Todd Golden says that Kentucky played an important role in Florida’s trip in the Final Four

On Saturday, Florida will face Auburn for a place in the national championship match, the first time that two dry teams clashed in the national semi-finals. The Gators are a 2.5 -point favorite on the Tigers, making a sequence of ten consecutive victories in San Antonio which includes five victories on the top 20 of Kenpom teams by 14 or more points and a championship of the dry tournament.

Florida has lost only four games this season. The first was at Kentucky on January 4 to open the game of the dry. Today in San Antonio, Todd Golden said that the defeat of 106-100 against the Cats of Rupp Arena had played an important role in the trip of the Gators to the Final Four.

“Honestly, I was as excited as possible after this match, after a defeat,” said Golden. “Many people have questioned the strength of the calendar we played in non-conference. Going on the road, playing Rupp against a team that we knew really well. We didn’t keep well enough, but we played well in this game. It was a big game.”

It was really, especially if you are a fan of Kentucky. Koby Brea came out of the bench to score 23 points, including seven three points, the third of which equaled the match at 26 in the first half. The Kentucky took a 10-point lead at halftime, and when Florida cut this with 12 minutes to travel, the CATS made a 10-0 race. The Gators reduced the advance to two, 89-87, with 4:40 to go with a pair of free throws from Walter Clayton Jr., but Lamont Butler struck three and two free throws to take control for good. Butler finished with 19 points and 8 assists, one of the six two -digit cats. Clayton Jr., who set up the Gators’s return against Texas Tech to go to the Final Four, had 33 points.

Kentucky has won many big victories this season – eight on the top 15 enemies – but looking back, you could say that the one on Florida presented cats to their best. Kentucky pulled 57.8% in the field and 14-29 (48.3%), against three, totaling 25 assists out of 37 baskets made to only six reversals. It was a beautiful basketball game, which apparently took advantage of both sides.

“In a way, it gave us confidence in the future,” said Golden about loss. “Three or four days later, we beat Tennessee at home, n ° 1 in the country, by 30 years. I think that this week with these two competitions explained to us and explained to us a lot of belief in our program that we belong to at the top of the dry. ”

If you go through the transitive property, Florida wins all of this makes Kentucky better, right?