UK coach John Calipari breaks down Florida loss Jon Hale/Courier Journal
LEXINGTON, Ky. – For a news conference that started with John Calipari responding to a question about a controversial late foul call by remarking “I’ve been asked some dumb questions in my life,” the UK coach’s media session was surprisingly upbeat.
Kentucky had just dropped its second consecutive game with a 66-64 loss to Florida, but Calipari insisted on finding the silver lining in his team’s defeat.
“We’re going to be fine,” Calipari said. “I was worried after South Carolina, now. I’m not worried after this. We’ll be fine. I was worried after Vanderbilt, to be honest with you, and we won that game. They do this and they stay this course and this is who we are, we’ll be fine.”
MORE: Kentucky basketball falls to Florida in first SEC loss at Rupp Arena since 2014
The Wildcats held Florida, ranked 21st in the country in offensive efficiency, to 33.3 percent from the field and 20 percent (6 for 30) from 3-point range. Kentucky gained a 49-38 advantage in rebounds and saw improved play from its big men to earn a 38-26 advantage in points in the paint.
Freshman point guard Quade Green returned from a three-game absence with a back injury, and freshman forward Jarred Vanderbilt contributed four points and six rebounds in 13 minutes in just his second appearance this season.
“It was pretty suffocating,” Florida coach Mike White said of Kentucky’s defense. “They cover ground with that length and that speed. There wasn’t much space on the floor for us to get to the rim or to get an open 3 off. And then when we put our head down and got to the rim, everything was contested at the rim.”
For all the positivity from Calipari after the game, the result still put the Wildcats in danger of falling out of the top 25 and dropped UK into a three-way tie for fourth place in the Southeastern Conference.
A worrying trend of late-game struggles continued as Kentucky went just more than two and a half minutes without scoring to turn a tie game into a 6-point deficit with 44 seconds remaining. Two UK 3-pointers in the final minute gave the Wildcats a final possession with a chance to tie or take the lead, but the team had hit just 2 of 15 3s to that point.
“We can’t go a game where you make one 3,” sophomore forward Wenyen Gabriel said. “It’s hard to win like that. It’s hard to make up those extra points. We’ve got to work on our perimeter shooting obviously, getting those looks.”
For the second consecutive game, UK turned the ball over 16 times, and Calipari acknowledged many of those miscues were unforced errors.
Despite finding an advantage in the paint, Kentucky’s perimeter players frequently settled for contested jump shots or long 3-point attempts.
“We have our game plan, we’re trying to post the ball and we kind of end up straying away from that,” Gabriel said. “It’s frustrating. We have all this talent and we keep making these mistakes day in and day out. It gets frustrating at this point, but the season is not over. It’s a long season.”
And maybe Calipari is right to be optimistic despite the back-to-back losses.
More: Quade Green returns from back injury for UK basketball against Florida
Even after the team’s late miscues and poor shooting, freshman forward PJ Washington appeared to earn a chance to go to the line to tie the game with two seconds remaining after he was hit under the basket.
But unlike Kentucky’s last game at Rupp Arena when Gabriel avoided being whistled for what appeared to be a foul on the final play with UK nursing a 1-point lead, this call went against the Wildcats. A last attempt at in-bounds play was tipped away as the clock expired.
“I thought we was going to come out with a ‘W’ today,” Gabriel said. “This loss definitely hurt, but this might be the type of loss that brings us back together going forward in SEC play.”
That kind of response would certainly make Calipari’s optimism look pragmatic instead of public relations spin.
“I'm good,” Calipari said. “I know there's some people out there that will be panicked and all this. Be panicked. I'm glad I'm not sitting with you because I am fine.”
Jon Hale: jahale@courier-journal.com; Twitter: @JonHale_CJ. Support strong local journalism by subscribing today: www.courier-journal.com/jonh.