Skip navigation
Favorites
Sign up to follow your favorites on all your devices.
Sign up

Tuesday’s slate, what to watch: Kentucky-Florida? Fantastic

spt-120207-patric-young

Mike Miller

Florida’s Patric Young is a beast. It’s not just his physique, but his athletic ability and aggressiveness. This block? Just sick.

Perhaps that’s why this idea to take negate Kentucky’s Anthony Davis tonight makes sense – on the surface. Young could easily challenge Davis time and again and presumably get Davis into foul trouble. Getting the Wildcats’ defensive game-changer off the floor for extended periods of time? Sounds like a plan.

Except … Davis doesn’t get into foul trouble. He’s only fouled once this season (Nov. 20 vs. ODU) and hasn’t had more than three fouls in a game since Dec. 10 vs. Indiana. When he just missed a triple-double against Arkansas last month, he didn’t have a single foul. Sure, some of UK’s foes haven’t had dominant big men, but Davis seemed to fare just fine against North Carolina and Louisville (he had two fouls early, but played the second half cleanly).

Also, Young needs the ball to do any of this. That places the onus on Irving Walker and Kenny Boynton to even get him the ball.

(All times ET; TV info from HDSportsGuide.com)

Florida at Kentucky, 7 p.m. (ESPN)
It’s not like the Gators (19-4, 7-1) and Wildcats (23-1, 9-0) only comes down to the Davis-Young matchup, either. Florida’s offense doesn’t need Young to score. Boynton’s scoring efficiency is one of the year’s small miracles (who knew that was possible?), not to mention Mike Rosario and Bradley Beal can get hot at any time, while forward Erik Murphy shouldn’t be ignored. It’s the biggest test the Wildcats have had in a month and it’ll be interesting to see if their ridiculous defense can contain the Gators. If not, the Wildcats may still win. How Florida stops Kentucky’s offense is an awfully good question.

Iowa State at Oklahoma State, 7 p.m. (ESPN2)
The Cowboys (11-12) face the unenviable task of corralling Iowa State star Royce White. He’s a load, but so is LeBryan Nash.

Creighton at Evansville, 8:05 p.m.
The Blue Jays aren’t on TV, but this one worth tracking down in-game updates. Creighton (21-3) is coming off just its second MVC loss – a buzzer-beater to Northern Iowa, no less – may find itself in a tougher-than-it-would-like game tonight. The Purple Aces (11-12) don’t play much defense, but did win at UNI. Hmmm.

Purdue at Ohio State, 9 p.m. (ESPN)
Unless the Boilermakers (15-8) suddenly solve their defensive issues (seven of their last eight opponents have scored more than 1 PPP), this shouldn’t be much of a game. But it’ll provide an interesting segue from the Kentucky-Florida game. The Buckeyes (20-3) and the Wildcats are the nation’s two best teams. How often do you get to see them back-to-back?

EAST
Hartford at UMBC, 7 p.m.
Providence at Villanova, 8 p.m.

SOUTH
Maryland at Clemson, 7 p.m.
Campbell at Coastal Carolina, 7 p.m.
Mid-Continent at E. Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Florida at Kentucky, 7 p.m.
Alabama at Auburn, 9 p.m.

MIDWEST
Texas Tech at Kansas St., 8 p.m.
IPFW at Chicago St., 8:05 p.m.
Creighton at Evansville, 8:05 p.m.
Purdue at Ohio St., 9 p.m.

SOUTHWEST
Iowa St. at Oklahoma St., 7 p.m.

FAR WEST
Seattle at Idaho, 10:05 p.m.

You also can follow me on Twitter @MikeMillerNBC.