I'm unsure how a ranked team goes 2-for-6 from the free throw line and wins by 13. But it happened. I said yesterday that it'd be cool beans if Kent State could run with the Gators for a good 30 minutes. And, well, they had a 27-23 lead with a few minutes before halftime, but that's where things spiraled out of control. UF batted them around in the second half, ramming home five dunks during an 11-minute stretch in which Kent State could only score 12 points regularly. It was rougher than a chain restaurant steak.
And what was up with the last 4:23 of the game? Only two points were scored COMBINED to close out the match. (At least t'was a Kent State jumper.) Basically they kept playing worse as the game went on, and this turned out to be a rather ugly showing. Justin Greene and Carlton Guyton each had 14 points for the Flashes, but other than that one horrific stretch where UF looked like they couldn't be stopped, there were streaks of brilliance in this team. Nothing dramatically pleasant, but this was a typical Geno Ford-coached team that handled themselves properly at times.
We're not too surprised by this score, and it really felt like a 6-vs-11 NCAA tournament game where sheer talent and depth won over a starry-eyed mid-major opponent. This isn't your older brother's Kent State Elite Eight team, but they can play damn well. All the other MAC teams know this, however. We're not breaking any news here.
No basketball games today. You're allowed to be social. Saturday's lineup:
2:00 p.m. — Green Bay at Buffalo
2:00 p.m. — Detroit at Eastern Michigan
4:30 p.m. — Troy at Miami
7:00 p.m. — Valparaiso at Toledo
8:00 p.m. — Central Michigan at LSU
8:00 p.m. — Western Michigan at Georgia State
8:30 p.m. — Ball State at DePaul