Florida was outmatched by the Kentucky Wildcats in Sunday afternoon’s battle of SEC heavyweights. Unfortunately, the Gators have lost 5 of 8 heading into the SEC tournament where they will be seeded 4th. On the bright side, Florida is the nation’s leading 3 point scoring team, averaging 10 3′s per game. UF has the second highest PPG (points per game) in the SEC, with an average of 77. Kentucky is #1 in the SEC.

Patric Young had an exciting game, showing great power & size in the middle.

No 12 Florida (20-6, 8-3 SEC) and Alabama (16-9, 5-6 SEC) were both with out two players for this matchup. The Gators were playing without Will Yeguete (second concussion of the year) and Mike rosario (hip pointer). Alabama was without JaMychal Green and Tony Mitchell. They were both suspended indefinitely by head coach Anthony Grant. Due to the fact Mitchell and Green are Alabama’s top rebounder and scorer, one could only imagine how detrimental that would actually be to Alabama. Turns out, it was pretty daunting, as Patric Young dominated in the paint. He went 9-12,  scoring a team high 19 points in only 22 minutes. Alabama couldn’t muster any offense. Only one of there players scored in double figures, and to make matters worse, it was only 11 points, not like twenty something. If you remove Young’s stats from the overall Field Goals Made, the rest of the Gators shot a combined 12 – 40 (30%) from the field. Thats just terrible shooting. The good news in all of that is that Bradley Beal scored 14 points and had 8 rebounds. Erik Murphy added another 14 points.

Next up for the Gators are the Arkansas Razorbacks (17-8, 5-5 SEC). They play on Saturday, February 18, at Arkansas.

Let me start off by saying that The Florida Gators have an all-time record of 2-7 against number one teams. All seven of their losses came against Kentucky. This game was going to be different. It was time for the Gators to show the world that even though they are small, hitting the three and playing great defense wins games as well. Or at least I thought it did.

The Gators started out the game exactly the way Billy D wanted them too. They played stingy defense, rebounded aggressively, and hit the three. The Kentucky Wildcats opened up the game going 0-7 from the field. The Gators were up by six and looking good. Then it happened. Kentucky began to play like Kentucky. Aggressive defense, shot blocking, driving layups and so on. After their poor start, they went 9-13 and were up by 6 with 6 minutes remaining in the first half. The Gators scored a season low in the first half with 26 points and made only two 3pt FG’s. This is pretty bad being that Florida leads the NCAA in 3 pt. FG’s made with a total of 241. We went into halftime deflated. It was clear we were overmatched. But just maybe, maybe Coach Donavan would be able to rally the troops and put on a clinic in the second half with a barrage of threes and so on. I was optimistic.

The second half started out exactly how the first half started out, well kind of. The Gators went on a monstrous run, 4-0, and Kentucky was scared. Not really. The onslaught began. Kentucky picked up right were they left off and never looked back. They basically dominated the game the entire night. And it didn’t help the Gators that they were atrocious from behind the arc. So chalk this game up as nothing more than a loss. We can’t focus to much on this… But if we want to for just a second, we could come to the realization that the Gators were playing basketball with 5 potential NBA caliber players. They were overmatched from the beginning and Kentucky is going to win it all this year. Fact is Fact. I hated to write that but no one can think anything different once they see this team play. There is just to much talent and everyone coming off the bench is like a starter for most other teams. Good for Cailipari (Kentucky coach). Any man who can avoid scandal in one program, bail out of it and start fresh from another program, while still recruiting the top talent in the nation has got to be doing something right.

….So what if he cooked the books so Derrick Rose’s SAT scores were good enough to play.

