Kentucky vs. Florida review

Kentucky came into tonight's game against Florida riding a 5 game winning streak while on the other side, Florida had been undefeated at home this season going 11-0. These two long time rivals faced off to see who would sit atop of the SEC standings by nights end...

It didn't take long for Noel to make his presence felt as he recorded his first block of the game within the first 2 minutes and then immediately drawing a foul on the other end and going 1-1 from the line to give Kentucky a 1-0 lead. Alex Poythress looked good early as he cashed in a three point play by getting an "and one". Goodwin was up to his same old tricks by driving the lane attempting a circus shot and picking up his first foul on a charge. He has got to break that habit if he hopes to ever make it to the next level. I love his aggression, but he has got to learn to pull up and hit a jumper, teams are starting to set up for him in the lane. Who could blame them, he makes it so easy to draw a charge.

At the first break, Kentucky had a lead of 4-3 with 15:52 to go in the half. Florida's game plan early was to set up in the middle and draw the charge, they executed it perfectly early in the game. By the time the second timeout came, Florida's outside shots started falling long enough for them to quickly take a 8-4 lead with 15:18 left after forcing a Kentucky turnover on the other end. During that run by Florida, Kentucky had four straight turnovers, all but one of them unforced. The steady hand of Polson came in off the bench and immediately drains a three to cut Florida's lead to one 10-9. I love the confidence Polson plays with, the kid truly fears no one on the floor. I never thought that he would be a vital part of this team, but he is quickly changing mine and everyone else's minds the more he plays, solid player off the bench to bring in to give someone a breather. 

At the 11:56 mark, Archie Goodwin gave Kentucky back it's lead at 11-10 with thunderous dunk of a pass from Willie Cauley-Stein, that's the Archie everyone wants and expects to see every game. Stein is a great interior passer and he has shown it the last few games. If there's any lingering affects from his knee surgery, he certainly isn't showing it on the floor.  We knew guard play was going to be important in this game and early on it showed why. Florida's guards were getting to the rim at ease, no one could stay in front of their man making for easy drives to the rim and most times, easy buckets as well. 

With 7:06 remaining until halftime,  Florida led 22-15 as Kentucky showed signs of the wheels coming completely off as Calipari tried to wait for a TV timeout, but was forced to call one of his own after a turnover in the back court by Jarrod Polosn when Florida cranked up the full-court press. The Cats have got to learn how to limit their turnovers or they can expect more of that type of defense going forward this season. 

Nerlens Noel picked up his second foul with 6:26 left in the half and had to be retired to the bench and that didn't help things at all. For the first 4 minutes of the game, Kentucky played pretty good basketball, after that, they played probably the worst half of basketball I've seen them play since early in the season. Leaving three point shooters open, giving up easy offensive rebounds and trying to make something out of nothing led to the implosion in the first half. If you're John Calipari, I'm not sure what more you can do with this team to get them to understand the level they have to play at every single night. Calipari summed it up best when he gave his interview during timeout when he said "we got a couple of guys playing timid" that pretty much sums it up.

After just trying to survive until halftime, Kentucky went to the locker room down 38-25 while committing 11 turnovers, the most turnovers in a first half since having 11 in their loss to Baylor.

A couple of notes from the first half...

Florida exposed every deficiency Kentucky had coming in, lack of guard play, no post presence outside of Noel and when faced with pressure, Kentucky panics. The other thing I noticed, while Patrick Young is an excellent player he flops a lot trying to draw the charge, it worked in the first half of this one as Noel and Cauley-Stein both had two in the first half.

First Half Stats:

Noel: 3pts, 4rebs, 1 blk, 1stl, 2tos

Poythress: 4pts, 2asts, 2rebs, 1to, 1stl

Goodwin: 4pts, 2tos, 2stls

Harrow: 0pts, 0rebs, 2tos

Mays: 2pts, 3ast, 

Polson: 3pts, 1reb, 1to, 

Wiltjer: 5pts, 1to, 

Cauley-Stein: 4pts, 2rebs, 1ast, 2tos

As bout as bad of a half of basketball as you could ask for, they definitely did not look like a top 25 in team in the first half.

In the second half Kentucky scored the first point when Alex Poythress went 1-1 from the free throw line. Then on the very next possession, Murphy for Florida got away with what could only be called a head-butt on Alex Poythress as he fed Patrick Young for an up-and-under that was pretty impressive. With 17:18 left in the game, Archie Goodwin picked up his second offensive foul and that led to Florida taking it's biggest lead up to that point at 43-26. I'm not going to lie, I call it like I see it, and this was just painful to watch. The progress Kentucky made the last three weeks, they took 20 steps back tonight. When the line first came out with Florida favored by 11 points, I thought that was way too high, when am I going to learn to listen to the guys in Vegas?

Watching Florida games makes me really miss Erin Andrews, at least with her giving commentary it's a form of entertainment.

The more physical and pressure packed the games get, Ryan Harrow seems to be spending more and more time on the bench in favor of Jarrod Polson. I'm not saying Polson is a better player, if Cal had someone else to put in at point he probably would, but Ryan has got to figure things out or he'll never see the floor next year.    

At times Archie Goodwin makes getting to the rim look like an art form, most times however, he makes it look like a disaster that everyone in the building knows is coming expect Archie. When Archie comes back next year (yes he'll be back who's going to draft him?) he very well could have trouble finding floor time. Dick Vitale said it best "With the recruiting class Kentucky has coming in next year, and the guys they'll have coming back, you better get your shots in now. Because next season it won't be this easy I promise you."

Another quote from Dickie V Kentucky fans may wanna listen too "Kentucky fans may have to realize that this is just a good basketball team limited in many many areas." Couldn't have said it any better Dickie.  

With 11:49 remaining in the game, Kentucky was down 53-39 and showed no signs of the team we have seen the past few games. You'll hear a lot of people write this off as playing in a hostile environment tomorrow, I'm telling you right now don't buy that excuse. Kentucky has played better on the road this season than at home. At this point in the year, if a "hostile environment" rattles this team, hang it up and call it a day because they will never be able to play in a "hostile environment". At this point of the season, there has been enough games played that what you see is what you get. Yes Kentucky has showed some promise these past few weeks, and I'm sure some surprises are still up their sleeves, but i just don't think this team is going to reach impossible goals fans have placed upon them.

At the 8:44 mark, Archie Goodwin picked up his third offensive foul and fifth for the team. I'm afraid Archie has developed the reputation of picking up charging fouls (sarcasm). 

Disaster possibly struck late in the second half when Kentucky had just cut Florida's lead to twelve, Nerlens Noel injured his knee after blocking a shot and hitting his knee on the brace of the goal. He had to be packed off the floor by teammates. That did not look good at all for Nerlens. Completely heartbreaking hearing him scream in pain lying on the floor. Someone who gave 110% for this team night in and night out, it's hard to watch them get carried off the floor by his teammates. I know all college basketball fans and certainly us here at Big Blue Corner are wishing Nerlens a quick and speedy recovery for whatever the injury may be, hopefully it's not too serious.


Kentucky loses 69-52, but none of that matters with what happened to Nerlens Noel.

I'll give details on his injury as soon as I get them, until then, hope all is well with Nerlens