On a Saturday afternoon that found the home team short-handed, the Wildcats’ freshman shooting star went off for 30 points after halftime to lead Kentucky Basketball to a huge 76-66 win over the Gators in Rupp Arena.
With the win, Kentucky Basketball went a long way to sewing up the SEC regular season title and top seed in the upcoming conference tournament. Even more importantly, they solidified their hold on at worst a three-seed in the NCAA tournament, and kept alive hopes of improving that position. Early on, it didn’t look like that would be the case.
Down a Man and Struggling
The Cats were minus starting point guard De’Aaron Fox, who was out with a knee injury. They sure missed him early, falling behind 8-0. It was an ugly half with the Cats shooting 29% from the field and the visitors 30%. Kentucky actually came back to take a 23-21 lead on a Bam Adebayo dunk with 7:04 remaining. Florida responded to re-take the lead at 28-23. But the Cats battled back and got a break when the Gators’ Devin Robinson fouled Wenyen Gabriel with .0.6 left. The freshman forward hit two foul shots to leave matters all square at the half, 28-28.
Kentucky enjoyed a huge 30-17 rebounding advantage in the half. But that was offset by their 12 turnovers, versus only four for Florida. Given their slow start and problems adjusting to playing without Fox, the Wildcats were fortunate to be tied. When looking for reasons why they ultimately pulled out the win, it doesn’t take one of Coach John Calipari’s “Basketball Bennies” to know where to start.
Monk’s Second Half Explosion
In the first half, Malik Monk didn’t do much to help the cause. His stat line was uninspiring, to say the least. 1-5 from the field and 1-3 from beyond the arc. He was responsible for five of the team’s 12 turnovers. And maybe most frustrating, he had zero free throw attempts. That means he was settling too often for jumpers instead of taking the ball to the basket. With Fox out and only tallying three points thus far, Monk was going to have to do more in the second half if Kentucky was going to win this critical contest.
Did he ever do more!
Monk went into absolute beast mode in the second half. He scored 30 points, going 8-13 from the field and was perfect on all four of this three-point attempts. To the Big Blue fans delight, he was much more aggressive driving the ball inside, and as a result went 10-11 from the foul line. And he only had one turnover. As Florida had to increase their defensive focus on stopping him, he also had four assists in the half. Monk took charge when his team needed it the most and delivered a clutch performance. His driving baseline dunk with 9:04 remaining tied the game for the last time at 55-55. The home team gradually pulled away from that point to earn the victory.
Big Man With Another Big Game
Bam Adebayo followed up his season-best performance at Missouri earlier in the week with another superb effort.
Related Story: Adebayo Leads Cats To Win Over Missouri!
Bam had 18 points and 15 rebounds. He was 7-11 from the field and his improvement from the foul line continued, going 4-5 on those attempts. That rebounding effort was particularly huge. The biggest reason for the Cats blowout loss to the Gators in Gainesville a few weeks ago was a ridiculous 54-29 edge for Florida on the boards. Today there was a near total reversal of that stat line, with Kentucky winning the glass 48-30. Derek Willis came off the bench to add nine boards.
To be sure, the Gators missed John Egbunu in this regard. Their starting center went out for the season with a knee injury earlier this month. But after their non-effort at Florida earlier, and the sluggish start to this game, the Wildcats played with much more effort and intensity, which manifested itself in their domination of the glass.
Odds and Ends
Dominique Hawkins deserves a shout out for his effort as well. He didn’t start with Fox out, but played a season high 37 minutes. He only scored three points but had six rebounds, four assists and only had one turnover. Like his coach says, the Man from Madison County is Old Reliable indeed.
Isaiah Briscoe has been a source of great frustration lately, but he had a pretty solid game today, with one glaring exception. Nine points, eight rebounds, only took six shots, only had two turnovers. But he needlessly initiated a double technical foul dustup with Florida’s KeVaugh Allen with the Cats up 10 and only 3:36 remaining in the game. He has to play with more composure.
The Isaac Humphries Index continued its perfect streak. Kentucky is now 22-0 this season when the big Aussie scores. We could have all quit watching with 11:56 left in the first half. Get that man a basket early and the pressure is off.
One More at Home
Tuesday will be Senior Night at Rupp Arena as Vanderbilt comes to Lexington for an 9:00 p.m. tipoff in Lexington. Wildcat fans will bid farewell to a trio of seniors who have been significant contributors this season, especially given the freshman-heavy emphasis of the Cal era at UK.
Dominique Hawkins, Mychal Mulder and Derek Willis will all take their final bow in front of home folks. This is one of the best of the Kentucky Basketball traditions, especially when native sons such as Hawkins and Willis are involved. We’ll see if they go out winners in the home finale.