travisduncan
Gator Fan
Gator sophomore forward Patric Young ICONSMI
The Gators fell to a great Kentucky team Sunday afternoon at the O-Dome, 74-59 to close out the 2011-12 regular season.
The Gators finish 22-9 on the year having lost their final three games of the season as they head into the SEC Tournament on Friday.
But Sunday's game showed something the Gators haven't had most of the season: fight. The Gators overcame a 14-point deficit and made it an 8-point game by halftime. At the 16:25 mark in the second half the Gators had climbed their way back to make it just a a two-point contest. It was a four-point deficit with just over nine minutes to go in the game, but from there the Wildcats stifled the Gators offense limiting them to just 4 points over the final 9:29 in the game.
Kentucky is good, they are just the third team in SEC history to go undefeated in league play and have lost just one game all season, a fluke buzzer beater at Indiana. Losing to Kentucky is nothing to hang your head about.
Ultimately the Gators had trouble putting the ball in the basket, shooting 38-percent from the field 21-of-55.
Kentucky hit three timely three-pointers from distance in the second half, including a timely three by freshman Anthony Davis who at 6-10 can stroke it from downtown. Davis finished with 22 points to lead the Wildcats. Davis also had 12 rebounds and six blocks.
A real bright spot in Sunday's contest was the play of Gators forward Patric Young who led all Gators with 21 points and nine rebounds.
"Patric Young was a beast,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said after the game, via the Associated Press.
"Patric Young plays like that they’re fine in postseason. They’re fine. Just Patric, whatever you had for breakfast this morning, eat it, because he dominated us. You have to understand you don’t want to leave their 3-point shooters to try to double him, which is your option. He was really, really good."
Coach Billy Donovan said that his team is going through a maturation process and actually his young players are not where Kentucky's freshman are at this point in terms of focus an the ability to make "timely plays".
There's a very good chance the Gators could play Kentucky next Saturday in the SEC Tournament.
The Gators will be the No. 4 seed in this week's SEC Tournament in New Orleans and will play Friday at 3:30 p.m. ET in round-two having secured a first-round bye. The Gators will play the winner of Thurday's South Carolina-Alabama game. The winner will advance to play presumably Kentucky in the semi-finals Saturday-though the Wildcats must first play the winner of LSU-Arkansas on Friday.
As of Sunday night CBS Sports Bracketology has the Gators as a 5th seed in the East for the NCAA Tournament.
