Friday, February 24, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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A nuts and bolts look at the Gators' big road date at Lexington.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
No. 13 FLORIDA at No. 11 KENTUCKY
When: Saturday, 2 p.m. (ET) Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. Records: Florida 23-5 (13-2); Kentucky 23-5 (13-2) TV: CBS (Brad Nessler and Jim Spanarkel) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
Rupp Arena (capacity 23,500) will be rocking Saturday, as the Wildcats go looking for orange and blue blood after getting chomped in historically lopsided fashion by the Gators at Gainesville last month.
With the two teams knotted atop the Southeastern Conference standings with identical overall and league records, this one most likely will decide the conference's regular-season champion, plus the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament, although both teams have two games remaining next week. Kentucky has won no worse than a share of the past two league titles (outright in 2015 and shared with Texas A&M in '16), while Florida won the SEC outright in both 2013 and '14 under Coach Billy Donovan. ... The Gators have won nine in a row, seven of them by double-digits, including an 88-66 pounding of the Wildcats in Gainesville three weeks ago, an outcome that marked UK's worst loss as a top-10 team in 25 years. The Wildcats have won five straight since that beatdown at UF, but just two of those games were by double-digit victory margins, most recently a 72-62 road win Tuesday at struggling Missouri. ... Kentucky owns a dominate 99-40 all-time record in the series, including an even more dominant 9-50 mark at home. ... In the last meeting, the Gators smoked the Cats for 54 second-half points and got a career-high 21 points from Kasey Hill, plus 16 points and nine rebounds from forward Devin Robinson. UF at the time, however, had the services of 6-foot-11, 255-pound center John Egbunu, but he since suffered a season-ending knee injury that has changed the dynamics of the Florida starting lineup and rotation.
Freshman point guard De'Aaron Fox, yet another one-and-done NBA lottery-pick-in-waiting for the Wildcats, wasn't 100 percent healthy when the two teams played last time, having missed UK's previous game with an illness. He still came off the bench to score a team-high 19 points in 25 minutes, all the while flashing his incredible speed, quickness and ability to drive to the basket, the combination of which makes him such a coveted player at the next level. Fox leads the SEC in assists (5.4 pg), shoots it at a high percentage from the floor (.459) because he's so deft at penetrating and finishing, and is solid at the free-throw line (.723). If he was any kind of a 3-point threat (.173), Fox would be practically impossible to defend -- and he's hard enough to guard as it is. The job likely will fall to KeVaughn Allen because UF's best on-ball defender, Kasey Hill, figures to draw the Cats' top scorer (read on).
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
KeVaughn AllenABOUT THE GATORS: Their phenomenal run of defense faces its biggest test of the season against the SEC's top-scoring team, on the road and without Egbunu to protect the rim. Two of those three circumstances did not exist when UF and UK battled the last time. The Gators were at home and "Big John" manned the middle on his way to eight points, seven rebounds and a blocked shot. ... The Gators have won their nine straight by an average margin of 20.5 points, with the only non-double-digit wins coming against Texas A&M at home (UF won by 9) and at Mississippi State last weekend (by 4). ... Offensively, Florida is coming off one of its most impressive performances of the season after defeating South Carolina and the nation's No. 2-ranked defense 81-66 Tuesday at home. In that one, the Gators shot 49 percent from the floor, 47 from the 3-point line and converted 22 of 27 free throws (81.5 percent). UF went 5-for-6 from the arc over the game's final 13 minutes, compared to 0-for-5 by USC. ... The big gun in that one was shooting guard KeVaughn Allen, who played the finest all-around game of his career. Allen was aggressive on offense, scoring 26 points and attacking the rim to the tune of making 13 of 14 free throws, but was equally fierce on the defensive end with seven rebounds and a couple steals. Last year at Kentucky, Allen played timid (like most of his teammates) and scored just three points. ... Robinson was really, really good in the last meeting