Todd Golden Blown Away by Kentucky: "They will not lose many games."

Florida entered SEC play unbeaten, but untested by a Top 25 team. A road trip to Kentucky would serve as a daunting task. Even though they played well, it still wasn’t enough to leave Rupp Arena with a win.

The Gators top two scorers went off. Walter Clayton Jr. and Alijah Martin combined for 59 points. Florida owned the offensive glass and scored 31 second chance points. They had 1.4 points per possession and scored 100 points. You should win when you play that well offensively, yet Florida head coach Todd Golden had to talk about a loss to Kentucky with reporters after the game.

“They will not lose many games if they play this efficiently. I thought they did a great job taking advantage of the moment. They played very well offensively,” Golden said Saturday.

“There are some things that you are going to break down on and not guard great, especially with the different things they do offensively. But again, the way they take advantage of it and were able to knock down big shots when we had a little momentum was everything. As conference season goes on, I think people will try different ways to guard them. We’ll see how they’re able to sustain success offensively through the course of conference play, but they’re a very good offensive team.”

Florida Had No Answer for Kentucky Threes

Kentucky was opportunistic. When they needed a big shot, somebody stepped up. Andrew Carr and Lamont Butler hit big ones late. Koby Brea had seven big ones. Defending the three was a strength of the Gators, but they had no answers for Kentucky.

“We thought if we did a good job on Koby [Brea] and Jaxson [Robinson], then we’d be in good shape and we just didn’t. I thought Koby did a great job taking advantage of his opportunities and there were times when we were standing in space, but it felt like every time we gave him a little bit of room, he was able to separate and knock it down. He did not let us off the hook today. He banged seven of ’em. Jaxson only made two, but he made some big ones.”

Golden added, “We did two things really poorly. We didn’t guard the three, gave up 42 points from behind the line, and gave up 44 from the paint. You just can’t come in here and expect to win guarding that way.”

Unfortunately, this instant classic was most likely the only meeting between the two teams. Conference expansion is limiting Kentucky and Florida to only one regular season matchup, the first that’s happened since 1964. However, the stars may align for a rematch in Nashville.

“If we get a crack at ’em in the conference tournament, we’re going to have to at least figure out a way to at least take away their rim twos or their catch-and-shoot threes for the shooters,” said Golden. “We’ll address that if we get another opportunity down the road.”

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