Harry Fodder: A Year Later, Gators are a Year Older

Saturday, February 25

Lexington, KY

2 PM

Florida Gators

Kentucky

Those are some dejected looks on the faces of Brandon Francis-Ramirez and Chris Chiozza as the final seconds tick off last year at Rupp Arena.

Harry Fodder: A Year Later, Gators are a Year Older

Friday, February 24, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

UF didn't handle its trip to Rupp Arena very well last year, but this group has grown up.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. — As starts to games go, let's just say it was not ideal.

Florida was 15-7 and 6-3 in Southeastern Conference play last season when it went on the road to face No. 20 Kentucky at Rupp Arena on Feb. 6, 2016. Outwardly, the Gators were in the NCAA conversation, but inwardly had some chemistry issues going on. That was one problem that day. Another more significant one was the Wildcats, armed with their usual cast of future NBA players, were a lot better.

How does a 19-point deficit inside the first seven minutes sound?

"Boy, they took it to us," UF coach Mike White said Friday of that eventual 80-61 loss. "We weren't very competitive."

The purpose of this story isn't to rehash a bunch of gory details, starting with the Gators trailing 24-5, but rather to make some observations as to the distance the team has come.

* The Gators shot 39.6 percent for the game and that was with senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith going 8-for-11 from the floor and grabbing eight rebounds. The rest of the team combined to go 13-for-42 (30.9 percent).

* The starting UF backcourt of KeVaughn Allen and Chris Chiozza combined to go 2-for-14, with Allen's lone field-goal a 35-foot heave at the halftime buzzer. It cut the Gators' deficit to 50-32 because the Wildcats shot 62 percent in the first half.

* Wildcats guard Jamal Murray, the eventual No. 7 pick in the NBA Draft, shredded the Gators for 35 points, burying 13 of his 21 shots, including eight of his 10 attempts from the arc. The Gators repeatedly lost him in transition and allowed him to shake free in the halfcourt for open looks. Point guard Tyler Ulis, the eventual SEC Player of the Year, had 18 points and 11 assists.

* The lopsided defeat sent Florida on a tailspin of six losses over eight games, which sent the Gators into the NIT.

"I don't know what it was," Allen said. "I wasn't intimidated, but they just came out hitting shots and then it was like a game where we just weren't kind of hitting anything."

The Kentucky team that Florida will face Saturday at Rupp is completely different, with a whole new set of likely one-and-done NBA prospects, namely shooting guard Malik Monk, point guard De'Aaron Fox and power forward Eldrice "Bam" Adebayo. These Wildcats, currently ranked No. 11 and with the same record as the streaking Gators — 23-5 overall, 13-2 in SEC play — have the talent and firepower to run UF out of the gym. Again.

This group, though, is wired in such a way that it embraces this very difficult challenge.

"We're going to try not to let that happen again. It's about staying focused on what we have to do and we know what that is because we beat them before," said junior forward Devin Robinson, referencing Florida's 88-66 trouncing of Kentucky three weeks ago in Gainesville. "It's always about poise, especially at Rupp. We know we're not going to get any calls, so it's about keeping together and keeping a tight circle and trying to get it done."

Like Kentucky, this Florida team is different also, but for different reasons. Seven players who suited up that day are back and five of them are starters. Collectively, the Gators will use that experience as a reference point — a lesson in keeping composed — and apply it to Saturday's showdown with so much on the line relative to the SEC regular-season title and postseason tournament seeding.

The application, like anything else for this team, will have to start on defense, the area where the Gators, winners of nine straight, have been as good as any team in the country the last month of the season.

"We hope to have a very different experience [Saturday], but we'll have to get off to a good start and we'll have to play well for that to happen," White said. "It's a great environment. And they're a very, very good team."