By COLIN FLY
AP Sports Writer

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) -- Doron Lamb struggled to explain why
top-ranked Kentucky could roll so easily over No. 8 Florida.
It's much easier for the Wildcats to talk about their goal.



"I told somebody we were going to blow them out today. I just
felt it coming," said Lamb, who finished with 18 points in a
78-58 victory Tuesday night. "I knew it was coming for some
reason. I don't know why."



Freshman Michael Kidd-Gilchrist added 13 points and 13 rebounds
and Kentucky easily passed its toughest Southeastern Conference
test to date for its 49th straight home win.



"We have this little swagger," freshman Anthony Davis said. "We
just want to go out there and play hard and win. We're very
capable of winning a national championship if we keep playing
how we're playing."



The Wildcats (24-1, 10-0) matched their best start in league
play since 2005 thanks to three freshmen starters who have
jelled into a formidable defense to go along with their
high-powered offense.



"We play together so well - we enjoy playing together on offense
and defense. We communicate. We just have fun out there," said
Marquis Teague, who had 12 points and a career-best 10 assists.
"It makes us play harder when you enjoy who you're playing
with."



Davis added 16 points for Kentucky, which won its 16th straight
overall and ended Florida's run of seven consecutive wins.



Kenny Boynton led the Gators (19-5, 7-2) with 18 points, but the
team with the nation's most 3-pointers this season went 6 of 27
from behind the arc and shot 34.9 percent overall from the
field.



One of the last remaining questions for a team that continues to
believe it can play for a national championship in just under
two months had been the quality of opponents the Wildcats had
faced after not meeting a ranked team in over a month.



Kentucky answered it emphatically.



"The one thing I like about their team is I love their
disposition on the floor," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
"There's a certain disposition you have to have and I'm not
talking about an arrogance or a cockiness, but there's like a
focus level in terms of what really goes into winning at that
level. There's a mentality there."



Florida scored the first two baskets of the second half to cut
it to 38-30, but Kentucky answered with an 11-0 run sparked when
Teague and Darius Miller hit consecutive 3-pointers.



Florida freshman Bradley Beal then drove to the hoop only to
have Davis reject his shot and Davis swatted another from Patric
Young on the possession for good measure.



Miller added another jumper and Kidd-Gilchrist spun, hit a
basket and was fouled. He completed the three-point play that
made it 49-30 as Florida missed eight straight shots before
snapping the skid.



Coach John Calipari compared Kidd-Gilchrist to his biggest star
when he coached at Memphis.



"He reminds me of Derrick Rose," Calipari said. "He's tougher on
himself than I am on him. Like he came running over during the
game and says to me, `Coach, I'm sorry.' I said, `Stop, just
have fun and go play."'



The lead reached 20 points when Lamb buried a 3 from the left
corner with 11:27 left and by as many as 21 late.



"It's fun winning by 20," Teague said.



Beal scored 14 points and Young added 12 for the Gators.



"We've got time before we play them again," Boynton said. "We
just have to come out and work."



Florida insisted before the game all the pressure was on the
Wildcats, but this group that starts three freshmen and two
sophomores doesn't appear to get rattled easily. Their only
blemish is a one-point loss in December at Indiana.



Fans received a panoramic black-and-white poster of Davis
stretching his arms out over a span of more than eight
basketballs. When he puts his arms up, he's been almost
unstoppable in leading the nation's top-ranked defense by field
goal percentage.



Davis blocked four shots, leading the country with 120 and
continuing to climb the SEC's season list after already
surpassing Shaquille O'Neal's freshman conference record set 22
years ago.



"They are very, very good," Donovan said. "There is not one
thing you do necessarily against them that is a formula to win."



Kentucky's lone problem was a slow start. The Wildcats fell
behind 6-0 and missed their first seven shots before scoring
nine straight points.



The game featured frenetic up-and-down play early. In one
sequence, Mike Rosario went behind his back to find Young for a
dunk, but Kidd-Gilchrist answered when he floated an alley-oop
pass to Davis for a slam over Erik Murphy.



It was an electric - and sometimes bizarre - atmosphere among
the 24,389 fans at Rupp Arena. Former Tennessee coach Bruce
Pearl sat courtside signing a few autographs, and at one point
during free throws by Beal in the first half a fan in the
student section tried to distract Beal by wearing nothing but a
blue Speedo.



It didn't work.



Beal made the free throws, but Florida went more than 6 minutes
without a field goal.



Teague's 3-pointer gave the Wildcats their first double-digit
lead with 1:38 left in the first half and Lamb hit two
3-pointers in the final minute to put them up 38-26.



"The last one going into halftime, I knew it was over after
that," Lamb said.