The Gators almost did the unthinkable.
Facing off against No. 1 Kentucky in front of a sell-out O'Connell Center crowd, Florida fought tooth-and-nail in an attempt to hand the Wildcats their first loss of the season.
But despite UF outplaying and out-hustling Kentucky in the opening minutes, building as much as an early nine-point lead on two separate occasions, the Gators inevitably fell to undefeated Kentucky 68-61 on Saturday.
The Wildcats (23-0, 10-0 Southeastern Conference) found themselves down to Florida early, after a jumper by Eli Carter gave UF a 20-11 lead that had coach John Calipari and the dominant Wildcats looking flustered at the surprise of finding themselves down by nearly double digits to a Florida (12-11, 5-5 SEC) team that’s season arguably hit a low point in a letdown on Tuesday at Vanderbilt.
But Kentucky went on a run of its own, relying on the play of forwards Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein to tie the game at 28 before a Chris Chiozza layup gave the Gators a two-point halftime lead and all the momentum of the 12,578 announced sell-out crowd that headlined ESPN’s College Gameday.
Michael Frazier II, who had played a crucial role in pushing the Gators to the lead at the interim with 10 points, including two three-pointers, sprained his right ankle and was out for all but six minutes in the second half.
As a result, Florida struggled to score at times, and the team’s traded leads several times before the Wildcats went ahead for good after a Willie Cauley-Stein three-point play gave Kentucky a 45-44 advantage with about 12 minutes to play. The Gators came close to retaking the lead multiple times, but Florida failed to make a shot when it mattered most.
Nevertheless, coach Billy Donovan said that it was encouraging that the Gators played their best game as a team this season, by finally playing unselfishly.
“It was the first time in 23 games where I felt our team actually played to win the game,” Donovan said. “Instead of, ‘You know, I’m disappointed I’m not playing well’, or ‘Things are not going my way’ there’s no you know there’s no, just totally being wrapped up and consumed with themselves. And the game, tonight in my opinion, was lost in October. It wasn’t lost tonight.”
Down 55-52 to the Wildcats, Carter stole the ball and found a streaking Kasey Hill down the court, who was fouled as he attempted a layup.
With a chance to cut the deficit back to one, Hill clanged both free throws off the back of the rim. Cauley-Stein grabbed the rebound and Devin Booker got a jumper to fall — a five-point swing and the Wildcats led the rest of the way.
“We need to make free throws,” Carter said. “They capitalized on that every single time they got out to the free-throw line.”
The Wildcats came into the game shooting 69 percent from the free-throw line but ended up making a stunning 21-of-22 from the charity stripe. The Gators missed the chances they got, going 50 percent on 7-of-14 from the line.
Despite the loss, the team showed a level of energy that hasn’t been displayed this season. Donovan said that whether Florida continues to bring the intensity remains to be seen.
“I’m hopeful in some way that this has been an incredibly learning and growing experience for them,” Donovan said, although he said he’s not sure the Gators can replicate that going further. “The one thing I always admired about Kentucky, even when I was there – you know, you have a coach preaching about winning – that whole state’s preaching winning. And that’s what the program’s about. It’s about excellence, it’s about high standards, it’s about championships. And you know, we’ve tried to, since I’ve been here, at least try and create that mentality and chase those things. And this has been a team this year, you know calling it like it is, winning has been secondary. And that’s why we’re 12-11. Because (winning) has not been the primary focus of our team.”
Follow Graham Hall on Twitter @Graham311
Eli Carter dribbles during Florida's 68-61 loss to No. 1 Kentucky on Feb. 7 in the O'Connell Center.
