Gators Bring Seven-Game Winning Streak and Renewed Confidence to Hallowed Rupp Arena (7 p.m., ESPN)
Tuesday, February 7, 2012 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- The past three weeks have been as successful as they've been fun for the Florida Gators, who along the way to winning seven in a row have discovered a great deal about themselves, both as a team and with respect to their individual roles. The growth has been substantial.
And so is the next challenge.
What better way to measure progress than against the absolute best. For the eighth-ranked Gators (19-4, 7-1), back in the top 10 for the first time since Christmas week, a road trip Tuesday night to face No. 1-ranked Kentucky (23-1, 9-0), winner of 48 in a row on the hallowed floor of Rupp Arena, represents an ideal gauge to see just where exactly this team is heading into the second half of the Southeastern Conference season.
“We have to go in there with a winning mindset,” junior guard and scoring leader Kenny Boynton said. “Everything else will take care of itself.”
That's true, one way or another.
Up in the Commonwealth, the rabid Big Blue faithful believe they might have one of the finest teams assembled in the storied program's history. If that raises an eyebrow, consider that Wildcats center Anthony Davis, who last week broke Shaquille O'Neal's conference record for blocks by a freshman, already is projected as the No. 1 overall pick in the NBA draft by many -- and four of his teammates are slam-dunk first-rounders, too. UK officials say executives or scouts from 26 of the NBA's 30 teams will be in the house tonight.
Florida coach Billy Donovan knows something about teams with next to no weaknesses. He had a crew a few years back like that. That bunch, with its inside-out punch on both ends, won back-to-back national championships.
This Kentucky version might be the favorite to capture the NCAA title this year.
“They can win a lot of different ways,” Donovan said. “They can win with the game going up and down the floor. They can win grinding it out. They can win with their defense. They can win with their offense. They shoot it well from behind the 3-point line. They have a lot of answers personnel-wise at every single spot, so there aren't a lot of weaknesses in their team.”
The 6-foot-10 Davis is averaging nearly 14 points on 66-percent shooting and has blocked 116 shots in 24 games. His freshman classmate Michael Kidd-Gilchrist had 20 rebounds in a game earlier this season. The 6-9, 250-pound power forward Terrence Jones is hitting 50 percent of his field goals and is a capable 3-point shooter. Guard Doron Lamb is a deadly one (47.8 percent). Point guard Marquis Teague makes it all go.
As good as Florida is, Kentucky does about everything the Gators do best just as well, if not better. Plus, the Wildcats are practically unbeatable at home, with an all-time mark of 474-60 at Rupp.
“That puts pressure on us, but it also puts pressure on them,” freshman guard Bradley Beal said. “We're coming into their place and they have to keep the winning streak going. We're going to try to go in and end it.”
The last team to win in Lexington was Georgia on March 4, 2009. That was before John Calipari was hired as coach after leading Memphis to the NCAA championship game that same year. His first UK team, with point guard and No. 1 overall NBA pick John Wall, went to a regional final. Last year's squad reached the Final Four.
After signing the No. 1 recruiting class in the country -- third straight year, by the way -- expectations for 2011-12 went through the roof. The Wildcats are in the midst of meeting them.
Now, Calipari is trying to keep his team, which has won 15 straight since losing on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at Indiana on Dec. 10, level-headed and humble.
“The issue we have is that we're one of the youngest teams in the country, if not the youngest,” Calipari said Monday of squad that starts three freshmen and two sophomores, and has not faced a ranked opponent since defeating rival Louisville 69-62 on New Year's Eve. “There's an easy transition from swagger to arrogance -- and that's where we get beat. We're a good team, but not a great team. We'd like to be as good a team as we were last year. You can talk talent, size, length, speed, but I'm talking as a basketball team. At the end of last year, we were as good as any team in the country.”
But now they're the very best in the country. For the Gators to have any shot, they'll have to make great decisions with the basketball, especially when challenging Davis and those other big men because turnovers or misses will become transition opportunities (and roof-raising dunks) on the other end. Sophomore center Patric Young has been ineffective the last two games, but needs to be involved in this game so that Davis isn't free to step out on defensive help and swat the ball into a UK fast break. UF better rediscover that long-distance touch and make some 3-pointers too (only 37.7 in SEC play).
Defensively, rebounding will be paramount. The Cats lead the SEC in virtually every rebounding category, including a margin of nearly eight per game. That puts pressure on forward Erik Murphy (4.2 rebounds per game) and Beal (6.1 rpg) to chase the ball and limit second-chance opportunities.
“You can try to take away Jones, but you're opening a whole new can of worms somewhere else,” Donovan said.
The idea is not to let the Wildcats open a can of something else by going on those wicked and deafening runs the likes of which only Rupp Arena can deliver. For what it's worth, this will mark the eighth time Florida has played Kentucky when it's been ranked No. 1. The Gators are 0-7 in the others, and 2-7 all-time versus top-ranked teams.
“Not thinking about that,” Walker said. “That's just a number, and this is just our next game.”
It just happens to be Kentucky.
“We're coming in with the mentality that we're going to play our game and focus on what we can do, not the fact they're No. 1,” Beal said. “We're just trying to win a game.”
A big one.
GATORS GAMEBOX
No. 8 Florida at No. 1 Kentucky
Tip-off: 7 p.m. (Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky.)
Records: Florida 19-4, 7-1; Kentucky 23-1, 9-0
TV: ESPN (w/Brad Nessler, Dick Vitale and Shannon Spake)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (w/Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) -- Click here for affiliates) / Sirius 220/XM 199
Game notes: Florida notes; Kentucky notes
Need to know: The biggest Southeastern Conference game of the season thus far will mark the 124th meeting in a series that dates to 1927. Kentucky is 90-33 all-time vs. Florida, including an 8-46 record at Rupp Arena, but that margin shrinks to 13-20 under Coach Billy Donovan, who has a 3-12 mark at Lexington. ... The top-ranked Wildcats have the nation's longest home winning streak at 48 straight and have won 15 in a row overall this season. ... Florida's modest seven-game winning streak is its longest since opening the 2009-10 season with eight straight victories. ... The game will be UF's third in six days, having defeated South Carolina 74-66 Thursday and then-No. 25 Vanderbilt 73-65 Saturday, both at home. ... The Gators' strength is in their three-man backcourt of junior Kenny Boynton (17.6 ppg), senior PG Erving Walker (12.6 ppg, 5.1 apg) and freshman Bradley Beal (14.3 ppg, 6.1 rpg). ... Florida leads the nation in 3-point field goals per game (10.5), but the Gators have struggled of late from the arc, making 37 percent or less from distance in five of their eight SEC games. ... Getting on track from deep against the Wildcats won't be easy. UK is allowing just 31.6 percent from the 3-point line and since the Cats lead the SEC in virtually every rebounding category, opponents aren't grabbing many misses, either. ... Four of Kentucky's nine conference wins have come by a margin of 23 points or more. ... 6-10 C Anthony Davis (13.9 ppg, 10.1 rpg, 4.8 bpg) has been the nation's most dominant big man this season and is the enforcer of Kentucky defense that surrenders just 57.7 points per game. The Cats score 78.2 per game (second only to the Gators), with three other starters in double figures, with Doron Lamb (13.5 ppg, 47.8 percent 3-pt) the biggest outside threat.
