Determination despite drama

JohnClay / Herald-Leader Sports Columnist
http://www.kentucky.com/838/story/1093311.html

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — You could call them the drama kings, the way this young Kentucky team hasn't yet learned to put a foot on the opponent's throat. Maybe it gets bored when it gets ahead. Maybe it needs a challenge.

But so far, anyway, when the challenge arises, drama turns to domination.

"Will to win," said John Wall.

Win, indeed.

Here's the thing: Kentucky is 2-0 in the SEC.

Florida, for the first time ever under Billy Donovan, is 0-2.

The Cats beat the Gators 89-77 in the O-Dome on Tuesday night in what could be described as a loud, ragged, fun, uneven basketball game, in which the visitors appeared to be in control, up 15, not quite midway through the second half.

Only it turned into just what UK Coach John Calipari lamented about on Monday, that one of these days his young guys were going to mess around with a lead and get caught from behind.

Florida caught 'em all right, roaring back behind tiny guard Erving Walker, who helped pull Donovan's club even at 72 with 5:14 remaining.

The Rowdy Reptiles, with their wigs, their John Wall and DeMarcus Cousins signs, and their "Refined Rowdy Reptiles" T-shirts, went nuts.

"We get up 15 and all of a sudden we're tied," Calipari said afterward. "At some point this season we've got to get people down and keep them down. Or we're going to lose games. And you'll go on a run of not only losing one but losing two, three and four."

Ah, but Kentucky had a little guard of its own. Eric Bledsoe finished with a career-high 25 points. And after Patrick Patterson made a hook, missed the free throw and the Cats came up with a scramble, Bledsoe buried a killer three-pointer with 3:57 left.

A little over a minute later, Bledsoe hit another three to make it 82-73.

For all intents and purposes, that was the ballgame. You could see Florida's shoulders slump. The Gators have quick, darting guards but little underneath the basket. They battled the taller, better Cats inside, but you never got the feeling that Florida had the advantage underneath.

Kentucky, meanwhile, has guys who rise to the challenge. John Wall was good, but not John Wall good. (He did score UK's final seven points.) Bledsoe was great.

The freshman scored 15 points the first half. He added 10 more in the second and points at the best times. He was 10-for-13 from the floor.

It's no coincidence that two of Bledsoe's best games this year have come at Indiana and now at Florida. The kid doesn't back down from a challenge.

"Everybody's going to try and come at us, try to beat us," Bledsoe said. "That's going to be any team we play, so we're just going to have to play through it."

UK shot 58.8 percent in the second half and made five of 11 three-pointers.

"We've just got to figure out how we can tap into that," said Calipari of the closing stretch, "and say, 'This is who we have to be and how we have to play.'"

Meanwhile, Florida shot 38.2 percent, but maybe the Gators were distracted by the Lane Kiffin-to-USC news. As soon as Kentucky appeared to close the deal for good, Gator Nation filed quickly out the door to grab a bit of SportsCenter, no doubt, and dream of Florida staff members busily calling Tennessee recruits.

Kentucky has their stars. They're young. They're learning. Conference play is different. Conference road games are intense. And just because you're up 15 in the second half of a game in Gainesville, doesn't mean it's game-set-match.

But when it comes to decision time, the Drama Cats, er, Kings, rule.

Yeah it was amazing with like 3 minutes left in the game the whole Gator crowd started filing out. We were only up by like 6 or 7 at the time!