Pregame Stuff: Florida at Kentucky (Saturday, 2 pm)
Friday, March 8, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA at No. 6 KENTUCKY
When: Sunday, 2 p.m. (EST) Where: Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky. Records: Florida (17-13, 9-8); Kentucky (25-5, 14-3) TV: CBS (Spero Dedes and Jim Spanarkel) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
Florida's three freshmen starters will get their first taste of Rupp Arena (capacity 23,000) Saturday night.
A week ago, Florida was rolling into the weekend, looking at consecutive home games to build on a season-best five-game winning streak. Instead, the Gators wasted a couple golden opportunities to lock up an NCAA Tournament at-large berth. First, they lost to Georgia, which was next-to-last in the league and to date has won only two of 15 games in Southeastern Conference play. Then came Wednesday night's overtime heartbreaker, a 79-78 loss to 10th-ranked LSU, when UF, out of a timeout and with 7.2 seconds left, failed even to get off a game-winning shot attempt. The possibility of a three-game losing to exit the regular season is very real, as the Gators travel to Kentucky to face the sixth-ranked Wildcats, which up until a week ago were one of the hottest teams in the country. UK had won 14 of 15 and when it went to Tennessee last Saturday with a chance to grab a share of first place in the SEC. Instead, the Volunteers destroyed the Cats, 71-52, but Kentucky bounced back Tuesday with a tough road win at Ole Miss. The Cats will start the day a game behind Tennessee and LSU in the standings and can only claim a share of the title if both teams lose (UT is at Auburn at noon; LSU hosts winless Vanderbilt at 8:30 p.m.). ... Kentucky leads the all-time series 101-40, including a 51-10 edge in Lexington, though UF did win at Rupp Arena last year, 66-64, part of a rare Gators sweep of the two teams' regular-season series. ... UF and UK played Feb. 2 in Gainesville, where the Cats erased an 11-point deficit with 13 minutes left, hitting nine of their last 14 shots, while the Gators missed 11 of their final 13. Kentucky won, 65-54, led by guard Tyler Herro's 19 points, plus 15 and 12 rebounds by forward PJ Washington, and another 10 points from guard Keldon Johnson, including the go-ahead-for-good 3-pointer with 4:45 remaining. Point guard Andrew Nembhard's 12 points paced Florida. ... UF is 3-4 against UK under Coach Mike White, with a 1-2 record on the road.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
Two summers ago, Tyler Herro, a shooting prodigy out of Milwaukee, was committed to his home-state University of Wisconsin, but as signing day approached had a change of heart, decommitted and eventually signed with Kentucky. If this sounds familiar, Florida fans, it was a near-blueprint version of what happened with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who had long been committed to Florida, the year before that. The Wildcats, like with Alexander (a one-and-done and NBA lottery pick last June), have benefited. Herro has been phenomenal, and has gotten better as the season has gone on, save one game a week ago. The 6-foot-5, 195-pounder is the favorite to be crowned 2019 SEC Freshman of the Year. Herro may not be the garden-variety marquee UK rookie, as he's not showing up on mock draft boards, but all he's doing is producing. Herro is averaging 14.1 points and 4.5 rebounds, while shooting 46.3 percent overall and 37.1 from the 3-point line. In the Wildcats' win at Florida, he was 6-for-8 overall, 3-for-4 from deep, 4-for-4 from the free-throw line. Herro had a career-high 29 two weeks ago in a come-from-behind win over Arkansas and 20 last time out in the win at Ole Miss. In between, Herro had a nighmarish performance at Tennessee (like the rest of his team) in scoring six points (while going 0-for-5 from the arc) with five turnovers in 35 minutes. That was an outlier. The Gators better know where Herro is parked the entire game, especially in transition, or he will make them pay.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Imagine if both Jalen Hudson (3) and KeVaughn Allen (5) could be on target for the Gators on the same night. That certainly has not been the case this season.
