Friday, January 8, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA vs KENTUCKY
When: Saturday, 5 p.m. (EST) Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla. Records: Florida (5-2, 2-1); Kentucky (3-6, 2-0) TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen and Dick Vitale) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)
THE BASICS
Saturday's date with Kentucky will mark just the third home game for the Gators this season.
Two teams off to unique starts to the season (both the regular and Southeastern Conference seasons) square off at the O'Dome, with the winner ending the day no worse than a half-game (if Kentucky) or full game (if Florida) out of first place in the league standings. ... The Gators, after starting with two nice conference victories, are coming off a one-sided 86-71 loss at Alabama, which used a 20-4 run early in the second half to turn a tie game into a laugher. The Wildcats have bounced back from a 1-6 start (including six straight losses) that was the program's worst in nearly a century by winning their first two SEC games in come-from-behind fashion; first at Mississippi State in double-overtime, then with a go-ahead 3-pointer in the final seconds Tuesday night at home against Vanderbilt for a 77-74 win. Kentucky and Alabama are the lone unbeaten teams in the SEC, with the Crimson Tide a half-game up in the standings after the Cats had their league opener postponed due to Covid issues. ... Kentucky leads the all-time matchup 104-40, including sweeps of their home-and-home series the last two years. The teams last met March 7, 2020 in Gainesville, in a game the Gators just as soon forget. Florida led by 18 inside 12 minutes to go, but with standout big man Kerry Blackshear Jr. sidelined after fracturing a finger in the first half the home team proceeded to do an epic meltdown. The Cats roared back behind 19 points (all but two in the second half) from forward Nick Richards and 10 from forward EJ Montgomery, including his tip-in with 11.8 seconds left that proved the game-winner in a 71-70 victory for the visitors. Kentucky won despite 2020 SEC Player of the Year (and '20 first-round draft pick) Immanuel Quickley fouling out with just 12 points and backcourt mate (and '20 first-rounder) Tyrese Maxey going 1-for-11 from the floor. UF led 57-39 with 11:55 remaining, but was outscored 32-13 the rest of the way, with point guard Andrew Nembhard's desperation 3-point banging off the rim at the buzzer. ... Florida is 3-7 against Kentucky under Coach Mike White, including 2-3 at home.
What a story Dontaie Allen (11) has been. First things first: Allen is a homegrown Kentucky signee, and favorite sons have been a rarity during the John Calipari era. Allen was the 2019 Kentucky "Mr. Basketball" after scoring 3,255 during his career at Falmouth Pendleton County High, where he was averaging 42.9 as a senior when he blew out his knee in December. Think about that. Allen scored 3,255 and was awarded the most prestigious sports honor in the state without playing the final two months of his career. Allen signed with Kentucky (the program's first in-state signee since 2013), sat out the 2019-20 season rehabbing from the injury and entered '20-21 as a redshirt freshman with more external expectations (as in Big Blue Nation, which was pinning for a local-kid-makes-good story) than internal. Through UK's first seven games, Allen played a total of 10 minutes and scored just seven points, with three DNPs. Then came the SEC opener at Mississippi State, when Allen came off the bench and poured in 23 points, banging seven of his 11 3-pointers, with the bulk of his production (17 points) coming after Calipari was ejected from the game. Allen followed that performance by scoring 14 in the win at Vandy. So in two SEC games, Allen is averaging 18.5 points, shooting 52.2 percent, 64.2 from the arc, is 4-for-4 from the free throw line and pulling 4.5 rebounds per game. He's not the all-around, super-athletic playmaker type that UK has built around during Calipari's dozen seasons, but rather more a pure shooter, which is something Calipari seems to have mostly eschewed. Maybe Allen can change that. He may not be The Guy for the Cats right now, but he's been the guy the last two games, which should only make the guys around him better.
TEAM BREAKDOWNS
Junior forward Colin Castleton is averaging 19.3 on 70.6-percent shooting, plus 6.3 rebounds, in UF's three SEC games.
ABOUT THE GATORS: Through the first two league games, they played harder and made the hustle plays, but that wasn't the case in the loss to Alabama, which did a number on the Gators on both ends of the floor. The Crimson Tide were tougher on the glass, faster in transition and more urgent to loose balls. UF, meanwhile, had a bad night defensively, allowing too many straight-line drives or blow-bys, a development that will be a heavy point of emphasis going into this one. ... Florida sits at No. 22 overall in KenPom.com metrics, including 22nd in offensive efficiency, 41st in defense and 75th in tempo. ... Forward Colin Castleton was clearly a point of
Scottie Lewis
emphasis for the Tide, who swarmed him in the post and caused a couple turnovers and a slew of crowded, contested shots. He still went for 13 points and eight rebounds and is averaging 19.3 points, shooting 70.6 percent, and grabbing 6.3 boards in SEC play. ... Tre Mann's offensive numbers are a big reason the Gators are off to a decent start (45 percent from the floor and arc, as well as 77.3 percent of his free throws). He had 11 points, six assists and just two turnovers at Tuscaloosa, but like this teammates had a tough night on the defensive end. Mann, though, is doing his part on the glass, averaging a team-best 7.0 rebounds per game in SEC play. ... Speaking of tough nights, sophomore guardScottie Lewis picked up two fouls less than four minutes into the Bama game and went to the bench for the rest of the first half. Second half? Two fouls in less than three minutes. He was a none factor in going 1-for-6 from the floor and his two points were his fewest since scoring two in a foul-plagued 14 minutes in a loss at Kentucky last season. Lewis will be looking to bounce back. