Kentucky taking similar approach to Florida despite Colin Castleton's absence

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When Kentucky faces Florida on Wednesday night, the Gators will look a lot different than they did during the first matchup just a couple of weeks ago. Florida has lost its star player and projected All-SEC First-Teamer, Colin Castleton, to a broken hand that he suffered in a win over Ole Miss on Feb. 15.

For the Gators — currently on the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble — that’s a season-changing injury. Castleton was averaging 16.4 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.2 assists, and 3.4 blocks per game during SEC action before going down. The 6-foot-11 center has been known to give Kentucky fits in the past, most recently dropping 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, and three blocks on Feb. 4 against the ‘Cats. Castleton even fouled out Oscar Tshiebwe for just the second time this season in the process. Kentucky still won that contest 72-67 in Rupp Arena, but not before Castleton nearly led Florida to a second-half comeback all by himself.

For round two, the venue shifts to Gainesville and the Gators will be down a player of All-American caliber. But that being said, Kentucky doesn’t expect Florida to make any overwhelming changes outside of who’s on the floor.

“They really haven’t changed how they play but it’s just different personnel,” Kentucky assistant coach KT Turner said on Tuesday. “Castleton is a really, really good player, one of the top bigs in the country. You can tell they were a little uncomfortable playing the last two games but I’m sure they’ll be ready to play against us, but they haven’t really changed how they’ve been playing from what we’ve seen on film.

On the other side of the court, Kentucky intends to take the same approach against Florida that it did earlier this month — it worked last time when the Gators had its best player available, so why change it now that Castleton’s gone?

“I think we’ll still have the same game plan of what we want to do,” Turner said.

Florida has only been down Castleton for about 1.5 games now, but the results haven’t exactly been positive. Castleton still played 22 minutes against Ole Miss before suffering his injury and then sat the next time out against Arkansas. The Gators were able to take care of Ole Miss — now 2-12 in SEC play — no problem, but going up against Arkansas was a different story.

The Razorbacks won by 19 points and dominated inside the arc, shooting 65.3 percent (32-49) from two-point range. Arkansas attempted just 10 three-pointers against a Castleton-less Florida, tied for their second-fewest during any SEC game this season. The Hogs’ 6-foot-9 senior Jalen Graham went off for a career-high 26 points while shooting 12-14 from inside the arc.

Florida’s first-year head coach, Todd Golden, is now being forced to lean on his backup bigs, particularly 6-foot-11 senior Jason Jitoboh, who checks in around 300 pounds. Jitoboh has been a career bench player, averaging 8.0 minutes per game over his four-year stretch with the Gators. Tossing him into the fire of replacing the production Castleton brought is a task too tall for most. Against Arkansas, Jitoboh contributed just four points and two rebounds in 24 minutes.

Enter Oscar Tshiebwe, who struggled heavily against Castleton and Florida in the first matchup, recording a season-low four points to go along with 15 rebounds in 34 minutes. The reigning national player of the year has played much better over his last three games though and could be in store for a massive performance on Wednesday. Kentucky has been using Tshiebwe in slightly different ways as of late, but without Castleton on the floor, he can walk into another double-double.