But little, if anything, worked.
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“Jamal Murray stole the show”, first-year Florida coach Michael White told reporters afterward. “I think it masks other issues”. I’m very, very discouraged, it’s like we didn’t believe he was a good shooter. “It’s our job to execute them”.
The Wildcats went on to win their last 12 games that season and won the national championship. So it wasn’t like his long-range shooting ability was a mystery. Coach wants me to shoot the open shot. “He makes you defend on ball, off the ball”.
Sophomore Tyler Ulis added 18 points and 11 assists. Their senior starter, Alex Poythress, was hurt during warmups and deemed out for the game. In fact, this will be the 6th game in which both these players go head-to-head. Kentucky jumped out to a 10-2 lead not even two minutes into the contest and didn’t let up from there. That was especially true on Saturday, as Ulis made it easy for Murray to make it look easy.
Murray and Ulis combined for 35 points to help Kentucky to a 50-32 lead at the break.
“They were all really mad about that”, Calipari said of the loss to the Vols. “It was really silent on the plane”.
Outside of Dorian Finney-Smith, who had 24 points and eight rebounds, Florida didn’t have anyone quite ready for the challenge of the ‘Cats going wild in Rupp. He reached a milestone in the win, as his 35 points tied a school record for points by a freshman in a single game.
We like Florida to cover as a 7-point dog today.
“We’ve been a lot more aggressive offensively, getting each other good looks and not really being selfish and taking wild shots”, Leon said. “He didn’t even allow our guards to get into ball screens, defensively”. I was expecting a Bama win anyway, but that should put things over the top for the Tide. They’ve also been vastly better at the line, sinking 80.6 percent after making a league-low 62.3 through the first 20 games. The Rebels have never won a road game against the Wildcats since. The Wildcats (16-6, 6-3) blew a 21-point lead and watched as the Volunteers dealt the squad a second consecutive setback.
“They’re back at home and I’m sure they’re geared up”, White said.
He and Murray did that from start to finish, helping the 20th-ranked Cats (17-6, 7-3 SEC) build their lead as big as 24 points in the first half and 26 in the second. That streak will continue for the foreseeable future.
Kentucky’s seen its share of criticism thus far as the nation isn’t familiar with a John Calipari-coached team having six losses before the month of March. “But this was good for us, a good win”.
“They’re going to come out with fire”, said Gators forward Justin Leon. Saturday, February 6, 2016 in Lexington, Ky.
UP NEXT: Up next week for the Gators a home stand, as they will host Ole Miss next Tuesday (9 p.m. ET, ESPNU) and Alabama next Saturday (5:30 p.m. ET, SEC Network) in the O’Connell Center.
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Kentucky (16-6, 6-3 in SEC) was the top-ranked team in the nation as recently as November 30, but a 9-6 stretch has it in danger of falling out of the AP poll for the first time since the end of the 2013-14 regular season.
