Game Thread: Florida (3) vs. Kentucky (12)

[Runeman]

The one thing I think made the difference was desire... and effort.

A prime example was that one rebound late when the game was still close by Prather. 6'6" standing in the middle of 4 of UK's players... 3 of which were much taller than he... and if you watch the slow motion, he literally jumped about 2' higher than the rest of their players and got that rebound... they were all tip toe rebounding.

Your right! That was some rebound; he literally out jumped the entire bunch...and if I remember correctly, they then fouled him to compound an already poor play. Yup; desire was definitely there and held us in the game and then, IMO, the better fitness program we have took its toll and they were unable to move their feet on defense sending Wilbekin to the line over and over. Think he made about 12 FT's in a row. All that FT practice Billy D. has them doing is starting to pay dividends. They also could not cover Wilbekin and Fraizer and they got some good looks at 3 pointers.

I was very impressed with our inside play of Praither, Yeguette, Finney-Smith and especially Young. Those guys battled a huge front line and held their own just fine. Doing that allowed Scottie Wilbekin to give point guard lessons to the Harrison twins and James Young....and to me that was THE difference in the game. Lets face it; a better point guard would have taken advantage of our lack of size along the base line. Randal was the guy we had no answer for and they did a poor job of getting him the ball. Did you see the slam he had with Wilbekin trying to cover? Good thing Scottie got the hell out of the way. LOL.

 

[Runeman]

And certainly not Walker. If I were judging him as a Freshman, I would say we have a great future. As a NBA lottery pick, I think he will bomb. And Dickie V mentioned it again on air last night how he would be a 1st round pick. He needs much more college..

I haven't seen it... he gets pushed around down low... fouls a lot given the time he is in the game. And other than a few dunks, has shown he can't post up and score (I have seen three shots and they didn't even hit rim... he chucked them off the backboard so hard it look more like racquetball)

You and I are in total agreement on Chris Walker. He needs to gain 30 pounds of strength and learn how to play defense and he will be just fine. I think you mentioned somewhere above, he was in yesterday's game for 2 minutes and Billy had to take him out because he was no match for the much stronger big men Kentucky had in there. One play Dakari Johnson simply shoved him out of the way and laid the ball in the hoop. Same thing against Tennessee; every time Walker was in there, they went right after him. That guy will be no use for us in the tournament...way less than I ever thought and I was only hopeful; at best.

 

[ktg8trgrl]

It's good experience for Walker tho... he learns by default..

 

[CoolStoryBro]

That was a great game last night, I got a lot of respect for Florida and BillyD. Loved Young and Wilbekin, they compliment each other very well. UK just has loads of talent, but at times it just seemed like Florida wanted it more. You can tell UK doesn't have experience playing together, seems like they should of got inside a bit more, but they'll be a scary team to play in the tournament as well, no doubt about it. Really want to see the next game between them and will be curious to see if UK can switch it up a little bit, more cohesiveness. Great game between two good teams.

 

[SwampHumpy]

Your right! That was some rebound; he literally out jumped the entire bunch...and if I remember correctly, they then fouled him to compound an already poor play. Yup; desire was definitely there and held us in the game and then, IMO, the better fitness program we have took its toll and they were unable to move their feet on defense sending Wilbekin to the line over and over. Think he made about 12 FT's in a row. All that FT practice Billy D. has them doing is starting to pay dividends. They also could not cover Wilbekin and Fraizer and they got some good looks at 3 pointers.

I was very impressed with our inside play of Praither, Yeguette, Finney-Smith and especially Young. Those guys battled a huge front line and held their own just fine. Doing that allowed Scottie Wilbekin to give point guard lessons to the Harrison twins and James Young....and to me that was THE difference in the game. Lets face it; a better point guard would have taken advantage of our lack of size along the base line. Randal was the guy we had no answer for and they did a poor job of getting him the ball. Did you see the slam he had with Wilbekin trying to cover? Good thing Scottie got the hell out of the way. LOL.

It looked like Scottie caught an elbow to the nose on that one. Did you see him come out holding his nose after?

 

[Runeman]

It looked like Scottie caught an elbow to the nose on that one. Did you see him come out holding his nose after?

I didn't see that. looked to me he stepped out of the way as Randal was going up for the slam. He might have been hit before Randal caught the pass and that's why he moved back. Randal is soooo much larger; it's easy to get elbowed in the face by a much taller man so you are probably right. I no longer have the game on record; sorry that I can't do a replay.

