Gators score plenty but can't get stops, fall to UK 106-100
- Franz Beard
- Jan 5, 2025
- 5 min read
Scoring wasn’t the issue for 6th-ranked Florida Saturday at Rupp Arena. The Gators scored 100 points, plenty enough to win. There was that teensy problem of stops, however. The Gators didn’t get enough of them, which had plenty to do Florida losing for the first time all season.
Alijah Martin put things in perspective.
“We let them be comfortable,” Martin said after the Gators (13-1, 0-1 SEC) dropped their Southeastern Conference opener, 106-100, to 10th-ranked Kentucky (12-2, 1-0 SEC). “We let them do what they do. We let their shooters shoot. I think we beat ourselves. We’re a much better defensive team and we didn’t display it today.”
On the offensive end, Martin did his part to keep the Gators in the game. He scored 26 of which 20 came in the second half. Walter Clayton Jr. lit up the Wildcats for 33, but like Martin, he had no excuses to offer up.
“Bad defense,” Clayton said, noting that when you give up 106 points, “you’re doing something wrong defensively. Coaches gave us a game plan that we didn’t execute as players.”
The game plan was to limit Kentucky’s ability to burn the Gators from the 3-point line. With Dayton transfer Koby Brea knocking down 7-9 including four in the first half when the Wildcats rallied from down 11 to a 52-42 lead at the intermission, Kentucky went 14-29 on 3-pointers.
When Kentucky started draining the threes, it opened up the paint where the Wildcats scored another 44.
“We did two things really poorly,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We didn’t guard the three -- gave up 42 points behind the line -- and we gave up 44 in the paint. You can’t come in here and expect to win guarding that way.”
Prior to Saturday, the Gators ranked among the best defensive teams in the country. In 10 of their 13 previous games, the Gators held opponents to 69 or fewer points. North Carolina’s 84 back on December 17 was the most Florida had allowed until Kentucky.
The Gators were ahead 26-15, playing like a team on a mission to score a blowout win on the road when Kentucky caught fire behind Brea, who nailed a pair of threes during a 16-0 run that turned the game upside down for the Gators. Instead of dominating the Wildcats like they did in the first 8:47, the Gators completely lost their composure over a 3:34 stretch.
The Gators went 0-6, all six from the 3-point line, as Kentucky took control of the game.
“I did a poor job in the first half, probably should've used a timeout earlier during that run,” Golden said. “We had Walt on the bench at that time, and we were just a little out of sorts.”
Florida regained its composure enough to tie the game at 40-40 with 2:22 to go in the half, but Kentucky answered with 10 straight points and finished the half ahead 52-42. Florida spent the second half in a constant rally mode. The Gators cut the Kentucky lead to four in the first minute of the seocnd half on back-to-back threes by Martin and Clayton, but Kentucky seemed to have a response ready every time Florida got close.
The Gators closed the gap to one on three occasions in the second half. Will Richard scored on a layup and free throw with 13:27 left in the game to cut Kentucky’s once 8-point second half lead to 65-64. Alijah Martin followed his own 3-point miss by scoring in the lane with 12:48 left to narrow the UK lead to 67-66. Martin hit a 3-pointer with 12:08 to go to bring the Gators back to a 70-69 deficit.
That’s when Kentucky went on another 10-0 tear for an 80-69 lead with 9:23 to go. Clayton heated up for the Gators but so did Brea, who hit a 3-pointer with 7:58 left and another three at the 6:50 mark, the second one putting Kentucky up 89-80 wtih 6:00 left in the game.
Florida rallied back on a 7-0 run, two from the foul line by Thomas Haugh, a 3-pointer by Clayton and two foul shots that made it an 89-87 deficit with 4:16 left. Again, the Gators needed a stop but couldn’t rise up defensively. Kentucky outscored Florida 17-13 the rest of the way with the dagger a 3-pointer from the corner by Andrew Carr with 1:30 left that made it a 99-91 game.
“I think we got it to a one-possession game there middle part of the second half, and then late I think we were down four at the last media [timeout] and maybe cut it to two. Again, to Kentucky’s credit, every time we were within striking distance, they made big shots. That Carr three was huge. I think that was probably the cherry on top for them and iced it. But I thought our guys were pretty resilient. I thought we stayed the course and, process-wise, besides the defensive end I thought we were pretty good.”
Game notes: Clayton hit six 3-pointers, extending his streak to 37 games with at least one make from beyond the arc ... The Gators outrebounded Kentucky 38-30, led by Alex Condon with 10, who also had nine points, three assists and a blocked shot. Rueben Chinyelu, in addition to his 10 points, grabbed eight rebounds, handed out three assists and blocked two shots ... Condon, Richard and Haugh each scored nine points ... The Gators shot 55 percent from the field (33-60) ... On the negative side, Kentucky turned nine Florida turnovers into 20 points. The Gators turned Kentucky over only six times, scoring four points.
Florida was a dismal 22-35 from the foul line. Clayton, who was 30-33 on the season coming into the game, was just 9-13. Martin, who was hitting 81.5 percent was only 3-7.
SEC BASKETBALL
Saturday scores
No. 10 Kentucky (12-2, 1-0 SEC) 106, No. 6 FLORIDA (13-1, 0-1 SEC) 100
No. 1 Tennessee (14-0, 1-0 SEC) 78, No. 23 Arkansas (11-3, 0-1 SEC) 52
No. 2 Auburn (13-1, 1-0 SEC) 84, Missouri (11-3, 0-1 SEC) 68
No. 5 Alabama (12-2, 1-0 SEC) 107, No. 12 Oklahoma (13-1, 0-1 SEC) 79
No. 13 Texas A&M (12-2, 1-0 SEC) 80, Texas (11-3, 0-1 SEC) 60
No. 17 Mississippi State (13-1, 1-0 SEC) 85, South Carolina (10-4, 0-1 SEC) 50
No. 24 Ole Miss (12-2, 1-0 SEC) 63, Georgia (12-2, 0-1 SEC) 51
Vanderbilt (13-1, 1-0 SEC) 80, LSU (11-3, 0-1 SEC) 72
Condon, a 67% FT shooter coming into the game, went 3-7. Had Alex, Walt and Alijah hit their averages at the charity stripe, as poorly as our defense was, the Gators would have left with a win. It’s unbelievably hard to carry the pressure of those throaty 20,500 Kentucky fans at Rupp Arena.
If there is such a thing as a good loss this may be it. Helps players gain perspective