and, without Egbunu, his length and help defense will be needed in the post. ... CenterKevarrius Hayes had a quietly efficient game (7 points, 6 rebounds, 3 steals) against the Gamecocks, compared to the previous outing at Mississippi State when he was the difference-maker down the stretch. This game, though, Kentucky will go right at Hayes in an effort get him in foul trouble, put him on the sidelines and challenge the Gators' thin interior depth. ... Backup guard Chris Chiozza has hit double-figure scoring in five straight games, the longest such run of his career. He's averaged 12.6 points and shot 55.5 percent from the floor and 44 percent from 3 during that span (Note: The game before that scoring streak was against Kentucky. Chiozza scored two points in that when, but grabbed nine rebounds and dished nine assists; the game before that, he had a triple-double against Missouri). ABOUT THE WILDCATS: They're seeking a 50th SEC regular-season championship -- with their 49 more than the rest of the league combined -- and a piece of a fifth in the eight seasons under Coach John Calipari, who is now 240-52 at UK, including 108-27 in conference play. ... The Cats' 88.2 points per game not only ranks first in the SEC, but fourth nationally. They shoot 48.2 percent from the floor (also 1st in SEC) and 35.4 from the 3-point line, with rookie guard Malik Monk still leading the league in scoring. Monk, who rates No. 2 in the SEC from the 3-point line at 40.9 percent, was held scoreless in the first half against the Gators and finished with just 11 points on 4-for-14 from the floor, so he'll have something to prove Saturday. ... After Fox and Monk, the next key guy for the Cats is guard Isaiah Briscoe, who can often be an X-factor -- for either team. Earlier in the season, Briscoe had a triple-double against Ole Miss, but last game turned the ball over six times at Missouri and helped keep the Tigers in the game. At UF, he was just 3-for-10, grabbed three rebounds, had four turnovers, did not hit a three and missed both free-throw attempts. When he's on point and not loose with the ball, UK usually wins. ... Center "Bam" Adebayo will have a good 35-40 pounds on Hayes and figures to use every bit of it. Adebayo is coming off arguably his best game of the season after scoring 22 points and grabbing 15 rebounds at Mizzou. He's shooting nearly 61 percent from the floor. ... The Cats have a decent bench, with forward Derek Willis (7.1 ppg, 4.7 rpg), a rare UK non-walk-on senior, capable of working both inside and out (38.4 percent from 3), and guard Mychal Mulder one of the better 3-point shooters (40.7 percent) on the team.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Canyon Barry* minus-15.8 — The average number of points Florida's defense has held opponents under their per-game scoring averages during the nine-game winning streak. Only one team, Auburn, surpassed its per-game scoring average against the Gators, who in turn surpassed Auburn's points-allowed per game (78.2 at the time) by nearly 36 in a 114-95 blowout road victory.
* .152 — UF's all-time winning percentage in Lexington, based on the aforementioned 9-50 record.
* 0 — Points by backup forward Canyon Barry against South Carolina. Barry (12.7 ppg) entered the game as UF's leading scorer, but fell to No. 2 behind Allen after going scoreless for the second time this season. He played just nine minutes due to a sore ankle he rolled late against Mississippi State. He clearly was favoring the ankle against the Gamecocks, but should be further along in his recovery for his first visit to Rupp.
* 4 — Turnovers by Hayes in the last game, with two of them coming on illegal screens. He has seven turnovers in the last two games.
* 19 — Turnovers by Hill the last four games (that's nearly five per). Such miscues at Rupp often turn into roof-raising dunks that can turn the game.
* plus-25 — Florida's rebound margin in the last meeting, as the Gators obliterated the Cats 54-29 on the glass. Kentucky went into that game ranked No. 1 in the SEC (and 10th in the nation) in rebounds, compared to UF, which was 12th. This time, though, no Egbunu to body up, box out and grab.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
Last year, the Gators literally lost this game before it began. They appeared psyched out by both the opponent and the setting, and it showed from the get-go, as the Wildcats jumped to a 19-point lead less than seven minutes in on the way to an 80-61 rout. This UF team should be better wound to withstand the elements. Should be.
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