Player (and Coach) notes: Florida edition

John Calipari: The head coach earned his 500th career victory, including those from the vacated seasons at UMASS and Memphis.

“All I was worried about was No. 20,” Calipari said, referring to UK’s 20th win of the season in beating Florida. “That’s all I was worried about. I’m not — that stuff is, you coach long enough you survive. I’ve been fired once, but you survive, you win some ballgames.”

Brandon Knight: 16 points on 5-10 shooting, six assists, zero turnovers

Knight ran the team well, letting others get involved after a game in which he put up 23 shots.

“Can you see that he’s running our team better and better and better?” Calipari said.

It wasn’t the numbers that Knight was proud of, but putting his teammates in good positions to score and making the right reads. That included one nifty, airborne wraparound pass to Doron Lamb. Knight also rested during the middle of the second half, something he said helped him be fresh at the end of the game.

“Mentally and physically you get a break, and you get to see what’s going on in the game,” Knight said. “You sit on the sidelines, see what’s going on, and when you come back in you can adjust.”

Terrence Jones: 8 points on 4-11 shooting, nine rebounds, two free throw attempts

Jones had a good game on the glass, helping UK outrebound Florida, which is an excellent rebounding team. Offensively, he wasn’t very forceful (getting to the line only once) or efficient, and he got in foul trouble by staying too high guarding Florida’s big man. Still, Jones hasn’t shown the ability to take over a game that he displayed so often early in the season.

“Terrence has to be more consistent,” Calipari said.

Doron Lamb: 14 points on 6-9 shooting (2-4 on threes), zero assists, three rebounds

Lamb, starting again with DeAndre Liggins coming off the bench, had an efficient shooting night. More importantly to Calipari, though, was his mindset.

“You know who the first guy in the shoot around was today? Doron Lamb,” Calipari said. “Normally he’s last. The shootaround at Arkansas, I almost threw him out, and you saw how he played. So at least he’s learning.”

Still, Lamb is a slight liability defensively. He let Chandler Parsons catch an inbounds pass right under the basket for an and-one, a play Calipari said will make him “punch the TV” when he watches tape.

But like Calipari said, he’s learning and getting better. Lamb said he had promised to work harder, which is something he hasn’t had to do a lot previously.

DeAndre Liggins: 8 points, two rebounds

He came off the bench for the third straight game and guarded Erving Walker well, holding him to 10 points on 2-for-11 shooting. Not much was said about him postgame. I do wonder if this will be the lineup Calipari sticks with, or if Liggins will start whenever there is a player UK really has to shut down.

Eloy Vargas: Zero points, 1 rebound, 2 blocks:

Pretty standard stuff from Eloy. The two blocks were on Florida’s under-6-foot guards, but they still got the crowd excited.

Jon Hood: Zero points, zero rebounds, zero everything except one foul, in four minutes

Calipari is still looking for him to be able to provide spot minutes.

Stacey Poole: Zero everything in 0+ minutes, according to stats

Poole was simply inserted for Doron Lamb late in the first half for a defensive possession, to help Lamb avoid a third foul.