Key takeaways from Florida basketball’s hard-fought loss vs Kentucky
Florida’s basketball team showed the kind of fight you’d like to see from its team (and what you’d rather not see from any of its fans) in losing to Kentucky 82-74 at Exactech Arena.
The Gators fell behind and rallied, fell behind and rallied, fell behind and rallied, and, well, you get the point.
It was Florida’s fifth loss in its last six games in a season on the road to nowhere. Kentucky is now 19-9 and 10-5 in the SEC, while Florida slipped to below .500 in the conference at 7-8 and to 14-14 overall.
The game was marred when a fan in courtside seats got tangled up with Kentucky’s Cason Wallace and was ejected from the arena.
What happened
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Yep, the Gators never gave up despite their issues that are not going to get any better.
The biggest play of the game came with 46 seconds to play when freshman Chris Livingston put back a rebound and converted three three-point play to put Kentucky up 77-72 after another Gator rally had closed the deficit to two.
It looked like an early blowout when Kentucky hit 10 of its first 15 shots and jumped out by as many as 15 points.
But Florida got hot and started playing better defense. The Gators made six straight shots to tighten up the game, then finished the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 37-36 lead into intermission.
Florida fell behind again by as many as 11 points but shot 50 percent for the game to repeatedly get back into it.
In the end, the problem is the same one that was not a problem in the first half of SEC play and now has become a huge issue.
In the last seven games, Florida has allowed 79.9 points per game. Remember when this team used to play great defense?
This was the fifth straight win for Kentucky in Gainesville.
What it means
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It would have meant a lot to a struggling team, but it certainly could mean something to Kentucky. It will depend on how Florida finishes, but right now beating a team No. 52 in the NET Rankings would count as a Quad 1 win for the Wildcats.
Player of the Game: Kentucky
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The last time these two teams played, Oscar Tshiebwe went 2-for-14 with [autotag]Colin Castleton[/autotag] in the way. The big Wildcat center took his game outside more and couldn’t miss, making his first seven shots including a straight-on bank shot from 18 feet. He finished with 25 points and only missed one shot. He left the rebounding to his teammates (he had four).
Player of the Game: Florida
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Riley Kugel showed the kind of game that – I am told – has NBA scouts interested in his future. He had a career-high 25 points on 7-of-12 shooting, knocking down threes and acrobatic layups. He was 4-of-6 on threes. The freshman also had a couple of rebounds in the game.
Inside the numbers
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This feels like it could be the theme for the rest of this season. Florida was dominated on the boards even with Tshiebwe getting only four. The final tally was 40-21 with 13 offensive rebounds for the Wildcats including the huge one late by Livingston. He led Kentucky with 15 boards.
He said it
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“I think we competed really well. The one area we got outplayed was on the glass and that’s going to be an issue down the stretch.” – [autotag]Todd Golden[/autotag]
Next up
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The Gators head to Nashville to face the team that started this mess. Vanderbilt stunned Florida two weeks ago 88-80, part of what was a five-game winning streak for the Commodores. Of course, in the wild SEC, Vandy lost to LSU on Wednesday night 84-77 to fall to 15-13 and 8-7 in the SEC.
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