silencing daggers from the perimeter in the second half on some of the game’s most important possessions.
Calipari was quick to praise his shooting guard in a postgame quote, via ESPN College Basketball:
Down low, Towns tallied 19 points, eight rebounds, three assists and two blocks. He made all seven of his free throws, which is certainly noteworthy for someone who checks in at 6’11” and bangs around on the blocks.
While Harrison and Towns were excellent, Cauley-Stein’s contributions should not be overlooked either. He finished with a solid 13 points and five rebounds, but it was his rim-rattling dunk in the second half that sucked the energy out of the building and gave Kentucky more confidence heading into the final minutes.
What’s more, it temporarily stunned the Gators in a critical moment. SportsCenter had the highlight:
Now that Kentucky passed what was realistically its most difficult test on the entire SEC schedule, the already-deafening undefeated discussion will only pick up steam.
There are still some tricky road games remaining at LSU, Tennessee and Georgia, but none of those opponents will bring the type of crowd and on-paper talent to the table that Florida did Saturday. If the Wildcats can overcome that environment, contests against the Tigers, Volunteers and Bulldogs should be more formalities than anything else.
Plus, Lyles will likely return at some point before the tournament, which will only bolster Kentucky’s chances with another future pro down on the blocks to give Towns and Cauley-Stein some more breathers.
Kansas couldn’t beat Kentucky. Texas couldn’t beat Kentucky. North Carolina couldn’t beat Kentucky. UCLA couldn’t beat Kentucky. Louisville couldn’t beat Kentucky. Now Florida couldn’t beat Kentucky.
Good luck to the rest of the mediocre SEC.
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