"You lose the rebounding battle by 21, you're not going to win the game."
Mark Pope didn't need a deep dive into the analytics to explain this one. Kentucky is now heading home early from Nashville yet again. The box score from Friday afternoon told the story in black and white for everyone to see: Florida 50, Kentucky 29.
In a game where the Cats' defense actually held the Gators to 38% shooting and forced 18 turnovers, the inability to finish possessions on the glass turned a winnable game into a "Triple Crown" sweep for Todd Golden.
Kentucky can't afford the effort gap
Kentucky’s first-shot defense was elite at times today, forcing 18 Florida turnovers and holding them to a dismal 3-of-20 (15%) from beyond the arc. But defense doesn't matter if you can't grab the miss. Florida hauled in 18 offensive rebounds, the same number of turnovers they had, leading to a parade of second-chance points and a massive advantage in free throw attempts (33-20).
"You have to play really well to beat good teams, and we didn't play really well," Pope admitted. Despite the loss and the bad shot-making, the Cats never completely went away.
"They stayed locked in and that's hard to do. That gives me a lot of hope for the NCAA Tournament."
It's the hope that kills you.
Leadership in the midst of the muck
Despite the offensive struggles, Kentucky shot just 35.6% from the floor and saw Andrija Jelavic go 0-4 from deep. Pope found a silver lining in the play of Otega Oweh. Oweh finished with 10 points on 18 shots, a tough shooting night that stalled several Kentucky possessions, but it was his presence during the team's late run that caught the coach's eye.
"I thought Otega Oweh's leadership today was on an extraordinary level," Pope noted. "Our guys. They respond. Our team has done a great job with these challenges."
I have to completely disagree here with Pope, it was the off balance bad shots of Oweh that really hurt this team today. His technical foul late in the game didn't factor in much, but leaders don't get those.
Looking toward Selection Sunday
The "lessons" from Nashville are painful, especially the reality that Kentucky never led for a single second in three games against Florida this season. Ever the optimist, Mark Pope is already pivoting. He believes that if the Cats can marry their defensive intensity with 40 minutes of disciplined rebounding and shot selection, a deep run is still on the table.
"We had a lot of lessons from the last three days that we'll take with us and make a huge push in the tournament," Pope said.
Can they do something they have only done once or twice all year 6 times in a row to cut down the nets? Probably not, but can they do it 2 times to get back to the Sweet 16? I think so.