Cats Conclude Regular Season on Saturday at Florida
Perhaps John Calipari’s most underrated skill as a coach is his ability to adjust to his personnel.
There are of course things about Coach Cal’s approach that are non-negotiable, but generally he molds his style to fit his teams as well as any coach in the country. That was true in 2010 and 2017 when he turned up the pace to play to the strengths of lightning-quick guards John Wall and De’Aaron Fox. In 2015 he went to a platoon system, while in 2014 he capitalized on the strength and physicality of Julius Randle and a bruising frontcourt.
In 2019-20, he is facing a brand-new challenge.
“This is a game-to-game team more than any other team that I’ve coached,” Coach Cal said.
Night to night – whether it’s due to an opponent’s game plan or other factors – Calipari knows he will need to adjust. If Immanuel Quickley is cooking, he’s going to get 19 shots like he did against Texas A&M. If Nick Richards or EJ Montgomery have it going inside, UK is going to feed them. If Ashton Hagans is finding his way to rim at will, Calipari will let him go.
“Someone has it going, we’ve got to ride that guy,” Calipari said.
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| Kentucky at Florida | ||
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Sat., March 7 – 1 p.m. ET |
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TV: CBS |
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| UK | Stats | UF |
| 24-6 | Record | 19-11 |
| 14-3 | Conference Record | 11-6 |
| 74.5 | PPG | 71.9 |
| 65.9 | Opp PPG | 65.9 |
| .461 | FG% | .456 |
| .391 | Opp FG% | .420 |
| 36.9 | RPG | 35.3 |
| .335 | 3PT FG% | .344 |
| .303 | Opp 3PT FG% | .319 |
| 13.5 | APG | 11.8 |
| 5.3 | SPG | 5.8 |
| 5.1 | BPG | 3.9 |
Other than Quickley – who continues to make a Southeastern Conference Player of the Year push – no one has had it going more often of late that Tyrese Maxey. The freshman – who has been a big-game star from the season opener onward – is playing more consistent ball than he has all year. Maxey has three 20-point performances in his last 10 outings and has reached double figures in nine straight, averaging 16.5 points during the streak.
“With Tyrese, he’s growing up right before our eyes,” Calipari said. “He’s making winning plays.”
Maxey made plenty of those in the early going this week against Tennessee, scoring 14 points before halftime to help UK build a big lead. Of course, no one on the roster played particularly well as the lead disappeared and the Cats suffered a defeat to end an eight-game winning streak.
The way it all went down, frustration was inevitable.
“We’re competitors,” Keion Brooks Jr. said. “We’re not always going to agree with each other. I wish we could all sit here and sing kumbaya and everything would be all right, but that’s not how the game works. There are going to be some fiery times. There’s going to be some tension here and there, but as long as we all still believe in each other, that’s all that matters.”
The Cats are firm in saying that belief is still there. And why shouldn’t it be? UK did win 16 of 18 games before Tuesday night to wrap up the outright SEC title with a full week left in the regular season. Now, No. 6/6 Kentucky (24-6, 14-3 SEC) is out to return to that form on Saturday in Gainesville, Florida, against the Gators (20-11, 11-6 SEC).
Kentucky downed Florida in the teams’ previous matchup two weeks ago but needed an 11-0 second-half run to take control en route to a hard-fought 65-59 victory.
“The coaches gave us a great game plan,” Brooks said. “We threw some different coverages at them in the pick-and-roll and we just went out there and executed it. Like I said, the staff put out a good game plan, we understood their personnel and took away their strength and made them play to their weaknesses.”
Meanwhile, the Wildcat who had it going against Florida was Quickley. He scored 26 points, but not even Coach Cal knows if he’ll be the go-to guy again Saturday.
“Every team is different,” Calipari said. “Normally we don’t–you’ll have an idea of who we’re going at. But this team is different.”
Wildcats Surrender Double-Digit Lead, Fall to Tennessee
On the brink of being blown out, Tennessee stuck with the plan against No. 6 Kentucky by creating opportunities and then making them count. The Volunteers emerged with a huge victory that snapped the Wildcats’ hot streak along with 10 perfect years of holding a double-digit halftime lead.
John Fulkerson scored a career-high 27 points, and Yves Pons made several key jumpers down the stretch as Tennessee rallied from a 17-point deficit to upset Kentucky 81-73 on Tuesday night.
The Wildcats (24-6, 14-3 Southeastern Conference) had been 129-0 the past 10 years when leading by double digits at halftime, according to ESPN Stats & Info. Considering how Tennessee (17-13, 9-8) methodically converted that deficit into a lead over the final 20 minutes, it didn’t care.
