Kentucky was ‘childish,’ played into ‘what the opponent wants’ in Senior Day loss to Florida

Kentucky turned it over nine times to Florida’s ten, but the Gators assisted on 20 of their 28 made field goals compared to 17 of 26 for the Wildcats. As a team, UK converted on just 39.4 percent of its shots and 34.8 percent from three as UF knocked down 45.8 percent overall and 44.4 percent from deep. Elsewhere, it was a 41-40 advantage on the glass and a 38-32 scoring edge in the paint for the road team, but the good guys finished ahead 19-10 in bench scoring and closed up 12-10 in points off turnovers.

The 24-4 difference in fastbreak points was the only truly damning statistic on the day for the blue and white. In fact, Mark Pope’s group actually won the second half 45-35 — and, really, the final 38 minutes of the game after trailing 11-0 right out of the gate.

That’s what makes the 84-77 loss on Senior Day so frustrating, though. The windows were there, the Wildcats just refused to go through them. Or they waited too long to make their move and didn’t give themselves a real opportunity after going down by as many as 20. A two-possession game in the final minute, they were within striking distance, but couldn’t truly threaten the serious Final Four contender.

A few obvious obstacles stand in their way from closing that gap, one player believes.

“I feel like we’re really close and it’s not even a matter of physicality, it’s not a matter of tactics, it’s just a matter of will we understand what we need to do to win? And that’s passing to each other, playing together both on defense and offense,” sophomore forward Andrija Jelavic said. “On the offensive end, make players come to you and pass to the other guy — he will make a shot. That’s what we do on offense. On defense, just being physical and five plays as one.

“If we understand that before the SEC Tournament starts, I’m not worried.”

The Wildcats spotted the Gators an 11-0 lead in the openminutes, but responded with a run to cut it to 20-19 at the 8:57 mark. That led to a 13-0 Florida run right back, unfortunately, to go up by 14 — then as many as 18 before halftime.

What happened in that brutal stretch they could never totally overcome?

Jelavic actually likes how his team played on the defensive end, but things stalled out on the other end of the floor with a lot of that being self-inflicted.

“We were fine on the defensive end but we were playing losing ball on the offensive end,” he said. “We were making turnovers, taking bad shots and that’s what results in going 11-0 or 13-0 at the beginning. That’s just what Florida wants. They want you to take bad shots, they want you to think that you can do a layup and they block you and then the two of them run and score a layup. I think that was the problem. 

“When we started to play like us on offense, the defense just came to its own and almost turned around. We were short in the end because of that start. Against Florida, you need to play all 40 minutes to win.”

He mentioned bad shots and turnovers on multiple occasions, and he feels the team got there by playing selfish and immature basketball. Players were more focused on getting theirs and monitoring how many possessions ended in opportunities for teammates, not themselves.

Jelavic called it ‘childish’ — sticking with his theme of head-turning quotes talking with the media following his seven-point, four-rebound, two-assist, one-block, one-teal effort in 21 minutes. He wasn’t a fan of the fatigue excuses made up by Mark Pope, and he wasn’t a fan of Kentucky’s teamwork in the finale, just like all of their losses up to this point.

Again, that’s what Florida wanted, playing right into the top-seeded Gators’ trap.

“Sometimes when you pass the ball to each other — some guys don’t touch the ball for 2-3 minutes, and they just need to be mature, not be childish. Know the game will come to them and not just force it. That usually ends with a turnover or blocked shots.

“That’s what the opponent wants.”

Kentucky was competitive in that extended first-half period that saw the Cats cut an 11-point deficit down to one, only to let go of the rope going into the break. That continued into the second with Florida pushing ahead by 20, followed by UK giving itself an unlikely shot in the final minutes.

Against that team, though, it takes a complete game from start to finish. And it takes unselfish play, something that was missing for Pope’s squad in the disappointing Rupp Arena finale.

From this point forward, there are no more redos. It’s win-or-go-home, survive-and-advance territory. ‘Childish’ time is over.