Bradley Beal led the No. 13 Florida Gators (17-4, 5-1 SEC) to a victory over No. 16 Mississippi State Bulldogs (17-5, 4-3 SEC) 69 -57 Saturday Night. Beal scored 19 points and finished 6 – 9 from the field going 3-4 from behind the arc. Erik Murphy added another 14 points and made 4 out of his seven three point attempts. Florida started out the game very slow and led the Bulldogs at half by only three points. It wasn’t until the second half when the Florida went on an 11-0 run that seemingly put the game out of sight. From there, the Bulldogs couldn’t recover. Florida went a combined 11-24 from behind the arc. After being asked what he thought about the Gators 3-point play, MSU coach, Rick Stansbury replied, “It seemed like 21, but it was only 11,” and “That’s why they lead the country in 3-point shooting,” , “There’s a reason why they have that stat.” Up next for the Gators is the South Carolina Gamecocks (9-11, 1-5 SEC), which they will be facing at home, on Thursday, February 2.

No. 14 Florida Gators (16-4, 4-1 SEC) started the second half 0-3 from the field and things just didn’t look good. They had already been out performed in the first half and were down by 10 points to an unranked Ole Miss Rebel (13-7, 3-3 SEC) that was just relentless from begin the arc in the first half going 6-6 from behind the arc. Then things started to turn around…slowly. Erik Murphy hits a shot, the Rebels miss some foul shots, Patric Young makes a couple of baskets and Mike Rosario hits a three. Things started to look better. Murphy hits a three, Young throws down a nice dunk and just like that, we are back in it. With 9:45 seconds left in the second half, Florida finally tied the score on a Scotty Wilbekin three. It was the first time the score was tied since tip-off. With 8 minutes to go, Florida took its first lead since it led 2-0 in the first half and never looked back. Only forward as Kenny Boynton, who leads the league with 66 three point FGM, connected on two three balls and Rosario chipped in another one. Florida leads the NCAA in threes made with 212. The Gators defense held the Rebels to 8 – 29 (27%) shooting in the second half. A drastic improvement from the first half were Ole Miss shot 60%. The Rebels did make it interesting right at the end, but the Gators held strong and came away with a nice conference and road win. Florida improves to 2-4 on the road. Erving Walker scored 10 points and had a career high in assists with 9. Patric Young led the gAtors in scoring with 15 points, shooting an efficient 70% from the field going 7-10. The Gators face No. 16 Mississippi State Bulldogs in Gainesville, on January 28 at 1:30pm.

Photo: Rogelio V. Solis / AP

The Florida Gators (15-4, 3-1 SEC) defeated the LSU Tigers (12-7, 2-3 SEC) 76 -64 on Saturday night in Gainesville to extend its home winning streak to 16. The Gators had five players in double figures in scoring. Eric Murphy led the Gators with 15 points, Erving Walker had 12 and Kenny Boynton, Bradley Beal and Mike Rosario each chipped in with 11 points. Throughout this entire season Florida has killed teams with the three ball. On nights where the Gators were dismantling teams with the three, which they lead the nation in makes per a game, they very rarely have to rely on a balanced offensive effort inside the arc. LAst night, this was not the case. The Gators shot only 7 – 21 from beyond the arc and still managed to put perform admirably. They dominated the field shotting 74% from inside the three line and cruised to a victory eventhough LSU pulled within 8 with 3 minutes remaining. Erving Walker hit a go ahead three after that which put the game on ice. The Gators next matchup will be against Ole Miss on January 26, at 7:00pm.

The Gators (14-4, 2-1 SEC) finally got a much-needed win on the road against the South Carolina Gamecocks (8-9, 0-3 SEC). Florida put on an offensive clinic defeating the Gamecocks 79 – 65. The Gators shot 53% from the field going 25 of 47 and completing 12 of 24 from behind the arc. All five starters finished with double figures in scoring. Kenny Boynton led the team with 15 points, with 12 of those points coming off of 4 -7 shooting for three. Bradley Beal and Will Yeguette both had 14 points and Erving Walker and Erik Murphy chipped in 11 each. Erving Walker went 3-4 from behind the arc. Next up for the Gators are the LSU Tigers, which they will be facing on Saturday, January 21, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville.