JUSTIN ROWLAND:

This is the kind of game where what you take away is going to be largely determined by your mental state after the losses to Michigan State and Gonzaga. This was going to be a blowout no matter what, but I do think there were some good signs. The team played really hard today. It was a 4 p.m. tip the day before Thanksgiving, so that's a good sign. They really played hard. They shared the ball and dominated in pretty much every way. A lot of that was playing North Florida, but there was a sense of urgency against this team that wasn't there against Gonzaga, which is weird but better late than never. Kentucky shot it really well tonight. They had open looks against the Zags and didn't knock them down so that's something. Whatever we thought of this team before the season, Calipari was right in saying they're a project early in the season. This was an expected step back in the right direction. Toppin, Reeves, and Oscar took the most shots, and that's probably the way it should be.

JEFF DRUMMOND:

Justin summed things up pretty well. In short, Kentucky came out and took care of business this afternoon. It was nice to see Antonio Reeves respond to a spot in the starting lineup with a big first-half effort. Things look so much better for this team if he and/or Fredrick are knocking down open 3s. I liked how UK played "inside-out" for its perimeter shots in contrast to the settling for shots out of the halfcourt motion offense in Sunday's loss to Gonzaga. A pair of double-doubles by Jacob Toppin (20 & 10) and Oscar Tshiebwe (16 & 15) was good to see, and freshman center Ugonna Onyenso flirted with making it a trio with a nice 7-and-10 line off the bench. Now the Cats get the biggest thing that John Calipari has been asking for: practice time. We'll see if it helps them take another step forward on Nov. 29 against a solid Bellarmine squad that has a win over Louisville and a solid perforforance against Duke under its belt.