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke, after going 0-for-5 from deep in the win over LSU, rediscovered his touch by making three of six from deep against the Tide. ... Backup guard Tyree Appleby's 18 points were his career-high as a Gator, surpassing the 15 he put up in the opener against Army. Over the previous five games, the Cleveland State transfer had reached double-figure scoring just once. Appleby (8.9 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 20 assists, 21 turnovers) is only shooting 31.6 percent from deep, but tops the team in free-throw shooting at 90 percent (18 of 20). ... Forward Anthony Duruji, who has replaced Keyontae Johnson in the starting lineup, ranks seventh on the team in overall scoring, but third in scoring against SEC opponents (or since assuming his starting role) at 11.7 points, as well as third in rebounding at 6.0 per game. ... Who will be the first of the young newcomers to have a breakout moment? JuCo transfer forward Osayi Osifo? Freshman guard Niels Lane, whose defense is way ahead of his offense for now? Freshman wing and shooter Samson Ruzhentsev? So far, that trio has combined for 23 points in 93 minutes. ... ABOUT THE WILDCATS: They're 333-82 in 12 seasons under Calipari, including 153-41 in SEC play with six regular-season titles, six conference tournament titles, seven Sweet 16s, seven Elite Eights, four Final Fours and the 2012 NCAA title. Only once during the Calipari era (2013) have the Cats failed to reach the NCAA Tournament, but they've got some work to do with this group, which despite its 2-0 start in SEC play currently sits at No. 53 overall in KenPom, plus 83rd in offense, 25th in defense and 211th in tempo. UK's six losses have come against Richmond, Kansas, Notre Dame, North Carolina, Georgia Tech and Louisville,
Davion Mintz (10)
so the Cats have been tested. ... As usual, youth is a talking point in Lexington, what with another superstar haul that ranked at the top of the nation's recruiting rankings. The roster, though, has been watered down to injuries and issues. Terrance Clarke (10.7 ppg, 3.0 rpg), a 6-7 guard and one of the team's two 2020 McDonald's All-Americans, has been sidelined the last two games due to a nagging ankle injury. Another freshman, guard Cam'Ron Fletcher, was suspended by Calipari for his conduct during UF's loss to North Carolina and has not played in the three games since. Sophomore Keion Brooks Jr. has not played this season due to a calf injury, but the team announced Thursday he had been cleared for action. He averaged just 4.5 points last season, but was called on to start against Florida last year and hit four of his five shots, including a pair of 3s on his to 10 huge points in UK's road win. ... Of the Cats that have been playing, Creighton transfer guard Davion Mintz is their best shooter (he hit the game-winning 3-ball to beat Vanderbilt) and best defender. ... Forward Oliver Sarr was a third-team All-Atlantic Coast Conference selection at Wake Forest last season, averaging 13.7 points and 9.0 rebounds, with a 25-point outburst in an upset of Duke along the way. He doesn't shoot 3s (just four attempts this season) and has had some curious stat lines, with two points against UNC, one against Louisville. His last two games, though: 14 vs. Mississippi State and 24 against Vandy. ... Guard Brandon Boston was the most heralded of the freshmen coming in, a consensus top-10 prospect, and so far leads the team in scoring, but is off to a horrific 5-for-33 (that's 15.2 percent) from the 3-point line. He's better than that and the Gators hope he doesn't figure that out Saturday. ... Devin Askew was rated as the top 2021 point guard in the country last season, but the Sacramento, Calif., product reclassified to the '20 class. He got off to a slow start, but has been better of late (10 assists, 3 turnovers vs. SEC). ... Backup forward Jacob Toppin (4.2 ppg, 3.1 rpg) is a transfer from Rhode Island and younger brother of Obi Toppin, the 2020 NCAA Player of the Year from Dayton and lottery pick of the New York Knicks. ... Backup 6-10 freshman forward Isaiah Jackson already has 24 blocked shots.
NUMBERS WORTH NOTING
This tip-in by Kentucky forward EJ Montgomery (23) with 11.8 seconds was the Cats' 10th offensive rebound of the second half in their comeback from 18 points down with less than 12 minutes left in last year's win at the O'Dome.
* minus-12 —UF's disadvantage in the rebounding column in the second half (including minus-9 on the offensive glass) during last season's home collapse against UK. Of the Cats' 41 second-half points, fifteen of them came on second-chance possessions.
* 0 — Assists by Allen, the shooter, for Kentucky this season. No biggie, as long as he's shooting like the last two games. Plus, his minutes have been limited to just 13.6 per game.
* 3 — Assists by Locke, the shooter, who unlike Allen has started all seven games for the Gators and is averaging nearly twice the playing time at 25.6 minutes. Maybe whichever sharpshooter is hottest will be the difference-maker.
* 16 — Points needed by Castleton to equal his two-season combined scoring total of 99 at Michigan.
* 1999 — The last year the Gators and Wildcats played this early in the season. UF and UK squared off Jan. 2 of that year at Lexington, where Kentucky drummed Coach Billy Donovan's third team 93-58. A month later, the Gators won the Feb. 4 rematch in Gainesville 75-68 on the way to the the first NCAA berth in four years, their first under Donovan (and the first of 16 straight).
* 2009 — The last year Florida and Kentucky played when neither team was ranked. The date was March 7, in the regular-season finale at Gainesville, with the Gators winning 60-53 in a season that ended for both teams in the NIT. That was the fourth straight game between the two as the unranked (and the last for UK coach Billy Gillispie), with the first meeting of 2010 starting a run of 26 games when at least one of the two programs was ranked, including nine when both were ranked.
LAST WORD
If all the miscues at Alabama didn't get Florida's attention, maybe seeing "KENTUCKY" on the opponents' jerseys will. It better. The Wildcats, as they've been known to do, seem to be figure some things out and getting some dudes back in the fold.
