NEW ORLEANS – As Marquis Teague’s free-throw attempt clanged off iron, Kentucky center Anthony Davis skied upward, plucking the ball out of midair and sending it through the net in one fell swoop.
With No. 5 seed Florida on the cusp of upsetting the top-ranked team in the nation, it was arguably the best player in the nation that decided otherwise. The offensive rebound from the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year and ensuing putback put No. 1 Kentucky ahead 68-63 with just more than two minutes remaining, and was the exclamation point in the Wildcats’ 74-71 win Saturday in the SEC Tournament semifinal.
Kentucky (32-1, 16-0 SEC) pulled down 16 offensive rebounds compared to seven for Florida (23-10, 10-6 SEC), and UK went to the line 20 times, making 15 free throws, while UF went to the stripe only twice.
“How we only got there two times is beyond me,” Florida coach Billy Donovan said. “That was a huge factor for us to be that close as we were with such a huge discrepancy. … The offensive rebounding late in the second half and a few of our turnovers hurt us.”
Florida’s gameplan coming into the game was to push Kentucky up and down the floor in an attempt to wear down UK’s six-man rotation.
“It started wearing the guys out a lot because we don’t think they’re in the best of shape,” UF center Patric Young said. “It showed, because we were able to stay in the game.”
Although UF led by as many as 10 in a frenetic first half, it couldn’t maintain the same aggressiveness in the second as the Wildcats charged ahead with a 14-0 run. Up 56-51 midway through the second half, the Gators lost focus.
“We feel like our game plan worked. We just know we have to come out and play forty minutes of our game plan,” freshman Brad Beal said. “We should have kept pushing the ball.”
But that wasn’t doable when shots weren’t falling and fatigue began to set in.
“We got tired too ourselves, trying to push the ball that hard,” Donovan said.
The Gators didn’t score for more than six and a half minutes – from the 10:43 mark down to 4:10 remaining – and the one-loss Wildcats made them pay, especially on the glass. UF was outrebounded 12-2, with eight being UK offensive boards, during the scoring drought and let a five-point lead dissolve into a nine-point deficit.
“They really just crashed the boards,” said Beal, who scored 20 points and grabbed a team-high eight rebounds. “We were small but we still have to bear down and start rebounding.”
The Gators shot better than they had in two previous chances against the Wildcats, making 48.3 percent from the field including 11 of 22 from three. They only turned it over eight times and made smart decisions for much of a very physical back-and-forth game.
But it wasn’t enough to stun Kentucky and prevent the Wildcats from an opportunity at cutting down the conference nets for the second year in a row. And Donovan said the difference was clear.
“What we couldn’t overcome was the rebounding margin, in particular the offensive rebounding,” he said. “Again, I don’t understand how in a game like that we get to the free-throw line two times. … It got to a point in the second half where it was kind of like just everybody was taking each other down because no one wanted to give up anything easy.”
At one point, both benches received sideline warnings, and Young and Davis also had to be separated by an official before an inbounds play. Donovan said he was upset about the officials missing calls when Young was getting pushed in the back constantly, and guard Kenny Boynton even implied the officials were affected by the predominantly pro-Kentucky crowd at New Orleans Arena.
“We’re doing the same thing to them,” Donovan said. “I’m not saying that we’re not doing it. We’re doing the same thing. It’s just – I’ll deal with the (SEC) office on it. It’s probably the best way to put it. And I’ll have a lot to say, too.”
Contact Matt Watts at mwatts@alligator.org.
Kentucky forward Michael Kidd-Gilchrist, bottom, and Florida guard Bradley Beal (23) fight for the ball during the second half of Kentucky's 74-71 win.
