Devin Askew and Olivier Sarr apply the defensive pressure against Florida in Saturday's win. (Vicky Graff Photo)
Kentucky is now 4-6 and riding a three-game win streak after Saturday’s 76-58 win at Florida. The Cats and Alabama are the SEC’s only unbeaten teams and will play for sole possession of the SEC lead Tuesday night at Rupp Arena. Keion Brooks played for the first time this season and had 12 points, six rebounds, four assists, one block and one steal. Dontaie Allen hit two 3-pointers, scored six points, had two rebounds and blocked one shot in 22 minutes —his third straight game with 22 or more minutes.
What would Kentucky’s record be if Brooks could have played all year and/or Allen had not played just 20 minutes total in UK’s first seven games? Allen has 43 points in the last three games.
That’s a question to ponder but the reality is that UK has got a restart with the calendar rolling over to 2021, SEC play starting, coach John Calipari finally playing Allen and now Brooks back.
“We don’t know. It is pretty high,” UK senior point guard Davion Mintz said after the game when asked about Kentucky’s ceiling now. “We are focusing on one game. Right now we are focused on Alabama. I know we do have something special. Everyone had so much fun today. It was amazing out there and we just want to keep going from there.”
That is what Calipari wants as well and he certainly had some of his preseason swag after the impressive win at Florida.
“I know there was probably some people that put dirt on the coffin. We pushed the coffin open and said, ‘You ain’t putting that dirt on this.’ That stuff was out there, but look -– I kept saying to you. We’ve got good kids,” Calipari said.
“I’m proud of these kids. They just need time. And I’m not changing that thought. We just need time.”
Brooks heard and saw a lot of negative things about Kentucky when he was not playing and the team got off to a 1-6 start. That’s why he said the Florida win was not a statement to the rest of the country or even the SEC.
“A lot of people couldn’t wait for us to have a down year. We struggled early and a lot of people started to write us off but it was early. And we played a heck of a schedule for having a team with a whole bunch of guys who have never played for Cal before,” Brooks said.
“Coach made sure we were ready, we kept fighting through. A lot of people tried to throw a lot of dirt on us and bury us, but we’re going to keep fighting, we’re not going to go away.”
