The (offensive) Game of the Year

Good morning! A marvelous weekend of college basketball was the perfect way to stay inside and stay warm.

Let’s get to the weekend’s storylines.

1. There was so much to love about Kentucky-Florida

Teams aren’t always ready for games that tip before noon. Yet after Kentucky’s thrilling, delightful, amazing (any adjective works, really), 106-100 win over No. 6 Florida on Saturday, I’m ready for every marquee matchup to kick off a packed day of college hoops.

The No. 10 Wildcats (12-2, 1-0 in SEC) not only handed Florida (13-1, 0-1) its first loss of the season, it also marked the third time they’ve beaten an AP Top 10 team this season, quite the success metric for first-year coach Mark Pope. Nobody’s done that since Adolph Rupp, another UK coach who enjoyed quite a bit of success.

But it wasn’t just the win, it was how it happened.

• Florida led early as it found gaps in the UK defense and dominated the offensive glass, grabbing 42% of its misses. Rueben Chinyelu and Alex Condon combined for 18 rebounds.

• That gave space for its guard tandem of Walter Clayton Jr. (33 points) and Alijah Martin (26) to go off.

• Kentucky responded with six players in double figures, led by Koby Brea’s 23 (more on him in a bit) and magnificent ball movement and passing. It assisted on 25 of its 37 field goals and seemingly never missed. Check this absurd shot chart.

Florida shot 55% from the field and scored 1.39 points per possession. That’s the highest mark by a losing team in 1,755 games between Top 25 opponents. Kentucky was 57.8% for a bonkers 1.47 ppp. That’s a number you’d see when a Top 10 team plays a buy game, not an unbeaten SEC team.

And while both defenses obviously had issues, this game was more about the incredible shot-making and offensive flow than bad defense. Both teams gave effort. They just couldn’t hang with the offensive players.

As for Brea, he put on a shooting performance that’ll give other SEC coaches nightmares. He hit 7-of-9 from beyond the arc on a variety of spot-up, pull-ups and contested shots. Florida keyed on him. But sometimes there’s only so much you can do against a 6-6 guard who’s hitting 52.3% on the season.

“He was magical tonight wasn’t he?” Pope said. “It’s going to be hard pressed to make an cogent argument that he’s not the best shooter in the country.”

As for Florida, which hosts Tennessee on Tuesday, it acquitted itself well on the road in a raucous environment. it showed it has enough offense to hang with the Vols. If only we could move that tip to before noon …

2. Statement wins from the Top 5 teams

In this case, the Top 5 refers to the AP Poll. If that offends you, so be it.

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