Kentucky Collects Fifth Quad 1 Win; Steers Closer to Double-Bye in SEC Tournament, Further From March Madness Bubble
Nothing is ever easy for this rendition of the Kentucky Wildcats, as every game seems to mirror that of an M. Night Shyamalan movie, twisting and turning across 40 minutes of basketball.
Wednesday night's 82-74 win over Florida in Gainesville was no different. A 15-point lead quickly evaporated into a one-point deficit at halftime. UK again led by double-digits down the stretch, but it was just a two-point game with less than a minute to play.
Coach John Calipari is well aware of the rollercoaster his team rides twice a week.
"This has been a grind to get this to where, you know, we're comfortable, and we're still not there," he said after the win. "You know, we're still — some errors, some tip-aways, late game — letting people that we have buried, we let them back in it, just like we did today, again. So there's things that we got to get better at."
Collecting a comfortable victory would be nice at this point in the season, but that's not how the cookie has crumbled all year, so there's no reason to expect it change now.
Regardless, a win is a win, and that's really all that matters when the month of March approaches.
UK's road win served as its fifth of the season in the Quadrant 1 category. NCAA Tournament résumés seem to revolve around the land of the four quadrants, and for a while, Kentucky was severely lacking metric-pleasing triumphs.
Two weeks ago, the Cats had just one Quad 1 win to speak of. Thanks to their three-game winning streak and some help from the contending Texas A&M Aggies — whom Kentucky defeated earlier this season — that number of wins has now bolted up to five.
Wednesday's win also boosted UK up to No. 29 in the NET. It's the first time since Dec. 22 that the Cats have cracked the top-30 and only the ninth day this season.
Bracketologists around the collegiate sphere are yet to update the new March Madness projections, but entering Saturday's home game against Auburn, Calipari's group should officially be clear of swirling around the nail-biting bubble that has the power to smite a teetering team to the NIT.
Of note, the Tigers dropped outside of the top-30 in the NET, meaning Saturday's showdown inside Rupp Arena currently won't classify in the Q1 category.
What Kentucky also has, is control of its own destiny for collecting a double-bye in the SEC Tournament. With just three games left in the regular season, the Cats are firmly third in the conference and don't have much of a chance of catching up to Texas A&M in second.
The top four teams receive byes, and UK (10-5 SEC) is a full game ahead of both Tennessee — which it defeated twice — and this weekend's opponent, Auburn. Two wins in their final three games — vs. Auburn, vs. Vanderbilt and at Arkansas — and the Wildcats will secure that No. 3-seed in Nashville.
Making it straight to the quarterfinals felt like a much bigger deal when Kentucky was on the bubble, but a quicker path to making the championship and improving its seeding on Selection Sunday sure wouldn't hurt.
NET, tournament projections and the like will get beat into your head across the final stretch of the regular season and conference-tournament play, but it bears repeating how big of a 180 the Wildcats have turned since their loss in Athens to Georgia on Feb. 11, less than two weeks ago.
More on UK's road win over Florida HERE.
More on the heavy workload being assigned to the Wildcat starters HERE.
Game notes from the victory can be seen HERE.
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