“We just kept fighting,” Fulkerson said. “I kept trying to look at the score at the top of the (scoreboard) and couldn’t find it, which I guess was a good thing. But it was such a team effort, everybody played well. Guys from the bench came in and contributed. This was no surprise to me. I knew we were capable of this, I knew that if everybody comes to play we can get the job done.”
The Vols also had the clock in their favor.
The Wildcats appeared in control leading 51-34 early in the second half before the Volunteers outscored them 29-9 over 10:09 to lead 63-60. Kentucky tied it at 63, but Pons answered with a 3-pointer and Fulkerson added two free throws to stay ahead.
Pons then added consecutive jumpers to make it 72-66 with 1:48 left. Nick Richards’ two free throws cut the lead to four, but Josiah-Jordan James put back his missed jumper to make it a six-point game again with 1:05 left. He finished with 16 points, all after halftime.
James then made three free throws, and Santiago Vescovi and Jordan Bowden (11 points) each added two more in the final minute to seal its Tennessee’s second consecutive victory and just its sixth at Rupp Arena. Two of those wins have come in the last three seasons.
Meanwhile, Fulkerson made his first seven attempts to finish 10 of 15 from the field along with all seven free throws to top his previous best of 25 against South Carolina on Feb. 15.
Tyrese Maxey had 21 points and Immanuel Quickley 15 for Kentucky, which clinched the SEC regular season title last weekend. The Wildcats appeared poised to continue their best stretch this season before being outrebounded 23-12 in the second half and 31-26 overall.
“The game got physical and we couldn’t compete,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “Don’t make it about us, it’s about Tennessee and how they played. They made some unbelievable shots, some 3s and they just kept coming.”
Of additional note …
• Tennessee shot 52.8 % from the field, best by a UK SEC opponent this season and the first opponent to shoot 50% or better vs. UK since Ohio State and Utah did it in back-to-back games in the December trip to Las Vegas. The Wildcats are 0-3 this season when the opponent makes 50% or better from the field
• Entering the game leading the SEC at 79.5% at the foul line, Kentucky made 17 of 20 free throws (85%). UK has made at least 75% at the line in 13 straight games
• Kentucky led by as many as 17 points. UK is 281-8 (97.2%) under Calipari when leading by at least 10 points at any time in the contest
• It’s the first time the Wildcats have lost after by leading by as many as 17 points since also leading Tennessee and losing on Feb. 2, 2016, when Kentucky had a 21-point lead
• With an 11-point halftime lead, it’s the biggest halftime advantage UK has failed to capitalize on with a win in Rupp Arena since losing an 11- point halftime lead vs. Ole Miss on Feb. 14, 1998. The Wildcats would note lose again that season, winning the 1998 national championship
• The loss ended a 15-game home winning streak. UK finished the season 16-2 at Rupp Arena
• This was Kentucky’s first loss on Senior Night since March 4, 2009 vs. Georgia
The Champs Are Here
Kentucky won the 2020 Southeastern Conference regular-season championship with the win over Auburn and doing so with two games to spare. Not only did the win ensure league hardware is headed to Lexington and secures the No. 1 seed for the Wildcats in the SEC Tournament, it added to Kentucky’s impressive dominance of the league and John Calipari’s continued success in conference play.
• It was the Wildcats’ 49th regular-season SEC title. That’s 38 more than the next-closest school (LSU with 11) and nearly as many as the rest of the league has combined (53). It’s worth noting UK would have 50 titles had the 1988 championship not been vacated by the league due to violations
• It’s UK’s first league title since 2017
• The SEC regular-season championship is the Wildcats’ sixth in 11 seasons under Calipari
• It’s Calipari’s 16th all-time regular-season conference crown, including his time at Memphis and UMass. Including his 15 league tournament titles, Calipari has 31 combined conference championships in his career. That trails only Mark Few of Gonzaga (34 titles with the West Coast Conference regular-season title in 2020) among all active coaches. All-time, Calipari trails only the great Adolph Rupp (41) and Few.
Kentucky Concludes Regular Season Against Familiar Foe in Florida
For the second time in two weeks, Kentucky will take on Florida. The Wildcats earned a 65-59 win over the Gators on Feb. 22 with Immanuel Quickley scoring a then-career-high 26 points. UK is 103-40 all-time against the Gators, including 36-26 when the game is played in Gainseville, Florida. The series is tied at 5-5 in Gainesville in the 10 meetings between the two squads with John Calipari at the helm of the Cats.
Kentucky is 8-2 under Calipyesari in its regular-season finale, with both losses coming at the hands of the Gators. UK is 81-35 all-time in regular-season finales. This marks the 19th time in program history that UK will conclude its season against Florida and the 18th time in the last 21 seasons the two times will finish the season against each other. Kentucky also has faced Tennessee 19 times in its final game and Vanderbilt on 16 occasions in the history of the program.
