John Clay's Sidelines

After producing the first double-double of his collegiate career, Kentucky’s Marquis Teague talks to media about his improvement and Saturday’s game at Vanderbilt.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Herald-Leader photo gallery from UK-Florida

Updated at 10:38 a.m. with Luke Winn link.

Big Blue Links for Wednesday:

• NEW: Teague looks like floor leader UK needs, says SI.com’s Luke Winn.
• Kentucky assumes role of favorite, writes Pat Forde of Yahoo Sports.
• UK teaches Florida a hard lesson, reports Mike Decourcy of Sporting News.
• Kentucky looks unstoppable, says Gary Parrish of CBS Sports.
• Florida throttled in Rupp, reports Kevin Brockway of Gainesville Sun.
• Gators completely outclassed by Cats, writes Rachel George of Orlando Sentinel.
• Top-ranked Cats just too much for Gators, reports Chris Harry of GatorZone.
• Florida cold from three-point land, writes John Boothe of Daily Alligator.
• UK is No. 1 with a bullet, says Brian Bennett of espn.com.
• Florida no match for Kentucky, reports Jerry Tipton of H-L.
• Gilchrist comes up big in biggest games, writes Tipton in notes.
• Davis’ defense just tip of UK’s spear, says my game column.
• UK answers questions with win, says Matt May of Cats Pause.
• Cats leave no room for doubt, writes Kyle Tucker of C-J.
• Davis wasn’t the only Gator gobbler, writes Eric Crawford of C-J.
• UK flips the script on the Gators, writes Eric Lindsey of CoachCal.
• Lamb proves an added plus, writes Keith Taylor of Winchester Sun.
• UK crushes Gators by 20, writes Brian Rickerd of State-Journal.
• Cats make a believer out of Donovan, reports Larry Vaught of A-M.
• Cats continue their dominance, reports Aaron Smith of Kernel.
• Teague says Cats made a statement, reports Brett Dawson of Cats Illustrated.
• UK beats Florida at its own game, says Guy Ramsey of Cat Scratches.
• Hot shooting, stifling defense leads UK, reports Jon Hale of KyForward.
• Postmortem on Cats and Gators, from A Sea of Blue.
• Former UK player Jim Dinwiddie dies, reports Karla Ward of H-L.

Florida coach Billy Donovan was asked last night to size up Kentucky against Syracuse and Ohio State, two teams the Gators played earlier in the year. Florida lost at Ohio State 81-74 on Nov. 15. The Gators lost at Syracuse 72-68 on Dec. 2.

Florida freshman Bradley Beal talks to media outside the Gators lockerroom last night.

(H-L photo/Mark Cornelison)

Twenty notes from the Cats’ 78-58 thumping of visiting Florida:

• 1. Michael Kidd-Gilchrist scored 13 points and grabbed 13 rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
• 2. It was first MKG had produced at home since his 24-point, 19-rebound tour de force against Louisville on Jan. 31.
• 3. Doron Lamb scored 18 points for the second straight game. The sophomore has made 12 of 15 shots, including seven of eight three-pointers in the last two games.
• 4. Marquis Teague had his first double-double with 12 points and a career-high 10 assists. His previous assist high was  nine against Arkansas.
• 5. Teague’s 12 points highest since he scored a dozen at Auburn on Jan. 11.
• 6. Anthony Davis (16 points) is averaging 18 points a game over his last four games.
• 7. With four blocked shots, Anthony Davis has blocked at least two shots every game this season.
• 8. Terrence Jones scored four points, lowest total since he scored two against Louisville on Dec. 31, when Jones was playing with an injured finger.
• 9. Jones is averaging 6.9 rebounds over his last seven games.
• 10. Darius Miller scored just nine points. After a four-game stretch of double-figure scoring, the senior has gone the last three games in the single digits.
• 11. Kyle Wiltjer made both his three-point attempts and is four-of-six from three over the last two games.
• 12. Eloy Vargas played just four minutes without scoring or getting a rebound but played good defense.
• 13. Kentucky shot 52.7 percent, third straight game above 50 percent. The Cats shot 53.7 against Tennessee and 51.6 at South Carolina.
• 14. Florida came into the game leading the nation in made threes per game at 10.5. The Gators made just six of 27. Kentucky was nine of 15.
• 15. Florida hit 22.2 percent of its threes, the lowest by a UK foe with 20-or-more attempts since Radford was two-of-25 for eight percent.

Florida coach Billy Donovan meets with the media after his team’s 78-58 loss to UK.

Kentucky coach John Calipari talks to the media after his team’s 78-58 win over Florida.

After Kentucky whipped South Carolina on Saturday, John Calipari predicted that Florida would shoot 30 three-point shots against the Cats on Tuesday night. He repeated that during Monday’s media opportunity.

After all, the Gators lead the nation in made three-pointers per game at 10.5. Kentucky’s Saturday opponent, Vanderbilt, is eighth in the country at 9.0 made threes per game.

But only four times this year has Florida taken more than 30 three-point shots in a game. Billy Donovan’s club made 13-of-30 against Jackson State, 14-of-35 against Stetson, 14-of-33 against Rider and 11-of-31 against Texas A&M. Florida won all four of those games.

The most the Gators have made in a game is 15, in 27 attempts, in a win over UAB.

What about SEC play?

Continue reading ‘How many times has Florida taken 30 three-point shots?’

A look at the Kentucky-Florida series over the last five years.

• Kentucky is 6-5 against the Gators since 2007.
• Florida won 70-68 last year in Gainesville, but UK beat the Gators in Lexington (76-68) then in the finals of the SEC Tournament (70-54).
• Kentucky has won four straight over Florida at Rupp Arena.
• Since coming to UK, John Calipari is 4-1 vs. Billy Donovan.
• Darius Miller scored a career-high 24 points in the win over Florida in Lexington last year, then scored 15 in the SEC Tournament final.
• The 16-point win over the Gators in the SEC Tournament last year was Kentucky’s biggest win, in terms of margin, over Florida since March 14, 2004 when Tubby Smith’s team beat UF 89-73 in the SEC Tournament final.
• Florida coach Billy Donovan is third all-time in SEC wins, behind No. 1 Adolph Rupp and No. 2 Dale Brown.
• Terrence Jones averaged 13.3 points in three games against the Gators last year. He had 16 points and seven rebounds in the SEC Tourney final.
• Doron Lamb averaged 8.7 points in three games against the Gators las year. He made three of nine three-pointers.
• Eloy Vargas scored four points and grabbed nine rebounds in 29 minutes last year against his former team.