Even though Florida (12-11, 5-5 Southeastern Conference) was on the losing end of a 68-61 showdown against No. 1 Kentucky (23-0, 10-0 SEC), coach Billy Donovan saw his team take a step in the right direction.
"It’s the first time I felt in 23 games we played to win (Saturday)," Donovan said. "I thought we played as a team."
Added redshirt junior guard Eli Carter, who was one of four UF players to score in double digits against Kentucky: "Guys got out of their selfishness I guess. Guys wanted to win for each other."
But now Florida’s goal becomes finding the transition from wanting to win for each other to actually putting together the wins.
The Gators have eight more regular-season games left on the schedule to figure out how to do that.
"We can definitely build off the energy of the game," Carter said. "We’ve just got to continue working on staying consistent. We have to come with this energy every single time."
Hill played aggressively: At times this season — and throughout his two-year career at UF — Kasey Hill has struggled to put points on the board.
Saturday was not one of those times.
The sophomore point guard put together his fourth double-digit scoring outing of the season against the Wildcats, posting 12 points on 5-of-11 shooting while also dishing out a game-high six assists and turning the ball over just one time in 31 minutes on the court.
"He played much better," Donovan said. "He got to the basket. … I thought he had a better understanding and was more engaged."
Frazier day-to-day: Michael Frazier was sidelined for most of the second half with a right ankle sprain and is day-to-day.
He finished the game with 10 first-half points on 3-of-4 shooting.
"He was trying to limp and hobble, and he needed to sit," Donovan said. "I appreciate him trying, but he wasn’t able to help us."
But even in Frazier’s absence, Florida’s offense still had a spark down the stretch.
After the junior shooting guard checked out of the game for the final time with 11:41 left to play, Florida scored 17 points on 50-percent shooting (7-of-14 from the field).
"Coach always says that if we’ve got five or six players that are connected, we can go up against anybody," Hill said. "So we can’t really worry whether Frazier was coming back in or not. We just had to find a way to stay connected and play together."
Follow Jordan McPherson on Twitter @J_McPherson1126
Kasey Hill goes up for a layup during Florida's 68-61 loss to No. 1 Kentucky on Saturday in the O'Connell Center.