 

[SwampHumpy]

I didn't see that. looked to me he stepped out of the way as Randal was going up for the slam. He might have been hit before Randal caught the pass and that's why he moved back. Randal is soooo much larger; it's easy to get elbowed in the face by a much taller man so you are probably right. I no longer have the game on record; sorry that I can't do a replay.

I watched a replay of the game on Sunday morning just because it was such a well played game. Patric Young, Casey Prather, and Scottie Wilbekin were playing like there was no tomorrow. They all made multiple key plays to stop KY’s momentum in the second half. I’m so impressed with the significant improvement in FT % lately. It was so bad just a month ago. Now they look confident and teams can’t just count on staying within 10 and then fouling the shit out of weak shooters in the last 2 minutes.

I agree with everyone’s assessment of Chris Walker. He’s totally lost out there. Billy put him in late in the first half to give someone a break. He immediately was targeted, and fouled a big underneath on a move to the basket. It wasn’t so much the foul, but the utter look of confusion in his eyes and his body language that got him pulled. He’s not ready. I agree that he needs at least 20 lbs of bulk, maybe more. I don’t doubt he will be a major force given time and experience, but it was WAY premature to think he was Jesus in basketball shoes. I fell for the Koolaid, but after watching his last couple of appearances it’s very obvious he needs a lot of development.

Finally, I have a couple of unanswered questions: 1) What was the reason behind the tech foul called on Callipari late in the game? Dick V is such a putz and never shuts up that he was lost in one of his stupid rants and didn’t offer any explanation about what Callipari was pissed off about, 2) What were the KY fans booing about immediately after the buzzer sounded? Did one of our guys do the “Chomp” or something? Again, stupid ESPN said nothing about it.

 

[Runeman]

I watched a replay of the game on Sunday morning just because it was such a well played game. Patric Young, Casey Prather, and Scottie Wilbekin were playing like there was no tomorrow. They all made multiple key plays to stop KY’s momentum in the second half. I’m so impressed with the significant improvement in FT % lately. It was so bad just a month ago. Now they look confident and teams can’t just count on staying within 10 and then fouling the shit out of weak shooters in the last 2 minutes.

I agree with everyone’s assessment of Chris Walker. He’s totally lost out there. Billy put him in late in the first half to give someone a break. He immediately was targeted, and fouled a big underneath on a move to the basket. It wasn’t so much the foul, but the utter look of confusion in his eyes and his body language that got him pulled. He’s not ready. I agree that he needs at least 20 lbs of bulk, maybe more. I don’t doubt he will be a major force given time and experience, but it was WAY premature to think he was Jesus in basketball shoes. I fell for the Koolaid, but after watching his last couple of appearances it’s very obvious he needs a lot of development.

Finally, I have a couple of unanswered questions: 1) What was the reason behind the tech foul called on Callipari late in the game? Dick V is such a putz and never shuts up that he was lost in one of his stupid rants and didn’t offer any explanation about what Callipari was pissed off about, 2) What were the KY fans booing about immediately after the buzzer sounded? Did one of our guys do the “Chomp” or something? Again, stupid ESPN said nothing about it.

1st two paragraphs, I'm in total agreement.

Seems to me Calipari was grinding on the officials all game; in spite of Kentucky getting some extremely favorable calls; especially that goaltending call on Young. Florida had just created a turnover and the refs blew a foul on Kentucky; side out Florida. As everyone was going down the floor to the Florida basket, Cal was grinding of the refs and got T'd up for his trouble. I heard he said something while his back was turned to the ref and the ref hear it. 4 point swing right there at about the 10 minute mark and the score was about 45 each side. IMO, the refs were sick of his constant whining. I also heard the booing, however did not see any "chomp" signals by our guys....and I hope there were none.

Completely agree about Vitalle. It's difficult to watch a game with him around and lately, most of the games I have been watching, he's doing most of the talking.

Good thing is, our boys are healthy and playing excellent ball. Not many free looks or drives to the hoop. Very impressive defense...and that's why it's not going to work with Chris Walker. All year I felt our guys were not big enough inside. Seems to me they make up for it with better positioning and better physical fitness. Yeguette is the guy I think doesn't receive the credit for all the inside play he provides. Praither is a leaper and scores a lot and everyone knows he is great. Finney-Smith is also playing better.

Billy Donovan is a hell of a coach. In addition to the great defense, he has had the boys doing several hundred FT's each day along with a lot of outside shooting. We may lose a game or two before the NCAA, but I really don't think Billy is concerned about that as much as going into the tournament healthy. I am willing to bet we don't win the SEC tournament because of wanting to be ready for the big dance.