24,346 on hand to see our #22 Kentucky take down #13 Gators 76-68 to give Coach Cal his 500th win of his career. Cats improve to 20-8, 8-6 in the conference. UK improves their home streak to 33, which is second best in the country behind Duke. If only the NCAA tourney was in Lex Vegas!
This win will likely keep UK in the top 25, UK has never been unranked under Coach Cal. We also still have a chance for the bye in the SEC tourney. Vandy won today to remain in the lead by one game (9-5) but we play Vandy next on Tuesday. With a win over Vandy, we would be tied and then need to beat Tennessee. Vandy must then beat Florida at home to force a tie.
If there is a tie, the first tie breaker is head to head matchup, which if we beat them Tuesday to force this tie, this would be split. The next tie breaker is record vs. the East. If UK beats Vandy and UT, we would be 7-3 and if Vandy loses to UK and beats Florida they would be 5-5 against East teams. Bottom line, if UK wins out we get the bye. If we lose to Vandy its over. If we beat Vandy and lose to UT, then Vandy would have to lose to Florida for us to get it.
This is the first time to beat a Florida team ranked this high since 2003. First time UK has beaten a ranked team in Rupp since UT last season.
The player of the game should have beeny Darius Miller as he put up another career high with 24 points. He also had 5 rebounds, 3 assist, 3 blocks and only 1 turnover.
They gave it to Knight who scored 16, 6 assists with 0 turnovers.
Other scorers:Lamb-14, Jones-8, Liggins-8, Harrellson-6 (12 rebounds, 6 offensive).
For the Gators: Boynton-21, Parsons-15, Macklin-10, Walker-10, Tyus-9, Murphy-3.
What is interesting is Murphy was the only player for Florida’s bench to score and he one 3 pointer. Shutting down their bench minimized our depth issues.
Cats shot 30-58 (51.7%) from the field, 7-14(50%) from three, 9-15 (60%) from the line. Free throw shooting was the one eye sore for the game. That is the worst free throw shooting percentage since losing to Bama in which we shot 13-22(59.1%).
UK won the rebound battle 32-29 and the turnovers margin as Florida had 10 to our 6. This is the least amount of turnovers for UK since the Indiana game.
Knight after the game:
On playing Boynton: It was fun playing against a friend from back in Florida.
The key was executing and Harrellson and Jones grabbing offensive rebounds. Some big ones late in the game, that kind of sealed it.
What does this victory mean for us? It just picks up our confidence. If we play the right way, we can beat any team in the country. They are the top team in the SEC right now.
On his knee: It’s a little sore, just need to put some ice on it.
Cal after the game:
I’m not worried about the number of wins, I’m worried about winning 20 wins and worried about beating Florida.
We had an unbelievable shoot around yesterday. The first guy in the gym was Lamb and he played well. Cal wanted to throw him out of the gym in the Arkansas shoot around and he played poorly.
Liggins played good, he rebounded the ball and did what he was suppose to do.
Cal mentioned he went zone once and Florida hit a three and he didn’t do it again. He mentioned this is why he doesn’t like zone.
Cal wasn’t happy with the lack of turnovers because he believes they were not taking chances with the ball…unless you are just that good with the ball and he doesn’t believe we are.
As mentioned Cats play Vandy Tuesday night. It will be heated as the bye may be on the line.
Go Cats! Beat Vandy!
Go CATS!~joyce
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