This Kentucky basketball team keeps showing it has a chance to be something special
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Game day: No. 6 Kentucky 87, Florida 85
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida at Gainesville, Florida.
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Don’t tell us, show us.
This Kentucky men’s basketball team keeps showing us things.
Good things.
Take Saturday afternoon at Exactech Arena against the Florida Gators. SEC opener for both schools. Kentucky’s first true road game of the season. To be more specific, the first road game for a Kentucky team that features five freshmen among its first seven players. And, oh yes, Florida was on a six-game win streak.
Despite all that, despite missing nine of its 10 three-point shots in the first half, despite being credited with all of two assists in the first 20 minutes, despite trailing by eight points at halftime and — on the road — leading only 5:25 in the entire game, Kentucky pulled out a significant and impressive 87-85 victory.
How?
“I don’t care that they’re young,” UK coach John Calipari said afterward. “They’re dogs. They have a will to win. They were playing to win the game.”
Not lying-down lazy dogs. Not whimpering dogs. Not cute little cuddly dogs, either. We’re talking never-say-die dogs, the ones who fight and fight and fight some more until they finally get that bone and won’t let go.
When Calipari built his current group of Cats, pulling in yet another top-ranked recruiting class, we knew this collection of five-star talent was not short on skill. Not all such collections are alike, however. And while skill might be a requirement for success, it is not the be-all and end-all. Talent can only take you so far.
Through 13 games, this Kentucky basketball team has shown it is more than just talented. It showed it in the Champions Classic, opening up a 14-point lead on No. 1-ranked Kansas in its third college game before the older, more established Jayhawks rallied for the win. It showed it against North Carolina in the CBS Sports Classic, making the necessary plays down the stretch to beat the veteran Tar Heels 87-83 in Atlanta.
Those efforts took a back seat to what the Cats showed Saturday, summoning the grit down the stretch to outlast the Gators.
Consider that Kentucky shot well below its No. 2 national ranking of 41.6% from 3-point land. After going 1-of-10 in the first half, the Cats were 4-for-10 in the second to finish 5-for-20 beyond the arc for a season-low 25%. And still won.
Consider that Kentucky ended up with a season-low six assists, the first game all season in which the Cats failed to register double-digits in that category. Consider that the Cats committed nine turnovers, marking the first game all season in which Calipari’s club had more turnovers than assists. And still won.
Consider that Kentucky was outrebounded 43-40, and that it had fewer offensive rebounds (11-8) and steals (8-6) than did the Gators (8). And still won.
Consider also that freshman guard D.J. Wagner scored all of two points in the first half, then 12 in the second, including a driving bucket with 3:51 left that tied the game at 74.
Consider also that UK freshman forward Aaron Bradshaw managed one rebound and zero points in 10 first-half minutes, then stepped up and drained a 3-pointer with 1:25 left to give the Cats the lead for good 79-76.
Consider that freshman Reed Sheppard stepped to the foul line and drained six straight free throws in the final 19.3 seconds to secure the victory.
“That was a really, really big win for us,” Sheppard said later, “knowing that we don’t have to play great to win. It builds our confidence a lot because when you don’t hit shots, it’s tough. At Florida, and they played really good. … We just got to continue to stick together.”
Saturday was just the first game of a long SEC season. One down, 17 to go. One January road win doesn’t guarantee anything. Not in a league that will offer plenty of other tough road (and home) games between now and Selection Sunday.
And yet, through a significant sample size of 13 games, this now 11-2 Kentucky team continues to show it might just have what it takes to be something special. Don’t tell us, show us indeed.
This story was originally published January 7, 2024 at 7:48 AM.
