Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s overtime loss to the Florida Gators
READ MORE
Game day: Florida 94, No. 10 Kentucky 91 (OT)
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida at Rupp Arena in Lexington.
Expand All
Three takeaways from Kentucky basketball’s 94-91 overtime loss to Florida on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.
1. Time is running out on defensive improvement
The clock is ticking. Thursday is February already. Selection Sunday will be here before you know it. And no matter how talented and entertaining this young Kentucky might be, it continues to have a ways to go on the defensive end of the floor.
If last Saturday’s 63-57 win at Arkansas was one step forward for UK’s defense, Wednesday night’s effort against Florida was two steps back. True, as UK coach John Calipari pointed out, the visiting Gators made just 41% of their shots. Not bad from the Big Blue point of view. But the Gators were also 12-for-28 from 3-point land. Not good.
Worse, the Cats could not come up with stops when they needed to come up with stops. They led 70-66 with 9:29 left, only to see Florida reclaim the lead 73-72 at the 6:26 mark. Kentucky led 75-73 with 4:49 left only to see the Gators tied matters at 77 with 3:22 remaining. And, finally, UK led 81-77 with 1:51 remaining, only to see Florida tied the game at 84 on Walter Clayton’s 3-point with five seconds remaining.
We’ll get to Cal’s late-strategy in a moment, but the bottom line is Florida made the shots it needed to win the game. And while Todd Golden’s Gators are a good offensive team — 14th in adjusted offensive efficiency according to kenpom — the Cats are going to face more offensive teams before the season is through.
It needs to find a way to do more than just outscore those teams. And that’s something this team has yet to prove it can consistently do.
2. UK’s late-game strategy failed
There were 13.5 seconds remaining in regulation when Rob Dillingham made the first two of free throws to put UK up 84-81. Dillingham missed the second free throw, however, giving the Gators one more chance in a one-possession game to send the affair to overtime.
What was Kentucky’s late-game strategy?
“There was a little more time than we wanted,” said Calipari in his postgame press conference, “but everything that we were doing was to make them shoot some two(-pointer).”
It didn’t work out. Florida point guard Zyon Pullin drove the lane, pulling in Kentucky’s defenders, then kicked the ball out to Clayton who, after a pump fake, nailed the sixth of his seven made 3-pointers to tie the game at 84 with three seconds left.
Reed Sheppard took all the blame. The UK freshman said that he moved too far into the lane to help on Pullin, thus leaving Clayton open on the left wing. Once Sheppard tried a quick defensive close-out, he fell for the Florida guard’s pump fake and ran past Clayton, leaving the former Iona star open for the shot.
“I helped too much,” Sheppard said of Clayton. “On my end, I can’t do that in a late-game situation like that. I’ve got to be locked in and know that they need a 3 to tie it. I can’t get sucked in like that on the defensive end.”
In fairness, Sheppard played every second of the game. A full 40 minutes, plus the five in overtime. That was one of Kentucky’s problems. The Cats are now 0-2 without D.J. Wagner. The freshman point guard missed Wednesday night with an ankle injury. Fellow freshman Justin Edwards also did not play after suffering a leg injury in practice last week. And in just his second game back from injuries, Adou Thiero hurt his back during the game.
“We need a full roster,” said Calipari, who said he was blaming some of the late-game mistakes on the inability to sub. “Guys were exhausted.”
Calipari also said he didn’t want to send Florida to the free-throw line because the Gators are such a good offensive rebounding team — No. 2 in the nation coming in.
Asked about UK’s late-game strategy not to foul, Florida’s Golden said things were happening so fast he didn’t even have time to think much about it. “Those things are always 50-50 anyway,” he said.
3. Kentucky-Tennessee, two teams in need of a win
Tennessee visits Rupp Arena on Saturday for an 8:30 p.m. tipoff. The Vols are coming off a 63-59 home loss to South Carolina. Now UK is coming off an overtime home loss to Florida. UK is 5-3 in the SEC; UT is 5-2. Both teams will be eager to get a win.
After all, Alabama rallied from a 17-point halftime deficit to beat Georgia 85-76 on Wednesday. The Tide is now 7-1 in SEC play. After its victory at Thompson-Boling on Tuesday, South Carolina is 6-2 in the conference. The loser of Saturday’s UK-UT clash will fall three games behind the Crimson Tide and two games behind the Gamecocks.
“We’ve got no choice,” Calipari said when asked how his team can bounce back from Wednesday’s loss. “(Tennessee) is a really good team. They’re veterans. They’ve got a couple of guys who can break you down and score.”
Kentucky sophomore center Ugonna Onyenso was terrific Wednesday. He scored 13 points, grabbed 16 rebounds and blocked eight shots. But when asked about his performance afterward, Ugo didn’t want to talk about it.
“Right now, we’re not talking about how good I played,” he said. “We lost the game. It doesn’t matter. All we’re looking for now is the next game. How are we going to prepare for the next game.”
This story was originally published February 1, 2024 at 12:24 AM.
