Florida's guards, Brandone Francis-Ramirez (2) and Chris Chiozza (11) among them, had a tough day at Rupp Arena.
Hoops Hodgepodge: UK Takeaway, Frazier II, Road Record, Tweets, etc.
Sunday, February 7, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- Three follow-up observations from Florida's loss Saturday at Kentucky that dropped the Gators to 15-8 on the season and 6-4 in Southeastern Conference play.
1) As if UF's 9-59 all-time record in road games at Kentucky (or the Wildcats' 115-4 mark in seven seasons under Coach John Calipari) doesn't provide some context to the difficulty of playing in Lexington, let's crunch some more numbers. Since the SEC first expanded for the 1991-92, the Gators are 4-21 at Rupp Arena, with UK's average margin in those wins 13.6 points. Along the way, Florida lost 13 times by double-digits, 10 times by at least 15 (Saturday included), seven times by 20 and once by 35. The latter outcome was Coach Billy Donovan's first NCAA Tournament team in 1999, by the way. In the entire SEC, only six current opposing players have ever played in a road win at Kentucky and three of them (Dorian Finney-Smith, Kasey Hill and DeVon Walker) are on the UF roster. Translation: Not only is it hard to leave Rupp victories, it's rare. So memo to exasperated fans on Twitter: Perspective, folks, perspective.
2) OK, as for the game, yes, the UF guards were cannibalized by their UK counterparts. As deadly as Jamal Murray was on his way to scoring 35 points and bombing 8-for-10 from 3, it was Tyler Ulis (18 points, 11 assists, 2 turnovers, 2 steals) who destroyed the Gators' in the open floor and halfcourt actions, and disrupted them defensively with his ability to skirt picks and deny UF even to set ball screens over his 38 minutes. Ulis absolutely befuddled Chris Chiozza, who finished with four assists and two turnovers, while going 1-for-8 from the floor in 29 minutes. While UF coach Mike White beat his team up pretty good in the post-game for its defensive performance, he also gave the Wildcats their due for the shooting arsenal put on display.
3) With two absolutely must-wins this week at home (Tuesday against Ole Miss, Saturday against Alabama), the Gators need to figure out what's become of the defense the last two games; a defense that a week ago was among the top 10 nationally in overall efficiency. Combined, Arkansas and Kentucky, two of the top three offensives in the SEC, averaged 81.5 points, shot 48.4 percent from the floor and 53.6 percent from the 3-point line. After facing the Rebels and Tide at home, Florida plays five straight opponents (Georgia, South Carolina, Vanderbilt, LSU and Kentucky) still vying for NCAA Tournament berths -- like the Gators are -- with three of those on the road.
GATOR ALUM UPDATE Michael Frazier IIThis week, we check in on Michael Frazier II, who left Florida after his 2014-15 junior season and is now in the NBA's Development League.
After signing with the Los Angeles Lakers as an undrafted free agent, Frazier was placed with the Lakers' D-League franchise, the LA D-Fenders, until being traded last month to the Iowa Energy. The 6-foot-4, 200-pounder is seeing limited time off the bench, playing on a team with a few former SEC players in Jarrell Martin (LSU), Andrew Harrison (Kentucky) and Mardracus Wade (Arkansas).
In 21 games, Frazier is averaging 5.9 points on 36-percent shooting from the floor and 33 percent from the 3-point line, plus 2.1 rebounds in just over 17 minutes per game.
In time, he could opt for the international route, a path that has been quite kind to a run of UF alums, including a number of Frazier's former teammates. We'll see. One thing's for sure, the Gators definitely could have used his shooting on this team, had Frazier opted to stick around. He left just two points shy of the 1,000-point milestone, ranked No. 6 in school history in career 3-point percentage (.432) and owned the single-season mark for 3s made (118 in 2013-14).
Good luck, Mike!
TWITTER PATTER
At least one guy was paying attention.
@GatorsChris and most of those losses at Rupp weren't even close.
This one was a surprise. Vanderbilt destroyed Texas A&M two nights earlier. Tough team to figure out. Imagine how Commodores coach Kevin Stallings feels.
Ole Miss coming to O'Dome off win when it faces #Gators on Tue night. Rebels beat Vandy 85-78 at home tonight.
Since we're talking about perspective, let's focus on Florida's performance on the road this season. No, 2-6 record isn't been very good, but guess what? Most other teams aren't very good on the road, either. Again: It's hard. In fact, only two SEC league team have a winning record away from home. Check out the league's standings below, based on road records.
No, but obviously he's really struggling on offense, hence the five DNPs. Walker is a reliable defender, but at 23.6 percent from the floor, 10.5 percent from 3, 50 percent from the free-throw line and a minus assist/turnover ratio, his opportunities are going to be limited because when the Gators have the ball defenses will back off and focus their attentions elsewhere (like on Doe-Doe, for example). It's been a frustrating fourth-year junior season for Walker, but his attitude and encouragement of his teammates is to be lauded.
FREE THROWS
In hitting his career-high of 24 points for the third time in five games, Finney-Smith is now averaging 16.9 points and nine rebounds in SEC play and on a run of 21.0 points a game over his previous five. ... Freshman guard Brandone Francis-Ramirez scored seven points at Kentucky, including another 3-pointer, and acquitted himself well enough on defense to warrant further trust from his coaches. ... The Gators went 13-for-20 from the free throw line. That's 65 percent. Not as scorching as the previous two games, but enough to inch the season percentage up some more -- now at 64.6 (an increase of more than 3 percentage points from two weeks ago). Finney-Smith and center John Egbunu were a combined 12 of 15 at the line. ... In case you were wondering, those other three SEC players who have played in wins over Kentucky are Anthlon Bell and Moses Kingsley (Arkansas in '14), along with Alex Caruso (A&M in '13).
