Kentucky gave itself a chance to win by "outrebounding" Florida

“Did we outrebound them?” John Calipari asked at the podium following Kentucky‘s gritty 87-85 win over Florida to open SEC play.

“Lost by three,” the media contingent in attendance responded.

“That’s outrebounding them.”

The Gators technically won the rebounding battle 43-40 and pulled down 11 offensive boards en route to 16 second-chance points. But you know what? When Florida enters the day ranked No. 1 nationally in rebounding at 45.4 boards per contest, No. 4 in offensive rebounds (16.2) and No. 13 in rebound margin (11) with eight players averaging at least three rebounds per game and three with at least six, you call that a win.

Especially when your team ranks No. 113 overall on the glass and is coming off a game it lost the battle 45-40 and gave up 24 offensive rebounds to Illinois State.

“Aaron (Bradshaw) didn’t bring in balls, you know what I’m saying? We showed signs of not doing the things we need to do. You can imagine after giving up 24 offensive rebounds last game, what did we do for five days? We rebounded.”

This one wasn’t rocket science. If Kentucky wanted a shot to win in Gainesville, it was going to have to compete on the boards. It didn’t have to be an overwhelming win (or even a win at all, as Calipari pointed out). Just couldn’t be a bloodbath.

And that’s what the Wildcats did, Tre Mitchell leading the way with 10 rebounds, followed by Bradshaw with seven, Ugonna Onyenso with five and Reed Sheppard with five. It was a by-committee effort that lost the individual battle, but won the overall war.

“I knew transition defense and rebounding would be the game,” Calipari said. “Better in the second half. We gave ourselves a chance to win by playing that way in the second half. And we won. We could’ve lost and I’d be up here saying, ‘Hey, we’ll learn from it and move on.’ We didn’t bury them. How much did we lead in this game? 5:25 [shrugs].”

That didn’t mean Kentucky made it easy for itself. Up four with two seconds left, Reed Sheppard fouled on a three with 0.4 left on the clock. Florida’s Alex Condon drilled the first two, setting up one final tip-in attempt on a third miss.

One last fight to win.

“He makes two and we’re up four, I look at Johnny Welch and I said, ‘How in the heck did we win this game?’ Then Reed goes and fouls him,” Calipari said. “I told the team after, ‘That’s why you don’t.’ I’m thinking, ‘Oh my gosh, they’re gonna tip one out, something is going to happen.’

“But you know what? We put the three big guys in and it was gonna be hard for them.”

Mission accomplished.