Kentucky opened up this game in the absolute worst way possible. We looked tight, we completely abandoned ball movement, and when we did try to pass, we just threw it away. Through the first eight minutes of play, Kentucky had already racked up six turnovers. You simply cannot do that on the road against a ranked team.
Surprisingly, the Cats were actually holding their own on the glass early on. But exactly as we feared, foul trouble crept in quickly. Malachi Moreno picked up two quick fouls, which meant we were about to see a whole lot of Brandon Garrison.
The Garrison experience was again on full display
When I wrote the preview for this game earlier today, I specifically noted that Garrison was going to play a massive role, either positively or negatively.
He checked in with 15:09 left in the first half with Kentucky trailing 13-7. Almost immediately, he had a bad defensive lapse, committed an offensive foul, and threw a terrible turnover. He checked back out just two minutes later, and suddenly we were staring at a 20-8 deficit. That is a pretty disastrous two-minute stretch of basketball for a team coming off a week of rest.
But as usual, Garrison brings the good with the bad. Later in the half, with the Cats down 11, he threw a beautiful backdoor pass to Otega Oweh. Oweh was fouled but missed the free throw, a recurring theme in a first half where missed opportunities haunted Kentucky. The Cats finished just 14-20 from the line.
The turnover nightmare
Aberdeen picked up his second foul with just over 10 minutes to go, putting Florida in the bonus for the rest of the half. That sparked a nightmare stretch for the Cats.
Down just 10 points and battling, Xavian Lee hit his third three-pointer of the game. Mark Pope tried to call a timeout, but before we could secure the ball, Jasper Johnson turned it over. Boogie Fland stole it and slammed it home, pushing the lead to 15 just like that.
Kentucky went over three minutes without scoring a single point. Heading into the under-8 timeout, the frustration was boiling over. We had 9 turnovers that led directly to 16 Florida points. Read that again: With 7:28 to go in the first half, Florida had exactly as many points off our turnovers as we had total points in the game.
Fighting back, but falling short
Just like they always do, Mark Pope’s squad kept fighting. A massive 10-0 run cut the lead to 32-27, but a Florida offensive rebound and a three-pointer stopped the bleeding.
Mo Dioubate hit some crucial free throws to cut it to five again, but it felt like the teams were just trading runs. Our absolute inability to convert easy layups at the rim allowed Florida to build the lead right back up, sending us into the locker room down 43-34.
The second half: Forcing the issue
Kentucky battled back to cut the deficit to just two points to start the second half, but Florida immediately answered with a quick 7-2 run. Andrija Jelavic canned a huge three to keep us breathing, but then the emotions of the game seemed to completely derail Denzel Aberdeen.
Aberdeen committed a brutal turnover that led to a Florida dunk. On the very next possession, he forced up a terrible shot that triggered a fast break, resulting in another Garrison foul.
You could physically see Aberdeen trying to prove to the Florida crowd that they made a mistake letting him go. But with every rushed, contested shot, he was only making it worse. Yes, he had 13 points with 15 minutes to go, but it took him 14 shots to get there.
With Moreno sitting on the bench with 4 fouls, Florida's Rueben Chinyelu came alive inside. Florida ripped off a 9-0 run to push the lead to 16 points (75-60) with just over seven minutes remaining.
Defensive lapses shut the door
Did the Cats have one more miraculous run in them? It sure didn't look like it when Otega Oweh unforcedly dribbled the ball right off his foot out of bounds.
A Moreno and-one gave us a sliver of life, but then the defense completely fell asleep. We lost track of the only true shooter Florida has on the floor, leaving Urban Klavzar wide open for an easy dagger three. Collin Chandler answered, and Dioubate had a couple of point-blank chances down low but couldn't convert, leaving us down 8 with 3:30 to go.
But once again, a lazy defensive rotation left Klavzar wide open. And that was the story of the night. Kentucky kept fighting, and Collin Chandler 3 cut it to 5 with 36 seconds to go. But Xavian Lee drained a pair of free throws.
Kentucky was led in scoring by Collin Chandler and Denzel Aberdeen. But as good as Aberdeen was, he and Oweh were a big part of the loss. Combined, they were just 12-35 and 1-9 from deep. Kentucky, in total, missed 15 layups. You can talk about Florida's length, but that is just a terrible amount of layups for a Division 1 team to miss. 92-83 Florida.
Now Kentucky finds themselves looking for answers with Georgia coming to town Tuesday night in a game they must win.