COLUMN: Kentucky's 72-67 Win Over Florida Proof Wildcats Have Turned the Corner
LEXINGTON, Ky. — Kentucky's 72-67 win over Florida on Saturday night was not one indicative of a team that has turned the corner, hitting the final stride as the regular season nears its end.
It wasn't a pretty example of basketball inside Rupp Arena — far from it. Both teams combined to make just seven of the first 30 shots taken. Bodies slid up and down the court as there appeared to be a lid on the basket for the first half of the game.
Stagnant offense, passing that led to no substantial looks, draining the shot clock and settling for an off-balance fadeaway mid-range jumper, it was gross. Call it good defense if you want, but that doesn't account for the multitude of open looks that each team failed to knock down for a majority of the evening as well.
Florida has earned a living on defense this season, but its heinous offense was outweighing its prowess on the other side of the ball. Coach Todd Golden's Gators made just seven shots in the first half, shooting 26.9 percent as a team.
UK center Oscar Tshiebwe couldn't hit water if he fell out of a boat. His tango in the paint with Florida's Colin Castleton resulted in a 2-14 shooting night, with a majority of the misses coming from spots where he's usually money.
In the words of coach John Calipari, shooting guard Antonio Reeves couldn't play because of his defense, noting that he was beat by back-door cuts on five occasions. After becoming the guy to grab a basket for the Wildcats over the past couple of weeks, he instead rode the pine for 13 minutes in the second half during a game that was never out of hand for the Gators.
The game had a similar making to many of UK's previous outings this season — most of which resulted in defeat. Lack of identity, scoring droughts galore, a good old-fashioned rock fight.
Earlier episodes in the season usually finished in disaster for the Cats. The opponent goes on a run, nailing a big shot or two while UK sputters with the ball in its hands, unable to match the output. Look back at the Champions Classic loss against Michigan State, the CBS Sports Classic defeat to UCLA or that loss to South Carolina.
Going off of previous history, the final stretch of Saturday's game was shaping up for Kentucky to crumble.
That didn't happen.
Miraculously, Kentucky never trailed at any point in the game, leading for 39:11. It wasn't due to continuous bad offense from Florida, either. The Gators continued to claw as shots began to fall. Castleton flung himself out of first gear down the stretch, totaling 19 points in the second half while guard Kris Lofton connected on a trio of 3-pointers.
The Wildcats lead hovered around double-digits until the final eight minutes of the game. Castleton and Lofton managed a swift 7-0 run to bring UF down just 59-52. Another mini 4-0 run had the Gators within five. Castleton's final basket of the game shrunk UK's lead to 68-64 with just over one minute to go in regulation.
The old Kentucky falls apart at the end of games like these.
The new Kentucky found answers.
Freshman guard Cason Wallace laced a 3-pointer from the top of the key, highlighting his team-high 20 points. Forward Jacob Toppin buried a jumper to cap-off his 17-point, 10-rebound double-double. With Tshiebwe on the bench with five fouls, it was backup sophomore Daimion Collins stepping up to the free-throw line with 50 seconds to go, making a pair of freebies to make UK's lead 70-64.
Wallace sank two final free throws after UF's Myreon Jones missed what would've been a game-tying 3-pointer, earning the Wildcats their sixth SEC win in a row, but more importantly avoiding what would've been another monumental letdown of a loss.
All eight players who took the floor for UK contributed in some way, shape or form. While Collins managed just three points, a rebound and a steal in five minutes, he proved that he's capable of playing those backup minutes at the '5' spot behind Tshiebwe, earning a team-high plus-minus of plus-11. Even Calipari admitted postgame that he needs to play more.
Freshman Chris Livingston continues to play with a gnashing intensity that doesn't show up in the box score. His four points on the night came in succession, as he followed up two free throws with a fast break layup, pushing UK's lead to 13 with less than 10 minutes to go in the game. His plus-minus was right behind Collins' at plus-eight.
CJ Fredrick made up for Reeves' off game, hitting three 3-pointers in his first game without wearing a finger splint since getting hurt in the loss at Missouri on Dec. 28. Point guard Sahvir Wheeler continues to find comfort in his new role off the bench, grabbing eight points on 4-5 shooting to go along with three assists and two rebounds.
That being said, nothing about the way that this Kentucky team plays would make someone say "wow, that's a team you don't want to see in March." There are still a plethora of head-scratching moments that don't point towards success, and every game in conference play has been the furthest thing from easy, even when it comes against the SEC's basement-dwellers.
But does any of that matter if the Wildcats continue to win games?
Finding victory with eight combined points from Tshiebwe and Reeves is astonishing in its own right. Far better offenses than the Gators' will oppose UK during the final four weeks of the regular season and beyond, but the Cats' defense continues to improve, as backed up by this statistic:
Kentucky has allowed 71 points or fewer in seven consecutive SEC regular-season games for the first time since the 2014-15 team did it 12 games in a row.
The bottom line is this: the Wildcats are still far from being considered with the elite teams in college hoops this season, but they're learning to find a way to win on a consistent basis, something that seemed like an impossible chore just a month ago.
Forget finding an identity, just find a way to keep winning basketball games. That's all that matters, anyways.
More on the win over the Gators HERE.
WATCH: Cason Wallace, CJ Fredrick, Jacob Toppin speak after win.
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