ABOUT THE GATORS: They almost certainly need to get to 18 wins to put themselves back in the NCAA Tournament at-large conversation and reaching that number at Lexington will take a super effort from a team that, right now, can't get its best parts working together at the same time. ... In the loss to LSU, the Gators weren't
Noah Locke
very good on defense in the first half, but fixed some things at intermission and were better, but still a little loose in spots, especially in the paint (outscored 44-26) and on the boards (out-rebounded 46-36) against the bigger and more athletic Tigers. Kentucky is built much the same way, so the Gators better be ready to bang and box out. ... Offensively, fifth-year senior guard Jalen Hudson (8.6 ppg, 2.6 rpg) erupted for a season-high 33 points in defeat Wednesday, while leading scorer KeVaughn Allen scored just four points on 1-for-6 shooting over 40 minutes and did not attempt a shot in the second half. The roles of Hudson and Allen have practically reversed of late, as Hudson has averaged nearly 14.9 points over the past eight games, compared to Allen's 5.0 points per game on 4-for-25 shooting from the floor (16 percent) and 2-for-13 from the 3-point line (15.4 percent) the previous three games. ... How insane was Hudson's scoring spree against the Tigers? In the second half, he scored 18 straight points for his team over a six-and-a-half minute stretch, a tally that was higher than any of his totals in the previous 28 games this season. Hudson's previous season-high was 17 at Vanderbilt a week earlier. ...Kevarrius Hayes had eight points, three steals, two blocks and a career-high 15 rebounds against LSU. He was incredibly active in Lexington last year (one of the best all-around games of his career, especially on defense) and the Gators won't be in the game without another such effort. ... Point guard Andrew Nembhard is averaging better than five assists per game, but has hit that number just twice over his previous 10 games, mainly because he's become a better scoring option. He's averaged nearly 10 points per game during that stretch. ... Shooting guardNoah Locke took a 7-for-35 cold spell from deep into the LSU game, but hit two of his four long-ball attempts over 28 minutes, as his groin injury continues to take its toll. Locke's 10 points made for his second double-digit scoring game over the previous seven. ... Forward Keyontae Johnson's 15 points against the Tigers were his most points in six games. He had just three rebounds, but helped make up for it with four steals. ... ABOUT THE WILDCATS: This is their 10th season under Coach John Calipari (300-69) and the team is well on its way to its average of 30.5 wins per season under the current regime, but likely will be denied (for the second straight year) a piece of what would be the 51st regular-season SEC title in school history. That's more championships than the rest of the league has combined. UK, as always, will be favored to capture the SEC Tournament crown next week in Nashville, Tenn., but that's for a later
PJ Washington
discussion. ... Kentucky is one of five teams in the country that is ranked in the top 12 in both offensive and defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com advance metrics. ... The Wildcats rank first in the league in five major rebounding categories, including margin (plus-8.9) and defensive rebounding percentage (.741), check in second in scoring defense (2nd / 65.5 ppg), field-goal percentage defense (.403) and blocked shots (5.1 pg), and third in scoring margin (plus-11.7). UK does, however, give up 3-point shots at 35.2 percent, which is next to last in the SEC, and no one makes fewer 3s than the Cats at just 6.2 per game. That latter number, though, is usually plenty, given how efficiently they score inside. ... Forward PJ Washington was supposed to be a "one-and-done" last season, but after a middling freshman campaign Washington opted to return for his sophomore season and is smack in the middle of the conversation for 2019 SEC Player of the Year and All-America status. Washington has taken all facets of his game to another level, as he leads the team in both scoring and rebounding, and has significantly improved his shooting percentages at all three levels, even stepping out and making 3s at 43.5 percent. ... Guard Keldon Johnson has started all 30 games as a freshman and is shooting better than 46 percent overall and nearly 38 from deep. ... Forward Reid Travis has missed the previous four games after injuring his knee in a win at Missouri. The grad transfer from Stanford was averaging 11.3 points and nearly seven rebounds while shooting 51 percent from the floor. He's a difference-maker on both ends and brings an element of experience that is unique to the Calipari one-and-done model. His availability (and effectiveness, of course) could be the difference between a really good postseason and a run to the Final Four. ... In Travis' place, the Cats have plugged in freshman EJ Montgomery, who happens to be another one of those McDonald's All-Americans, who happens to go 6-10, 225. Not a bad fall-back plan. ... Point guard Ashton Hagans has 16 assists and 15 turnovers over his previous five games. ... Sophomore forward Nick Richards (3.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and freshman guard Immanuel Quickley (5.5 ppg), a pair of All-America prospect backups, would start for at least 95 percent of the rest of the schools in the country.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Kevarrius Hayes (13) is the second-most prolific shot-blocker in UF history and is on the verge of becoming just the second Gator ever to swat at least 60 shots in three different seasons.
* .143 — Florida's record against ranked opponents this season, based on a 1-7 mark. UF lost at No. 17 Florida State, at home to No. 10 Michigan State and No. 3 Tennessee, at No. 24 Mississippi State, at No. 1 Tennessee, won at No. 13 LSU, lost at home to No. 10 LSU, and now gets Kentucky again on the road.
* 2 — Blocked shots needed by Hayes to give him 60 in 2018-19 and become the first player in UF history to block at least 60 shots in three seasons.
* 5 — Former McDonald's All Americans on the current UK roster. The Wildcats have signed close to two-dozen in the time since UF signed its last so-heralded players (Kasey Hill and Chris Walker in November 2012), but the Gators have two 2019 McDonald's honorees on the way next season in forward Scottie Lewis and guard Tre Mann.
* 22 — Scoring edge for Kentucky over the final 12 minutes in the last meeting, as the Wildcats outscored the Gators 34-12 down the stretch, including runs of 10-0 and 14-0 to erase UF's 11-point lead at the O'Dome.
* 75 — 3-point field goals for Locke, who now owns the record for most treys by a freshman in UF history. He passed Anthony Roberson's previous mark of 74, set in 2002-03, in the second half of the LSU game Wednesday.
* 1975 — The last year Florida faced back-to-back SEC opponents ranked in the Associated Press Top 25, as the Gators will do this week. Forty-four years ago, it was a win over No. 4 Kentucky at home on Feb. 24 and loss to No. 8 Alabama on March 1.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
Needing to win at Kentucky is not an ideal position to be in, but the Gators have only themselves to blame for their unenviable predicament.
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