Florida Gators
Kentucky
Kentucky Caps Perfect Regular Season at Gators' Expense
Sunday, March 8, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
LEXINGTON, Ky. -- Nearly five minutes into the second half Saturday, Rupp Arena was very un-Rupp-like.
More than 24,000 fans had filed in to watch history and, no doubt, were expecting fireworks from their top-ranked Kentucky team seeking its next step toward college basketball immortality. The Wildcats weren't cooperating.
Neither were the Florida Gators.
UK, trying to complete the first unbeaten regular season in the blue-blood program's storied lore, led by just three points and had yet to have any of the flashy, splashy plays that showed in their first 30 victories. Each time the Wildcats had a chance to take out the lead, the Gators had an answer.
But Rupp runs can only be stemmed so many times. With the current crop of Cats, it was inevitable. Against the current, offensively challenged Gators, especially.
It took a 3-pointer by freshman guard Devin Booker to jumpstart UK's hoops cathedral, and once UK's lead was up six, then eight, then 10, then 12, there was no coming back against the sequoia frontcourt and this team on a mission.
UK freshman forward Karl-Anthony Towns scored 13 points, grabbed nine rebounds, carded three assists and swatted away six shots to lead Kentucky to a 67-50 win that capped this mega-talented squad's boat race to regular-season perfection. Classmate Trey Lyles had 14 points and six rebounds, while junior center Willie Cauley-Stein was good for eight points and seven boards.
Those three players go 6-foot-11, 6-10 and 7-1. Their backups go 7-0 and 6-9.
Yeah, that was a problem.
“They're a good team. They're a really good team,” UF sophomore point guard Kasey Hill said after tallying a game-high 15 points and repeatedly challenging UK's enormous presence around the basket. "They've got [nine] players who can all play. That's huge in college basketball. It seems like they don't care about who scores or who gets to shine. It's just all about the team. That's what it takes to be great.”
UF forward Dorian Finney-Smith tries to get a shot off Kentucky forward Karl-Anthony Towns, who had six blocked shots in the Wildcats 67-50 win Saturday. [Photos by Tim Casey]
Knowing all too well what it took to navigate a perfect Southeastern Conference season last year, Florida coach Billy Donovan couldn't help but lob heavy does of praise in the direction of UK coach John Calipari and his Wildcats (31-0, 18-0). Nearly one year ago to the day, Donovan and his team were the toasts of the league as the first to go umblemished through an 18-game league campaign.
Now there's been two in two years, only the latest still has a zero on its back overall number.
“I know there's a lot of basketball to be played, but I think what they've done may not happen again for a long, long time,” Donovan told a packed media gathering in the post-game interview room. “For people who have covered their team, I think it's really important that you at least reflect in a real positive way in what they've accomplished this season.”
The Gators (15-16, 8-10) trailed just 42-39 before Booker took a nice skip pass from penetrating guard Aaron Harrison and nailed his 3-ball to wake up a Rupp mob waiting for such a moment. The shot started a 9-2 run and marked the beginning of the end for any UF hopes of a monumental upset, as the Gators scored just 11 points the rest of the way the way.
The on-court celebration afterward wasn't anything like the scene at the O'Connell Center when fans showered the Gators -- specifically, then-seniors Patric Young, Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather and Will Yeguete -- with adoration after handing Kentucky an 85-66 defeat to tag their 18-0 season. The Bluegrass folks are far more used to winning championships around here. This season marks Kentucky's 48th SEC crown.
But the moment was hardly lost one anyone, either.
“What these kids have accomplished, as young as they are ... it's not winning every game, it's that they share. That's the story,” Calipari said. “This is a great story for college athletics; for our society. Instead of 'me, me, me,' it's 'us, us, us.' When we do that, we all benefit. Their stock personally has risen, every one of them. That's the way it's supposed to work."
Statistically, Florida hung with big, bad UK. The Gators shot 43 percent to the Wildcats' 47, made five 3-point shots to just two by Kentucky and were far more competitive on the boards (out-rebounded 31-26) than the size differential would have predicted.
“Yeah, but how many turnovers did we have?” Hill asked. “Like 25?”
The number was actually 17, but that's too many empty possessions and too many missed opportunities for an offense that already fights to put the ball in the basket and against a defense so difficult to score.
“You can't have that many turnovers,” junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith said after scoring 12 points and grabbing four rebounds. “Especially against that team.”
Especially, when that team turned it over just once in the second half. 
UF junior guard Michael Frazier II (right) played his first game since going down with an ankle injury Feb. 7 in the first Kentucky game -- a 68-61 loss at Gainesville -- and actually hit the first of his two 3-point shots, but was hobbled to the point he had to come out of the game for good. The Gators used the long ball to stick around, going 3-for-6 from the arc in the first half, as the two teams either exchanged leads or were tied nine times in the first period before Booker hit his other 3-pointer for a 26-23 edge with just under three minutes to go before halftime.
The Cats never trailed after that.
Now, here's a question: Will this team, armed with maybe six or seven first-round picks in the upcoming draft, ever trail this season when a final horn sounds? The Wildcats will be overwhelming favorites to win the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville and have locked the No. 1 overall seed in the NCAA Tournament after that.
Calipari had some fun with the speculation.
“You all don't know the bracket. You want me to guess the bracket?” he said. “I'll bet they slide the Lakers in there.”
Donovan, his 19th SEC season wrapped, was asked if this was the best Kentucky team he'd ever seen. He wasn't particularly interested in going there, referencing UK's great 2012 NCAA championship team led by Anthony Davis. No one player on the current UK team, Donovan said, is in Davis' league. 
But Donovan knows special when he sees it.
He lived it it last year.
“So much of their team is based on chemistry and how connected they are and how they play for each other, share the ball and all those other things,” Donovan said. “This team definitely does that.”
With the loss, coupled with some other results around the league, the Gators were locked into the No. 8 seed in the SEC bracket. They'll play Alabama (18-13, 8-10) in Thursday's second round. The winner advances to the Friday quarterfinals.
Against Kentucky.
“Hopefully, we can start a plan where instead of playing for 25 minutes, we actually play for 40,” Finney-Smith said. “It's been the same thing all season.”
Yes. A very imperfect season, at that.
