Florida Gators at Kentucky Wildcats: Postmortem of a Workmanlike Win

The Kentucky Wildcats won their quarterfinal game yesterday over the Florida Gators is somewhat typical fashion — forcing the opposing offense to hunt points like Easter eggs, and hiding them very well. One thing we can say about Kentucky these days is that nobody comes in and drops 80 on them — well, not without overtime, anyway.

Florida played very hard, had a good game plan, and basically did just about everything they could do to win the game. They rebounded extremely well for them, they scored a lot of points in the paint, and their offensive execution was pretty sharp. Unfortunately, it's just not enough to play well against Kentucky, even when Kentucky doesn't bring their very best. The Wildcats get into your legs with their great depth, and it's just hard to keep them off the free throw line. Lately, Kentucky has been incredibly efficient from the line, and letting them shoot between 20 and 30 unguarded shots is just not going to work. Nice effort, Gators, and good luck next season.

Kentucky box

Courtesy of Kenpom.com

Florida box

Courtesy of Kenpom.com

Four Factors

Courtesy of Statsheet.com

Team observations

• Kentucky's rebounding was a mixed bag. Offensive rebounding was very good at 42%, but defensive rebounding reverted, and the Wildcats only garnered 68% of the available defensive boards. That really helped Florida's efficiency.

• Kentucky's offensive efficiency was almost exactly what it was in the last game against Florida — 1.08 points per possession. A lot of that was due to a good day at the line.

• 39% from 2-point range flat-out sucks for this team, considering the smaller front line they were facing. There's no way to put lipstick on that pig, it'd just too ugly.

• 3-point shooting was inadequate in two aspects; UK didn't take enough, and they didn't make enough.

• Ballhandling was very good. 12% turnovers is never going to get a complaint from me.

• 33% assists is low, for the second game in a row the Wildcats are sub-30%. Trend, or just a Florida thing? I'm not sure, but I want to see assists go back to near 50%.

• Kentucky continues to improve in transition defense. They have gotten better at it as the year goes on.

• This game might represent a little rust from the layoff. I hope so.

Individual observations

• Karl-Anthony Towns gets the game ball for his double-double, 13 points and 12 rebounds. Towns is playing in a way that sort of looks like a combination of DeMarcus Cousins without the attitude, and Anthony Davis. That's one fine combination, if you ask me.

• Tyler Ulis played really well, and gets an honorable mention for the game ball. He had 4 assists to 1 turnover, did a great job of penetrating the defense, shot the ball well in limited attempts, and was a cockroach on defense. Great game, young man.

• Andrew Harrison continues to play well. His assist numbers could be better, but honestly, a lot of assists went by the boards due to Florida fouls. Andrew is shooting with great confidence, and his swagger may be at the highest level I have seen it since he's been here. His defense is excellent these days.

• Aaron Harrison also played well. He put up 13 points, made all his free throws, and got a block. He shot 50% from the floor, and even though his 3-point shooting is still off, he's not letting that stop him. Maturity is why.

• Trey Lyles did not shoot the ball well, primarily because he took bad shots. I think half of his eight shots were wild heaves that had about as much chance of going in if he'd closed his eyes while shooting them. He did make free throws and rebound, but he was unable to guard Florida's smaller wings.

• Willie Cauley-Stein must have been reading from the same sheet of music as Lyles when it came to shooting. He did shoot well at the line, had a couple of blocks, and overall had an okay game. Defensively, he was terrible for the first four or five minutes, then got a lot better.

• Devin Booker played okay, he just didn't get enough shots. His 3-point shooting, like Aaron's, has gone south lately.

• Dakari Johnson played okay. He missed a layup, and both free throws, but he did get a couple of blocks. 3 rebounds in 11 minutes isn't exactly Dakari-esque.

• Marcus Lee played just a couple of minutes. He got lost on defense early and never got back in.

Tying it all up

This was not a great game for Kentucky, but a win is a win. The Wildcats have had games like this all season, and the biggest reason the game looked ugly was all the fouls Florida committed, as well as the traditional Calipari "grind it out" routine after Kentucky gets a substantial lead. It may not make for the prettiest of basketball games, but nobody can argue with its efficiency.

Having dispensed of the Gators for the final time this year and fully repaid last season's ignominy at the hands of those worthies, the Wildcats turn their attention to the Auburn Tigers today at 1:00 PM. The game preview for that one will be combined into the open game thread due to the short turnaround time and the fact that I don't want to be chained to the keyboard all day.