Florida’s bid for a national title repeat is nearing full stride after Saturday’s 92-83 win over No. 25 Kentucky, and the No. 14 Gators have a new piece of hardware firmly in their sights as well.
A year after Auburn edged the Gators by a game for the SEC regular-season crown, Florida is in the driver’s seat of the league standings with six games left.
Since starting league play 0-1 with a 76-74 loss at Missouri on Jan. 3, the Gators are 10-1. In that span, they’ve rated as the second-most efficient team in college basketball behind only Houston, according to barttorvik.com.
That efficiency was on display again against a Kentucky (17-7, 8-4) team that had won eight of its past nine games. Florida employed its typical crush of offensive rebounding to establish the tone and then used some perimeter marksmanship to keep the resilient Wildcats at arm’s length.
Urban Klavzar hit 5-of-11 attempts from beyond the arc, tying a season-high for makes and marking his eighth game of 3+ makes from 3-point range this season. The only thing standing between Kentucky and a potential 13-0 run late in the second half was a pair of Klavzar triples at 5:18 and 3:07 marks that subdued Kentucky’s effort to rally from a 16-point deficit.
Klavzar’s perimeter acumen as the team’s top guard option off the bench has rarely been in question. The Gators have simply needed more of that firepower from within their starting lineup.
Xaivian Lee provided it against Kentucky. The Princeton transfer led all scorers with 22 points, shooting a refreshing 4 of 7 from deep in a demonstration of the potential the Gators saw when they recruited the former two-time all-Ivy League performer.
Florida’s 3-point shooting is improving
Florida entered ranked 354th nationally in 3-point percentage at 29.2% and making just 7.4 long-range shots per game. Last year, the Gators made 9.8 per game while shooting 35.6%, which was 87th nationally. That’s a big difference.
While some downtick in 3-point shooting was likely unavoidable amid the departures of star guards Walter Clayton Jr., Alijah Martin and Will Richard, the slide has been more intense than expected.
Lee entered shooting just 25.5% from deep on six attempts per game after shooting 36.6% from deep for Princeton last season. Florida’s other starting guard, Boogie Fland, entered with one 3-point make in his last seven games and went 0 for 3 against Kentucky.
How a team this bad at shooting has managed to be so good anyway is a remarkable testament to Florida’s convoy of quality bigs and the rising stardom of versatile forward Thomas Haugh, who has been flexed down to the small forward position this season. That move hasn’t helped Florida’s perimeter shooting, but it has only made them meaner defensively and tougher to handle on the glass.
When the Gators do get hot from deep like they did against Kentucky? Watch out. That’s when a great team starts to like an elite team that can win it all. Florida is now 9-0 when making nine or more 3-pointers after finishing 10 of 28 against Kentucky.
Florida in good position in SEC race
The Gators now have at least a two-game edge in the loss column on everyone in the SEC standings except for Arkansas. The Razorbacks entered their Saturday game with Auburn at 8-3 in the league. Florida will host Arkansas on Feb. 28 in a game that could have SEC title ramifications.
It’s also possible that the Gators will have separated even further from the pack by then. Their next two games are against lower-tier foes South Carolina and Ole Miss before a manageable trip to Texas on Feb. 25.
A return trip to face Kentucky inside Rupp Arena on March 7 also looms at the end of the schedule. But at this rate, Florida may have the league title locked up by the time it returns to the scene of last year’s thrilling 106-100 loss to the Wildcats.
