Florida leads by 9 at 83-73 with just over 2 minutes to play.

Glad to see UK has hung within range. I wrote this off as a loss and feared another Vandy.

84-76 Gators with 1:20 to play.

Cats have down to 5 at 88-83 with :36 seconds to play. The points in the paint today is 36-36.

Bad start gets them. I felt when they got within five towards end of first half they maybe could get the win but Florida pushed it back any time it got sorta close. Glad for them battling at least. 

Not a bad showing. Florida is a really good team, and a team that can compete for a title. We simply aren’t at the same level as those type of teams. It sucks, but it is what it is. I thought the team played hard, and got down its normal double digits, but a lot of that today was because Florida is really good. So I am happy with how we at least competed and made it a more competitive game that I expected. 
 

Todd Golden is one of the best coaches in basketball now and has his team play a fun style to watch on both sides of the ball. It’s definitely what we want UK to be, hopefully Pope in year 3 can get it going like Golden did in year 3 last year for Florida, as he has it rolling at Florida now. 
 

I was looking back at the UK coach search thread. I mentioned Golden name as a guy that could potentially be a very good hire. I just figured UK would get one of the top established coaches, as so I didn’t think Golden at that time would be worth the risk, but then they made a risky hire in Pope anyways. So hopefully Pope gets it going in year three like Golden did. 
 

 

The Cats fall 92-83 in a game they never led. They did cut it to two points but could never tie or take the lead. They had 14 turnovers in which the Gators scored 25 points off those turnovers. With the loss the Cats fall into a tie for 3rd with Vandy currently. Next up for the Cats is Georgia at home on Tuesday with a 9:00pm tip on ESPN.

1 minute ago, DragonFire said:

Bad start gets them. I felt when they got within five towards end of first half they maybe could get the win but Florida pushed it back any time it got sorta close. Glad for them battling at least. 

Yep the consistent double digit deficits all the time is to hard to always overcome. As so much energy has to be used to come back, and when you play a team that is as good and plays as hard as Florida. It is just hard to get all the way back, and could tell our guys started getting tired in that second half. Plus as usual just not consistent enough on defense. As teams get way to many open looks against them. 
 

Things have definitely gotten better and I love how they are battling. We just aren’t at the level of teams that could potentially compete for a title. I do think this team could potentially make a sweet 16 again this year though. 

Florida is a good team and a tough place to play so for Cats to cover the spread is not bad.

Garrison again getting undeserved minutes, just can’t get it done, hopefully Pope will realize this really soon.

25 minutes ago, nikeman49 said:

Garrison again getting undeserved minutes, just can’t get it done, hopefully Pope will realize this really soon.

It is a game by game call on Garrison. He is going to get 10 minutes or more every game right now just for rotation and rest needs for the big men. With no Quaintance, Garrison is the only big man UK has that is SEC strong. Plus you had Moreno in foul trouble which puts minutes onto Garrison. He only played 17 minutes last night. He had 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. No points but it isn't like he did nothing. Maybe he got 5 more minutes last night than he should have based on how that game was going.

That said, I would like to see Pope get more minutes on a nightly basis to Jelavic. He makes mistakes but he makes plays too. I would force feed him minutes now and see if he can grow faster into more production. He has potential that Garrison and Dioubate don't have.

30 minutes ago, Voice of Reason said:

It is a game by game call on Garrison. He is going to get 10 minutes or more every game right now just for rotation and rest needs for the big men. With no Quaintance, Garrison is the only big man UK has that is SEC strong. Plus you had Moreno in foul trouble which puts minutes onto Garrison. He only played 17 minutes last night. He had 3 rebounds, 2 blocks and a steal. No points but it isn't like he did nothing. Maybe he got 5 more minutes last night than he should have based on how that game was going.

That said, I would like to see Pope get more minutes on a nightly basis to Jelavic. He makes mistakes but he makes plays too. I would force feed him minutes now and see if he can grow faster into more production. He has potential that Garrison and Dioubate don't have.

Only minutes Garrison should get is if Moreno gets in foul trouble or asks to be taken out for a quick blow, Jelavic should get the first call off the bench ahead of Garrison as his upside is much more existent. So basically agree totally with your opinion.

I really believe as Moreno gets stronger he will be a really nice post player. He had 11 and 11 as I heard on TV despite foul trouble. Garrison just leaves a lot to be desired. Is Noah injured or did I just miss him in the game? Wonder where Boogie Flan's next destination will be? He doesn't seem to want to pass the ball much and that won't fly in Golden's scheme.

2 minutes ago, 9068 said:

I really believe as Moreno gets stronger he will be a really nice post player. He had 11 and 11 as I heard on TV despite foul trouble. Garrison just leaves a lot to be desired. Is Noah injured or did I just miss him in the game? Wonder where Boogie Flan's next destination will be? He doesn't seem to want to pass the ball much and that won't fly in Golden's scheme.

Noah played 3 minutes.

21 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Noah played 3 minutes.

 

21 hours ago, Voice of Reason said:

Noah played 3 minutes.

Guess I missed him lol. Florida will be a handful in the tournament.... especially if they shoot the ball like Saturday. I just don't know if they have enough to do it again this year.