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Jodie Meeks’ Last Second Three Drops Gators In Rupp Arena **
The Florida Gators played well on both sides of the ball, and had contained University of Kenctucky G Jodie Meeks for 39:54. Then with six seconds remaining and the score tied at 65, Meeks knocked down a tightly contested three point shot . On the ensuing Gator possession, Nick “Wonderboy” Calathes was fouled in the acting of shooting a three with 0.6 seconds left. Calathes would have to make all three free-throws to send the game to overtime. He made none. The 22,000 at Rupp Arena howled as Nick hit the back rim on the first shot, as that all but meant game for the Wildcats. The last free-throw needed to be an intentional miss, but Calathes failed to hit the rim and UK pulled even with UF in the SEC East standings.
What more can you say about Jodie Meeks, a kid becoming a college superstar, a big-scorer with tremendous clutch ability.
The other college-superstar-in-the-making on the court, Florida’s Nick Calathes, consistently quieted the crowd with off-balance lay-ups and no-look alley-oops. Wonderboy had a career-high 33 points and had made nine straight free-throws before the game tying attempts. His effort solidified coach Billy D's gameplan for the rest of the season: lean heavily on the sophomore in tough situations.
ESPN called the Gators a possible number two NCAA tournament seed right before this game. This was one of many negative omens the Gators would lose this game. The ESPN announcers found a time at every timeout to boast the fact that Kentucky has not lost three straight SEC games at home. This was a “must-win” for the Wilcats, similar to the Gator’s last visit to the University of Tennessee.
However, as opposed to the Tennessee slaughtering a week and a half ago, the Gators played stongly despite that fierce crowd and withstood a few scoring droughts. Sophomore F Alex Tyus had 14 points but only 2 rebounds. Freshman F Kenny Kadji had only 2 pts and 3 rebounds. These stats alone outline the loss in the physical battle for the Gators. UF was 4-14 from behind the arc. Again, give credit to Nick Calathes for keeping the Gators in this game on the road.
This was also a game where only a season-low 7.5 Gators saw the court. The 0.5 player comes from a controversial ejection of Senior G Walter Hodge after stepping on the arm of a Kentucky player. You can make the call for yourself based on the Internet videos. I actually believe it was an accident, but only Walter Hodge will ever know. The Gators surely could have used Walter’s experience coming down the stretch in this contest.
There were two crucial errors committed by Gators in the dwindling minutes. Erving Walker (OPOT
dribbled foolishly into a bee’s nest, losing a crucial turnover. Chandler Parsons missed both of his free-throws with two minutes remaining and a three-point UF lead. Optimism reigns though, and one must look to these difficult road situations as morsels of experience for these young Gators.
I am gathering a consensus from around campus that this year is a practice year. Dreams run wild with notions of Calathes leading a squad with Georgetown big-man transfer Vernon Macklin, highly-touted freshman G Kenny Boynton and more mature (and hopefully stronger) versions of Chandler Parsons and Alex Tyus.
This is the turning point of the conference season as 4 SEC East squads are tied with 3 losses. UF, UK and South Carolina all have six wins, and Tennessee is half a game back with 5 wins. The remaining UK and UT games are at home for the Gators. The road tests keep coming though, as UF must face the two leading SEC west schools (LSU and Miss St.) away from Gainesville.
Up next for Calathes (I mean the Gators) is a road game at Georgia. These clubs met a few weeks ago to a tune of a 83-57 Gators victory. This Saturday’s game (2/14/09) will be seen on ABC at 3:30 and I believe it is regional coverage. Projection: UF 64 - UGA 58.
Can you believe spell-checker made me choose “internet” with a capital I? This may be the first indication of self-awareness by the “Internet”. Be careful folks.
