NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Kentucky wasn’t at its best. But to beat Florida, it didn’t need to be.
The Gators fell to the unbeaten, top-ranked Wildcats 64-49 in the third round of the Southeastern Conference tournament on Friday, effectively dashing Florida’s hopes of advancing to a sixth-straight NCAA tournament.
Dorian Finney-Smith, whose heroics in Thursday’s matchup against Alabama propelled Florida forward into facing the tested yet un-triumphed Wildcats, was ineffective against Kentucky big men Willie Cauley-Stein and Karl-Anthony Towns.
The redshirt junior scored just four points after going 2-of-10 from the field as the Gators struggled to score inside consistently.
As has been the case in Florida’s previous two contests with Kentucky, the Gators were forced to foul the Wildcats in the paint and hope for missed free throws.
But Kentucky went 19-of-23 from the charity stripe, making sure to convert on its opportunities while the Gators (16-17) couldn’t seem to get to the line.
“They out-rebounded us a little bit, but the difference in the game was the free-throw line,” coach Billy Donovan said. “23 attempts to our five was a huge factor in the game.”
“Yeah, my thing in the game, I don’t think that Kentucky going to the free-throw line 23 times was unwarranted. I think we probably did foul them. But I know we should have been to the free-throw line more than five times.”
Florida came out with the intensity needed to compete with Kentucky (32-0), but it was clear the Wildcats were too much for the Gators to handle.
Kentucky took a 31-27 lead into halftime that soon became double digits in the second half before Florida was able to string together a series of successful offensive possessions that pulled the game to 50-45 with less than eight minutes to play.
But the Wildcats ended the game on a decisive 14-4 run that ended any Florida hopes of playing spoiler to Kentucky’s perfect season.
For now, the Gators must wait.
With Florida assured to miss out on the NCAA Tournament, the Gators must hope the National Invitation Tournament ignores their below-.500 record and invites UF based on its strength of schedule.
The NIT has never invited a team with a losing record in the 77 years of the tournament’s existence – but that may change on Sunday.
Along with being one of the most difficult seasons he’s been a part of, Donovan said that he’s still figuring out how to get this year’s team to play to its talent level.
And with the postseason hanging in the balance, Donovan said that this year’s team didn’t live up to his expectations.
“I think one of the things that is interesting for these guys is, I think, I don’t think a lot of them ever really played up to their potential or their ability,” Donovan said. “Because in order for them to be able to do that, they needed the guy standing next to them to help. When the guy standing next to them is more wrapped up in himself than helping somebody else, what happens is you have a lot of guys that appear to have underachieved. And that’s really what happened.”
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Florida forward Dorian Finney-Smith (10) shoots against Kentucky center Dakari Johnson (44) during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game in the quarter final round of the Southeastern Conference tournament, Friday, March 13, 2015, in Nashville, Tenn.
