After the pitiful showing the Cats had down in Athens, it is now panic mode, actually, it's past that now. With the loss to Georgia, Kentucky has put themselves in an extremely difficult position of having to beat Florida on Saturday and probably will have to win a few games in the SEC Tournament to even be considered for an "at large bid". But enough about that, it's too frustrating to talk about, so lets get to the Florida preview.
Florida comes in as the best team in the SEC and their record of 24-5 (14-3) proves that. This team presents a lot of match up problems for the Cats at just about every single position. Here's a look at how these two SEC foes compare against one another....
Gators Cats
PPG: 73 74
RPG: 35 38
APG: 15 14
SPG: 7 6
BPG: 4 7
TPG: 11 13
FG%: 48 48
FT%: 69 64
3PT%: 38 35
Here's just a few of the guys Kentucky will have to try and contain to have a shot at winning on Senior Day...
Erik Murphy: 12ppg FT% 81 3PT% 46
Scottie Wibenkin: 9ppg 5.2apg 1.5spg 3PT% 37
Patrick Young: 10.5ppg 6.3rpg FG% 61
Kenny Boynton: 12.6ppg 3apg FT% 83 3PT% 33
You don't have to be a college coach to see that Kentucky has their work cut out for them. If they show up and play the way they did Thursday night, this could get ugly quick. But, if they actually play ball, use the talent and gifts God has given them, they might actually be able to pull off the upset in Rupp.
Their post season chances are about as slim as slim can get, but if there ever was a game to start rebuilding your resume and show the committee you're somewhat deserving of a bid, this is it. Obviously, they will need more than just this one game, the damage their post season hopes suffered at Georgia was detrimental, but they can repair some of that with a big win over the Gators tomorrow afternoon. If nothing else, it would almost certainly guarantee them the 2 seed in the SEC tournament thus resulting in somewhat of an easier road to the championship game next Sunday.
If you heard the players talk after the game Thursday night, you know how disgusted they were by their performance. I will be anxious to see if they will respond to that with a better hard fought effort against the Gators.
Until then, put the Georgia game out of your mind as if it never happened and lets get ready to see Kentucky add to their 93-34 lead in this series.....
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