Gators Have No Answer for Murray in Wire-to-Wire Rupp Rout

Saturday, February 6

Lexington, KY

4:00 PM

Florida Gators

Kentucky

UK guard Jamal Murray rises over UF's KeVaughn Allen (4) and Justin Leon for one of his long balls. Murray went 8-for-10 from long distance in the Wildcats' win Saturday.

Gators Have No Answer for Murray in Wire-to-Wire Rupp Rout

Saturday, February 6, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

Box Score

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Barely three minutes into a game already beginning to inch out of hand, a Kentucky blocked shot started a Wildcats break with Tyler Ulis racing up the middle of the floor in transition against the Florida defense. At the free-throw line, three defenders collapsed on the superstar point guard. That's where Ulis pitched a pass to a teammate on the wing, who in turn fired a skip pass cross-court to wide-open guard Jamal Murray spotted up in the corner.

Swish.

After 20th-ranked UK's 80-61 clubbing Saturday of UF at sold-out Rupp Arena, Gators coach Mike White lamented during his post-game news conference of that very defensive breakdown early in the game that helped Murray get into an unconscious state shooting the basketball on the way to a career-high 35 points.

Then again, maybe White was talking about the play 30 seconds later.

That was when Ulis, on another break, had all five UF players converge on him as he approached the lane. Ulis wheeled to find a trailing Murray, in perfect transition rhythm for another 3-ball, another swish.

It was that kind of night for Kentucky, for Murray and, unfortunately, for Florida.

"Jamal Murray stole the show with his ability to make shots. I think he's still open right now," White deadpanned about a half-hour after Murray finished 13-for-21 from the floor and nailed eight of 10 from the 3-point line, including his first six. "I've never been a part of anything like that. I'm very, very discouraged. It was like we didn't know he was a good shooter."

The Gators (15-8, 6-4), of course, knew all about the Southeastern Conference's No. 5 scorer, just like they knew Ulis was the best point guard in the league. Ulis played like it too, scoring 18 points, dishing 11 assists and absolutely carving up the UF defense on the way to UK's 62-percent shooting in the first half and 51.7 for the game.

The Wildcats (17-6, 7-3) came in on a two-game losing streak and played like the desperate bunch everyone expected them to be in jumping to a commanding 24-5 lead after just six and half minutes. They went 12-for-20 from deep (60 percent), crushed the Gators on the boards 37-28 and were in the visitor's new Nike special-edition orange uniforms from the jump, limiting UF to 39.6 percent from the floor and just six of 19 from the arc.

It was Kentucky's offense, though, that set the tone.

"They were just making shots," said Florida senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith, who led the Gators with 24 points and eight rebounds. "We were down 20 in the first half, but it felt like 30."

They were actually down 24 in the first half. And, yes, it felt like 34.

UF point guard Chris Chiozza (11) and his teammates had all kinds of problems dealing with Kentucky playmaker Tyler Ulis.

UK did it with senior forward Alex Poythress, one of its top scorers and rebounders, a game-time scratch due to a knee suffered injury during shootaround earlier in the day.

He wasn't needed.

"Great bounce-back game," said Kentucky coach John Calipari, whose team lost at No. 4 Kansas in overtime last weekend and blew a 21-point lead on the road Tuesday in a loss at Tennessee. "To do this against this team -- that beat West Virginia by [17] and had won five of six games. This was good for us. This was a good win."

And it was a bad loss for Florida. Not that there's any shame in losing at UK, where the Gators fell to 9-50 all-time and helped Calipari improve to an astonishing 115-4 at home in his seven seasons.

No, it was a bad loss because White had higher expectations for his team as far as showing the Wildcats some fight.

"Not that we would have won the game, but it's just discouraging that we weren't even competitive," White said. "At times this year, really until the last week, our defensive numbers were really good."

And now, back-to-back opponents have tallied at least 80 points against a defense that began the day ranked second in the league in scoring per game (65.8), fourth in field-goal percentage allowed (.392) and second in 3-point percentage allowed (.312).

The Cats made a mockery of those numbers.

"We didn't come out with the intensity you need on the road," said sophomore center John Egbunu, who had 12 points and five rebounds. "In the first half, we dug ourselves a hole and it was tough to come out of it."

With Ulis running circles around Florida's three-guard rotation -- Chris Chiozza, Kasey Hill, KeVaughn Allen (10 points, 8 assists, 5 turnovers combined) -- the Wildcats hit their first four shots of the game, six of their first seven (with three 3s), 10 of their first 14 and 15 of their first 22.

At the other end, Ulis gave Chiozza no room no breath and used his quickness to zip by UF ball screens virtually unimpeded. Without any flow in the halfcourt, the Gators hit one of their first seven field goals, three of their first 14 and just six of their first 20.

Kentucky led 50-32 at the half and Murray already had 20 points, including five 3s in as many attempts. Florida's coaches stressed the last few days the importance of not allowing Murray to get separation from his defender and running him off the arc.

"It was arguably our biggest key to the game," White said.

Arguably their biggest failing, also, in a game that featured many for the Gators.