Kentucky erased many doubts with its dominating performance against Florida.
The Wildcats, despite their No. 1 rank, hadn’t defeated a SEC team with a winning conference record until they easily knocked off eighth-ranked Florida 78-58 on Tuesday night.
The Gators had won seven consecutive games and figured to have the best chance to beat Kentucky of any team in the SEC.
But one of the better 3-point shooting teams in the country was terrible from that range and was dominated by the Wildcats, who extended their home winning streak to 49 games, 48 of those wins coming under coach John Calipari.
“We have this little swagger,” forward Anthony Davis told The Associated Press afterward. “We just want to go out there and play hard and win. We’re very capable of winning a national championship if we keep playing how we’re playing.”
Here’s how well Kentucky is playing:
- The Wildcats (24-1, 10-0 SEC) have won 16 consecutive games.
- They are off to their best start in the SEC since 2005.
- Tuesday's victory was Kentucky's largest margin of victory against a top-10 team since 1996.
- This is the first time Kentucky has defeated four consecutive SEC opponents by at least 20 points since 1993.
Hot shot
JaMychal Green appears to be heating up at the right time.
Alabama’s all-SEC forward injured his shoulder in late December and struggled in his first three games in January, but he has reached double figures in five of Alabama’s past seven games.
Green had 19 points and seven rebounds in a victory over Auburn on Tuesday and made his first 3-pointer since the first game of the season.
“It felt good leaving my hand,” he said.
Have not
Erving Walker has had better nights.
Florida’s senior guard was 0-for-7 from the floor in the loss to Kentucky, including four misses from the 3-point line, and failed to score for the first time since Dec. 30, 2008, when he was a freshman.
Walker entered the game with an SEC-leading 5.1 assists per game, but had only one, to go with one turnover. He also had shot 39.3 percent from 3-point range, fourth in the league.
On a roll
- Mississippi State's Renardo Sidney had one of his best games of the season with 17 points in a win over Auburn. He was 5-for-5 from the floor, including a 3-pointer.
- Terrance Henry has averaged 17.2 points and 6.4 rebounds in the past five games for Mississippi.
- Either John Jenkins or Jeffery Taylor had led Vanderbilt in scoring in every game entering Wednesday's game against LSU. Jenkins leads the SEC in scoring at 19.7 points and Taylor is second at 17.7 points.
Local ties
Rob Chubb grew up hearing about Auburn and committed to play basketball there when he was a junior at McIntosh High.
Auburn stayed in his mind even though he transferred to Montverde Academy near Orlando for his senior season, so he signed with the Tigers.
Chubb, a 6-foot-10 junior, has started all 24 games for Auburn this season and has averaged 8.8 points and 5.0 rebounds.
He had his first career double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds against LSU on Jan. 17, and had eight points, three rebounds, two blocks and two steals in Tuesday’s loss to Alabama.
Around the conference
Tony Mitchell (Swainsboro), Alabama’s second leading scorer and rebounder, was suspended indefinitely for conduct detrimental to the team. Mitchell, who has averaged 13.1 points and 7.0 rebounds, missed Tuesday’s game. ... Mississippi hasn’t swept the season series against Mississippi State since 1998. The Rebels can do that Thursday night with a win at Starkville, Miss., but the Bulldogs have won 12 consecutive games at home. ... South Carolina has lost to two No. 1 teams this season: 87-62 to North Carolina on Nov. 25 and 86-52 to Kentucky on Saturday.
Must-see TV
- Kentucky at Vanderbilt, 9 p.m. Saturday (ESPN)
Vanderbilt hasn’t played well at home at times this year, but it might not matter how well the Commodores play against Kentucky.
Quotable
“My thing to Michael [Kidd-Gilchrist] was I want to make sure he’s smiling. A couple games ago he wasn’t smiling. I’m like, ‘You should be smiling every game.’ I told him and [Davis], I said to both of them, ‘You guys understand, these guys love playing with you because you don’t command the ball. You defend. You rebound. You block shots. They get to shoot all the balls. What’s better than that?’” — Calipari
By the numbers
9-0 Mississippi State's record when Arnett Moultrie scores 20 or more points in a game.
22.2 Percentage of 3-pointers Florida made in its loss to Kentucky (6-of-27). The Gators entered the game leading the SEC with 241 3-pointers and making 40.2 percent per game.
