By Kenneth Cross
GAINESVILLE, Fla. – No. 6 Kentucky’s 87-85 win over Florida sent two of the nation’s hottest teams at each other in Week 1 of the SEC schedule. Florida had won six in a row while Kentucky had five consecutive W’s.
In the end, a late 7-0 run allowed Kentucky to survive a tough outing on the opening day in the deep SEC.
Trailing 76-74 after Florida guard Walter Clayton, Jr., made a pair of free throws, Kentucky finished 5-of-6 from the floor where Antonio Reeves scored on a driving layup in the half court and Aaron Bradshaw hit a three to give the Wildcats a 79-76 lead with 1:05 to play.
“This team, the good news is, if you are not playing great, I can sub you and it doesn’t hurt us that much,” analyzed Kentucky head coach John Calipari, of the depth and talent he has assembled. “I have told these guys a thousand times that you don’t have to be great every moment you are playing.”
Reeves and Tre Mitchell came up solid when the Wildcats needed them most. Mitchell posted a double-double with 12 points and 10 boards while Reeves was 8-of-16 from the floor and led Kentucky with 19 points in 27 minutes.
DJ Wagner started at guard and was formidable across the boards as he is a multi-diminsional player. Wagner finished with 14 points in a team high 36 minutes. He was 6-of-10 from the floor with three rebounds and three assists.
“I thought DJ Wagner was good,” said Calipari. “He played for us.”
Calipari talked about keeping Wagner and Mitchell in the game in the second half although Mitchell had cramps and went out of the game, not to return.
Bradshaw played differently in the second half as he waivered into the second 20 minutes.
“I said, ‘I’m not going to play you’ and then we played him and ran an out of bounds play to get him a shot and I said, ‘That’s how much I believe in you. I can’t fight for you.'” said Calipari.
The coach’s belief in his talent and depth were two things that played as a positive on Saturday. Even when Florida dominated the game in leading 28:35 of the 40 minutes, Calipari had the belief that his players would step up and persevere in the clutch.
“I don’t care that they’re young,” noted Calipari of five freshmen in his rotation. “They’re dogs. They have a will to win. They were playing to win the game.”