Kentucky has reached the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament with a 78-72 victory over 8-seeded Mizzou in Nashville. The Cats led by as many as 16 points early in the second half, but lost that entire lead due to a dominant performance by Mark Mitchell, a Mizzou forward who led all scorers with 32 points. With 2:34 left in the game, Mitchell put Mizzou ahead 70-69, but the Cats responded with a 7-0 run that left them in control. Both Otega Oweh (21 points) and Denzel Aberdeen (16 points) had huge, late-in-the-shot-clock, drive-to-the-basket-and-get-fouled-but-they-don't-call-the-foul-because-it's-late-in-a-close-SEC-game buckets to give UK the victory.
For the first time since 2018, the Cats have won two games in the SEC Tournament. They are now 21-12 on the year, and ranked 27 on Ken Pom. Their Luck score has improved to 212.
While the close wins over LSU and Mizzou were entertaining, tomorrow the scrappy Cats play the Big Kids. Florida, the National Champions, brings its 11-game winning streak to Nashville for a noon tip-off. In 80 minutes against Florida this year, the Cats have never held the lead. The Gators rolled over UK 92-83 in Gainesville on Valentine's Day, and cruised to an easy 84-77 victory in Rupp last Saturday. Ken Pom thinks the Gators will win this game 83-73, although he gives UK an 18 percent chance of pulling the upset.
UK hasn't made the semi-finals of the SEC Tournament since 2022. Here are their last three trips to the quarter-finals, none of which was impressive:
03/10/23: Vanderbilt 80, Kentucky 73
03/15/24: Texas A & M 97, Kentucky 87
03/14/25: Alabama 99, Kentucky 70
Miami (Fla.) beats U of L in the ACC Quarter-Finals: 78 to 73.
ReplyDeleteThe Ville is 23-10, and 17 on Ken Pom. Their Luck ranking is 239.
ReplyDeleteYou Tee comes from behind to beat Auburn, 72 to 62. The Vols will play Vandy tomorrow in the quarter-finals.
ReplyDeleteIt will be the third meeting between them. UT won in Nashville, and Vandy won in Knoxville. Both games were very close.
DeleteTennessee is 14 on Ken Pom, and 308 in Luck. Ken Pom has Vandy winning tomorrow by 76 to 75.
DeleteI really wish we were playing an Eighth Region Tournament in Memorial Gym this year. Here would be the semi-finals (with Ken Pom rankings):
ReplyDelete(13) Vanderbilt (24-7) v. (28) Kentucky (21-12)
(14) Tennessee (22-10) v. (17) Louisville (23-10)
That would be some real drama.
UK went 3-2 against Vandy, UT, and U of L this year.
DeleteFor the record, in Gillespie's last year as coach at UK, the Cats went 19-12 in the regular season, and 8-8 in the SEC. They lost their last four games of the regular season. They beat Ole Miss on Thursday in the SEC Tournament, but lost to LSU in the quarterfinals. They were 48 on Ken Pom, 321 in luck, and they were not invited to the NCAA Tournament.
ReplyDelete"For the first time since 2018, the Cats have won two games in the SEC Tournament." I was really surprised by that sentence.
DeleteIn the quarter-finals of the Big XII Tournament, the Iowa State Cyclones, coached by T.J. Otzelberger, demolished Texas Tech 75 to 73. The Cyclones, who are 27-6 and ranked number 7 on Ken Pom, will face Arizona in tomorrow's semi-final.
ReplyDeleteOle Miss, behind 16 points from Travis Perry, knocks off Georgia 76 to 72 and advances to the quarterfinals to play Alabama.
ReplyDeleteIt's obvious, by the way, that teams are struggling to get used to conditions at the Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. There were four SEC Tournament games today, and in each one of them the lower seeded team (which had played on Wednesday) jumped out to a double-digit lead. Mizzou almost caught UK, and Georgia almost caught Ole Miss, but only Tennessee so far has come all the way back to win.
ReplyDeleteWith 17:49 left in the game, Oklahoma currently leads Texas A & M by 54 to 32. Ouch.
ReplyDeleteDo any officials -- in any league -- enjoy video reviews as much as SEC Basketball officials? No. It's 10:13 PM Central Time in Nashville, Oklahoma has a 14-point lead with 15:25 left, and the game is stopped for a long review.
ReplyDeleteThe Internet reports that K-State is hiring Belmont's coach, which is probably good news for Murray State.
ReplyDeleteFlorida is disproving the notion that Bridgestone Arena is a hard place to play. Gators lead UK 16-8 with 13:18 left in the first half.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 20 - 18 Kentucky (10:40 left in 1st half). Gators call time after UK goes on a 10-2 run.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 26 - 20 Kentucky (7:23 left in 1st half). Gators have cranked up the defense and are now playing at a very high level. Cats are playing hard, but lack the talent to break down a team this good.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 28 - 20 Kentucky (6:11 left in 1st half). Gators on an 8-0 run. They are just too big and too strong. I've seen games this year where UK was passive and weak. Today they are giving it all they've got. But they aren't good enough.
ReplyDeleteIf you remembered what it looked like in 2012 or 2015 when we were the number-one seed, and we played a team like Alabama or Ole Miss in the quarterfinals, that's what this game looks like.
ReplyDeleteFlorida scores 13 in a row before the Cats get a bucket. Florida leads 33-22 with 3:21 left in the first half.
ReplyDeleteEvery player for Florida is bigger and stronger than his counterpart for UK.
ReplyDeleteBridgestone Arena is a tough shooting environment and the Gators are only 2-10 from three. But UK is only 2-9 from three, and UF has outrebounded UK 21-10 so far.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 37 - 28 Kentucky (Half). Cats are only 8-19 from 2-point range against the bigger Gators. But they are also only 2-11 from 3-point range. So their offense is dead.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 45 - 32 Kentucky (15:17 left). Just not much to say. Coaching, scheming, and effort can only take you so far. To be competitive with a team like Florida, you need a lot more talent than the Cats have.
ReplyDeleteUK is exactly the sort of team I wanted to play back when Kentucky had really good teams. The thing about this Kentucky team is that most of the time, they play about as hard as they can. So when they go up against a team like Florida, they don't have another level -- they had to go all out just to beat LSU and Mizzou. That means, if you're Florida, you don't have to worry that someone is going to get hot and go for 30 points, or that UK is suddenly going to bury you with a bunch of three's. As long as Florida plays hard, it's almost impossible for UK to win.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 56 - 44 Kentucky (7:10 left in the 2d half). These teams have now played each other for almost 113 minutes, and Florida has led by 10-15 points almost the whole time. There's just a very clear gap between them, and there's nothing the Cats can do to close it.
ReplyDeleteAccurate!
DeletePope's problem isn't that he can't coach. If he has guys who buy into his system, he can get those guys to play as well as they can. His problem is that he cannot recruit the type of players you need to win the SEC or go to the Final Four. And that means he can never get Kentucky where the fans want it to go.
ReplyDeleteI'm afraid this is accurate, too.
DeleteIf you could force Pope and Florida coach Todd Golden to switch players, my guess is that Pope would win most of their games. But in the real world, Golden will always have better players. Watching UK against Florida now is like when Georgia's football team could never beat Steve Spurrier. Tradition, discipline, effort -- none of it is enough if you don't have talent.
ReplyDeleteFlorida 66 - 58 Kentucky (1:37 left). It's literally like watching a game between the big brother and the little brother. Florida has out-rebounded Kentucky 48 to 27.
ReplyDelete