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Florida basketball is good, but can it become good enough to beat the SEC's best? | Whitley

Florida has a good basketball team. Don’t take my word for it, take John Calipari’s.

“They’re good, let me say that,” Calipari said after his Kentucky team played UF on Saturday.

“They could be undefeated,” he noted a couple of minutes later. “I mean, they’re really good.”

After further analyzing what had just transpired, Calipari threw the Gators one more verbal bouquet.

“I’ll just say it again,” he said. “Florida’s really good.”

Yep, Florida is good. It’s just not quite good enough for fans to feel really good about.

That was evident on Saturday afternoon. It was the first SEC game of the season, a much-anticipated affair with the mighty Wildcats.

Well, they’re not as mighty as the best of Calipari’s teams, but they might be close by March. For now, they are ranked No. 6. But being Kentucky, it could have been ranked No. 666 Saturday and a Florida win would have been big.

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That’s why, after about two hours of rollicking basketball, the 10,106 fans (minus a few hundred boisterous Kentuckians) quietly filed out of the O’Connell Center. After leading for most of the game, the Gators stumbled home and lost 87-85.

“There are no moral victories,” Todd Golden said. “But it’s safe to say this team is on the right track.”

There’s no doubt the Golden has the program on the upswing. Florida was 10-3 heading into Saturday and riding a six-game winning streak. ESPN’s analytics gave the Gators a 61.5% chance of making it seven straight wins.

The numbers-crunchers apparently didn’t factor in UF missing 10 of 11 3-point shots in the second half, or the Gators’ defense faltering in key moments. “It was a missed opportunity, for sure,” Golden said. “I don’t think we played great, but we played well.”

Such is the modus operandi of UF hoops right now. The Gators can hang with just about any team. They just aren’t making the pivotal plays needed to beat quality teams.

UF is 2-17 in Quadrant-1 games the past two seasons. The definition of “Quad 1” is too long to get into here. Just know that they really matter when the selection committee starts picking NCAA Tournament teams in March.

The Gators are 0-3 in Quad 1 games this year, a mark that includes a three-point loss to Virginia and a four-point loss to Baylor. A win by any points over Kentucky would have been Quad-riffic for UF.

That 61.5% chance of winning looked prescient in the first half. Kentucky likes to play at a scorching pace, and the Gators showed they could play that style.

There’s a lot to like about Golden’s second team at UF, starting with the backcourt of Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr., who each finished with 23 points. But just about every SEC team has a solid guard or two. Calipari said what separates UF from other teams is its frontcourt depth.

Tyreese Samuel, Micah Handlogten, Alex Condon and Thomas Haugh are board-bangers. Throw in some home-court mojo, like banking in two 3-point shots, and UF had a 45-37 halftime lead.

The Wildcats got their act together in the second half, but Florida still had a 76-74 lead with 3:10 left. Then it went scoreless for almost three minutes. Really good teams make big shots in big moments. They also don’t miss 11 of 29 free throws.

“We had some wide-open catch-and-shoot 3s we’ve got to make if you want to win a game like that,” Golden said. “Maybe tightened up a bit.”

Florida Gators guard Zyon Pullin (0) drives to the basket. The Florida men’s basketball team hosted the Kentucky Wildcats at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, January 6, 2024 during the first half. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner]
Florida Gators guard Zyon Pullin (0) drives to the basket. The Florida men’s basketball team hosted the Kentucky Wildcats at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, FL on Saturday, January 6, 2024 during the first half. [Doug Engle/Ocala Star Banner]

Kentucky did not. Especially 7-foot-1 freshman Aaron Bradshaw, who hit a killer 3-pointer with 1:27 left.

“I find it real, real gratifying,” he said. “It was real fun playing in front of them and against them.”

He also noted, “That’s a really good team.”

The SEC has plenty of good teams, however, like Ole Miss. The Rebels are 13-1 and will play host to Florida Wednesday night.

One game into the conference schedule, we know the Gators are good. We also know that being good isn’t good enough.

David Whitley is The Gainesville Sun's sports columnist. Contact him at dwhitley@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @DavidEWhitley

This article originally appeared on The Gainesville Sun: Florida basketball is good but needs to get better

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