Notables
* Anthony Duruji led the Gators with 15 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, his first time leading the Gators in scoring.
* Tyree Appleby added 10 points, making his first start as a Gator.
* Both Appleby and Duruji have scored in double figures in three of the past four games.
* Samson Ruzhentsev got minutes late and hit a pair of 3-pointers and two free throws, totaling eight points in five minutes.
Quotable
Tyree Appleby
On where the game started slipping away…
“They really came out and they punched us in the mouth. They had a great team … you can’t underestimate any team in the SEC. They came out, they just played way better than we did tonight, so we just got to get back to the drawing board.”
On Kentucky’s physicality…
“You know, like I said, they came out, you know, they punched us in the mouth first. Great team, so we just have to get back practice, take it day-by-day, and just move forward.”
Head Coach Mike White
On Kentucky’s performance today…
“I thought they were really good with their interior offense, with their interior passing, with their decisions versus some of the defensive looks we gave them and their finishing ability at the rim was high-level. I thought they handled the ball pretty well and executed what they wanted to execute. For the most part, they had their way with us offensively. They came in here and locked us up as well.”
On the team’s shot selection and offensive performance…
“Yeah, you know what, against other teams that we’ve played this year, those pretty good looks became great looks. But they’ve (Kentucky) got elite length, closing speed on the ball and they blocked some shots of course with seven, but altered another 10. That becomes mental as well, then there’s two or three that really weren’t altered or blocked, you just miss because you’re thinking about them. I thought we played rushed in the paint, inside of 10 feet.”
On Scottie Lewis’ performance…
“I think a lot of it has to do with the way he is being defended. I don’t think we had great ball movement tonight. He made some cuts where he was open and we didn’t get it to him. He had a really nice cut there in the second half along the baseline that led to productivity. For the most part, he’s a guy that we are not playing through in terms of him being a ball-handler. He is a guy that is playing off of a couple of our other guys. We probably have got to do a better job moving forward, get him some more opportunities.”
