John Calipari gives Gators high praise: ‘They could be undefeated’
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — During his postgame press conference, Kentucky coach John Calipari made it a point to share his thoughts on Florida three different times. The Gators blew a late lead in their 87-85 loss to No. 6 UK, and Calipari felt fortunate to come away with the win.
“They’re good, let me just say. I watched all the tape,” Calipari said of the Gators. “They can really shoot, they play as fast as we play, if not faster. In the first half they beat us up the court. We never got matched down, in the second half we did. They rebound. They get 16 offensive rebounds a game, today they got 11.”
Florida entered SEC play leading the nation in rebounding at 45.38 rebounds per game. UF finished with 43 boards against the Wildcats to their 40, but according to Calipari, that was a win for his team.
“That’s outrebounding them,” he quipped. “They’re going to win a lot of games. I watched them. Even Baylor, they could have beat Baylor. They could have beat Wake [Forest]. They could be undefeated. They’re good.
“And the biggest thing they have that most teams in college don’t have right now is size. If they had played us earlier in the season when we didn’t have any of our bigs, we couldn’t have won this game. No way. Now, we have our 7-foot guys too.”
Florida coach Todd Golden added, “I was hoping for a better margin on the glass. So, to only be plus-3 on the glass was a little disappointing.”
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The Gators dropped to 10-4 with the Kentucky loss, the first of the season when they had their full lineup available. Three of the four losses have been decided by two points (UK), three points (Virginia) and four points (Baylor).
Calipari anticipated a high shooting percentage from the Gators, who shot 40 percent from downtown (8 of 20) in the first half and got 23-point performances from Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin. However, they went cold after the break and made just one of their 11 attempts from 3, with starting guard Will Richard finishing 0-for-8 from the floor.
“I expected them to play well,” Calipari said of the Gators. “I told the team, ‘They’re going to make every shot.’ We have to go over these pick and rolls, we have to go over dribble handoffs. They may have missed them against Baylor. They’re not missing them on this court. And they didn’t.
“We’re out of whack right to start and they drove and played the way they play. I’ll just say it again. Florida is really good. We got lucky. I’m happy we won the game, I’m happy for our team but I imagine they’re looking forward to coming to Lexington.”
Florida travels to Kentucky on Jan. 31 for an 8 p.m. tip.
