Having won 15 games in a row, including all but three by double digits, Kentucky has reached the point where it can leave everybody playing for second place or open up the race to challengers.
Without question, the opponents the Wildcats will be facing over the next couple of weeks will be the best they have played since they took on North Carolina and Indiana in back-to-back games back in December.
The Wildcats, who improved to 23-1 overall and 9-0 in the SEC with their 86-52 rout of South Carolina, first host second-place Florida, then go to Vanderbilt in their next two games.
The Gators are 7-1 following their weekend win over the Commodores, who are 5-3.
Next week, the Wildcats are host to Ole Miss, then take on a dangerous Mississippi State team in Starkville.
By the time they get ready to host Vandy and Georgia to finish out the month, the Wildcats very well could have the SEC Tournament's No. 1 seed all wrapped up.
What increases the likelihood of that happening is the Wildcats are coming off what coach John Calipari called the best game his team has played all year in the 34-point pounding of the Gamecocks.
"We played well at LSU but not like this," Calipari said after the Wildcats shot 51.6 percent and held South Carolina to 30.5, won the rebounding 41-30, and made only three turnovers while coming up with six steals to force the Gamecocks into nine.
NOTES, QUOTES
-Kentucky freshman forward Anthony Davis once again flirted with another triple-double with 22 points, eight rebounds and eight blocked shots in the win over South Carolina.
He had 18 points, eight rebounds and seven blocked shots against Tennessee in the previous game and earlier had 28 points, 14 rebounds and seven blocks against Arkansas.
The blocks gave Davis 116 on the season, an SEC freshman record, knocking LSU great Shaquille O'Neal out of first place by one block.
-Kentucky's nine-game winning streak to start conference play is its longest since the 2004-05 team started 10-0. The three straight wins by 20 or more points (74-50 over LSU, 69-44 over Tennessee and 86-52 over South Carolina) mark the first time since the 1995-96 season that the Wildcats have won three games in a row by a margin of 20 points or more.
-Kentucky made just three turnovers at South Carolina, its fewest in a game this season.
THIS WEEK'S GAMES
vs. Florida, Feb. 7
KEY MATCHUPS: F Patric Young and C Erik Murphy are scoring in double figures, but Florida's real strength is in the backcourt with Kenny Boynton, Erving Walker and Bradley Beal. This is the first of two meetings, with the rematch coming in Gainesville on March 4.
at Vanderbilt, Feb. 11
KEY MATCHUPS: The Commodores counter Kentucky's talented newcomers with the most experienced team in the conference. G John Jenkins is the league's leading scorer and G/F Jeffery Taylor is right behind. The duel between Vandy's Festus Ezeli and Kentucky's Anthony Davis inside should be an interesting one. The two teams meet again in Lexington just 11 days later.
FUTURES MARKET
C Nerlens Noel, a 6-10 shot-blocker currently playing for Tilton School in New Hampshire, has announced he will be part of the recruiting class of 2012 instead of waiting another year to make his collegiate debut, according to a report in the Lexington Herald-Leader. From Everett Mass, Noel is a top Kentucky recruiting target who had been planning on delaying his enrollment to 2013 after sustaining an injury. According to the report, Noel is planning on visiting Syracuse, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgetown and Florida. He has already made unofficial visits to Connecticut and Providence.
PLAYER NOTES
-Sophomore F Terrence Jones scored all of his 16 points in the first half at South Carolina. It was the fifth time this season he has scored in double digits in the first half of a game.
-Sophomore G Doron Lamb was 3-of-3 on 3-pointers against the Gamecocks, the seventh time in nine games he has had multiple treys.
QUOTE TO NOTE
"We are getting better. We are starting three freshman folks, two sophomores, and a freshman off the bench, so we are young. Everything is new to these guys." -- Coach John Calipari, on the progress of his Kentucky team.
