Kentucky Basketball: What the Florida Win Means to The Outlook for March

Kentucky Basketball’s shorthanded victory over the Florida Gators presents Fans with a different outlook for March.

John Calipari’s young Kentucky Basketball Wildcats squad has been struggling as of late. There is no question that there has been a lot of doubt fill the minds of much of the Big Blue faithful. When word caught fire that De’Aaron Fox would sit out the rematch with the Florida Gators, there weren’t many people out there that gave the Cats much of a chance. This includes the guys at College Gameday:

Kentucky Basketball Catches Fire

In the matchup, the Kentucky Wildcats pulled away late in the game thanks to a monster second half by Malik Monk. The Freshman guard scored 30 points in the final 20 minutes to lift the Cats over the Gators. Fans are all too familiar with this Florida squad. The same team defeated Kentucky by 22 points in Gainesville. The Gators outplayed the Wildcats in every facet of the game.  In the rematch, even without their starting point guard, Kentucky pulled out the win by 10.

Related Story: The All-Calipari Kentucky Starting Five

If Monk’s performance transcribes anything about the future of Kentucky Basketball’s season, fans can rest assured that come March, the BBN is in good hands. This is a great time of the year for the Wildcats to be heating up. No one can doubt the fact that Kentucky can be a final four team after watching this weekend’s performance.

Bam’s Big Break

The Bam Adebayo coming out party has been in the works for a few weeks now. After his 18 point, 15 rebound performance, the big man in the middle has set his presence inside. Kentucky now has a game plan for the near future. Get the ball to Bam. Adebayo must keep rebounding at this rate in order for the Cats to be in contention late in the tournament.

Kentucky is not the greatest team rebounding squad. In fact, in the last matchup against Florida, the Cats were out rebounded 54-29. As a team, Kentucky cannot allow that to happen in order to gain access to the Final Four. Bam Adebayo can be a major contributor in limiting team’s possessions and getting Kentucky extra chances at baskets in transition.

Dominique Hawkins Will Be Major

The Richmond, Kentucky native played a game high, 37 of the 40 minutes of the game in relief of De’Aaron Fox.

Matt Jones is 100% correct on this statement. Hawkins gives great effort night in and night out. The rare senior guard has put in his time and work throughout his career. In our mailbag column “The Weekend BBQ”, we mentioned that Dominique was the guy on the team that will do the dirty work. Hawkins finished the game with a stat line that wouldn’t flash to most.

The former Kentucky Mr. Basketball finished with three points, four assists, six rebounds, and two steals. Not a major stat line but in 37 minutes,Hawkins turned the ball over just one time. That is incredible considering the fact that Isaiah Briscoe has 74 total turnovers on the year with only 114 assists. Look for Dominique Hawkins to get increased minutes as Coach Cal rewards him for his efforts.

Finishing Strong

With the victory over Florida, who was the ranked as the 13th best team in the country, without De’Aaron Fox, Kentucky made strides in weak areas. The same old song and dance of one player having a great game and everyone else is just happy to be there seems to have taken a back seat. Two huge games from Malik Monk and Bam Adebayo showed fans that when someone other than Monk performs well, the Cats are in a great position to win.

Next: Kentucky's 5 Keys to Post-Season Success

The Cats still have two regular season games remaining to keep ahold of the top seed in the SEC Tournament. A matchup with Vanderbilt as well as a road trip to Texas A&M are still on the slate. Kentucky looks to finish strong and iron out some remaining kinks in the chain before the start of the post-season madness.