Once Again, Cats Say Backs Against the Wall: VOLS GAME TAKES ON ADDED URGENCY
By Jerry Tipton, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
Feb. 6–Another game dissolving into disarray. Another demoralizing defeat. Another never-again line drawn in the basketball sand.
So it went at Florida on Saturday.
Looking to the future, Randolph Morris said, “We need every single win. We cannot lose another game.”
Of course, as Morris acknowledged, he said much the same thing Friday. And that had been a tired refrain.
Then another meltdown, this time in the second half, led to a 95-80 loss to Florida.
Tennessee coming to Rupp Arena on Tuesday only adds urgency to UK’s now-or-never declarations. The Vols are two games ahead of Kentucky at the midpoint of the Southeastern Conference Eastern Division race. To fall three behind with a month to go … Well, Morris stayed on the sunnier side of the street.
“It’s all about fixing your mistakes,” he said. “I think we reverted back to one-on-one (offense). If we can adjust to that, we’ll be definitely fine.”
The teamwork UK so obviously needs was on display in Gainesville. Florida used teamwork to rout a panicked Kentucky in the second half. The Gators’ two brightest stars of the game, sophomores Joakim Noah and point guard Taurean Green, put their career nights in a team context. The contrast with UK’s artless solos (three assists, nine turnovers in the second half) was glaring.
Noah’s career-high 26 points came “because of my teammates,” he said. “I wasn’t making post moves or anything. Know what I’m saying? … Maybe 85 percent of my baskets came from Taurean penetrating and dishing off to me.”
Green, who scored a career-high 29 points and equaled a personal best with nine assists, credited Noah and Florida’s bottomless well of post players.
“The ‘bigs’ set good screens,” he said. “I mean, the ‘bigs’ set great screens.”
Then Green did the rest, shooting from the perimeter (three three-pointers) or driving to the basket or passing to open teammates.
On his post-game radio show, Florida Coach Billy Donovan noted the many contributors (five double-digit scorers), but singled out Green.
“Taurean did such a great job with the high screen,” Donovan said. “Coming off it, getting in the lane and making decisions. He made the game easier for our entire team.”
Those screens Green used illustrated Kentucky’s lack of teamwork. Or, more precisely, lack of communication skills. Repeatedly, point guard Rajon Rondo slammed blindly into a pick. If there had been a three-knockdown rule, Kentucky would have lost by a TKO.
“I was trying to tell him, ‘Screen,’” Morris said. “He kept getting hit by screens. I guess he couldn’t hear me. He said he couldn’t hear me.”
Florida’s high-post screen action did not catch Kentucky by surprise.
“Coach told us they were going to run that play,” Joe Crawford said. “We just couldn’t stop it.”
Florida communicated without a word being spoken. Noah and Green collaborated on a dunk off an inbounds pass midway through an 18-1 run that buried Kentucky.
“I saw Taurean look at the rim like this,” said Noah, who widened his eyes and glanced upward. “He just looked at me with his eyes. And I knew what he wanted to do.”
As Kentucky Coach Tubby Smith noted, the Cats did not stop much of anything. Florida made 61.5 percent of its second-half shots (16 of 26). The Gators’ 57.7-percent shooting for the game — which included eight dunks, five by Noah — marked the best accuracy by a UK opponent since Feb. 26, 2003, when Tennessee shot 58.7 percent in Rupp Arena.
“We didn’t play a lick of defense at all,” Morris said.
As of early December, Kentucky had limited 73 of its most recent 75 opponents to less than 50 percent shooting. Florida became the fifth opponent in the last 14 games to make at least half its shots. UK’s record in those games is 1-4 (the victory was against South Carolina when Patrick Sparks and Rondo made improbable — and improvised — three-pointers in the final 31 seconds).
The confidence created by the five-game winning streak that Kentucky brought to Florida crumbled.
“It definitely brings us back to planet Earth,” Morris said of the loss at Florida. “Like I said, it’s all about how you make adjustments and fix the game plan. That’s how you can be successful.”
Perhaps because of the competitive first half, or perhaps because he was merely being nice, Green all but predicted Kentucky’s revival.
“Kentucky is a great program,” he said. “They’re a good team. They’re going to bounce back.”
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Next game
Tennessee at Kentucky
When: 7 p.m. Tuesday TV: ESPN
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Copyright (c) 2006, The Lexington Herald-Leader, Ky.
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