Florida Gators Basketball: UF Solidifies Resume With Blowout Of Kentucky
Barring a complete and utter meltdown, the Florida Gators men’s basketball team solidified its NCAA Tournament resume with a blowout of the Kentucky Wildcats.
Throughout the 2016-17 college basketball season, Mike White has been preaching patience with the Florida Gators men’s basketball team. Through the highs and the lows, he’s maintained a belief that Florida hasn’t yet realized its potential.
On Saturday, Feb. 4, the Gators tapped into their potential with an 88-66 decimation of the No. 8 Kentucky Wildcats.
Florida entered the clash with Kentucky as underdogs. Despite hosting the Wildcats in Gainesville, the Gators were believed to be overmatched by a John Calipari team that’s as deep and star-studded as ever before.
With no one to believe in them but the fans and students, the Gators made a powerful statement.
Well tonight was fun! Check out the highlights from the 88-66 win! pic.twitter.com/eeJ1U6pNsy
— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) February 5, 2017
As a result of this dominant victory, the Gators have effectively punched their ticket to the 2017 NCAA Tournament.
Senior point guard Kasey Hill led Florida to victory with 21 points, six assists, five rebounds, one block, and a steal against one of the best backcourts in the country. Chris Chiozza added nine rebounds and nine assists off the bench, and Devin Robinson tallied 16 points and nine rebounds.
Most impressively, the Gators held Kentucky to its lowest scoring total of the season and earned the most lopsided win over the Wildcats in program history.
https://twitter.com/GatorsMBK/status/828085895463051264
With the victory, Florida improved to 18-5 overall and 8-2 against SEC opponents.
It lost competitive games against the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs, No. 15 Florida State Seminoles, No. 19 South Carolina Gamecocks, and No. 22 Duke Blue Devils. Its average margin of defeat in those four games against contending teams was 6.0 points per game.
Florida now has a dominant win over a Top 10 team to go with its quality losses.
The Gators now have five wins over teams in the RPI Top 50, including two teams in the RPI Top 25: Arkansas and Kentucky. It has another five wins in the RPI Top 100 and ranks in the Top 20 in strength of schedule.
The fact that the win over Kentucky was a blowout and the victory against Arkansas was on the road polishes what’s become a compelling resume.
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Barring a complete and utter meltdown, the Florida Gators men’s basketball team should return to the NCAA Tournament in 2017.