Freshman phenom John Wall received the majority of the pregame hype, but it was his fellow freshman guard who stole the show Tuesday night.
Eric Bledsoe scored 25 points, grabbed seven rebounds and dished out five assists, leading No. 2 Kentucky to an 89-77 win against Florida in the O’Connell Center.
The Gators (11-5) kept it close throughout, tying it up with 5:14 remaining in the game, but the Wildcats (17-0) prevailed thanks to a balanced inside-outside game and an impressive performance by Bledsoe, who more than doubled his average of 10.3 points per game.
“We put a lot of attention on Wall, and Bledsoe ended up hurting us,” said sophomore point guard Erving Walker, who led UF with 20 points. “We gave him some open looks that he shouldn’t have had, but he just made plays. I’ve got to give him credit – he made plays.”
UF managed to keep the game within striking distance for much of the second half due largely to the efforts of Walker (20 points) and junior power forward Alex Tyus (17).
The Gators got off to a strong start, holding Kentucky to just four points in the opening eight minutes and crashing the defensive glass in a way they had failed to all season.
The Wildcats missed their first six shots before Bledsoe put in a fast-break layup to put his team on the board, and Wall, who finished with 19 points, didn’t score his first basket until nearly six minutes into the game, when he tore down the court and dropped in a transition layup.
The Wildcats found their stroke, though, with back-to-back threes by Bledsoe and Darnell Dodson that cut the lead to one.
From there, the game turned into a run-and-gun affair, with both teams racing down the floor for points in transition. The style played perfectly into UK’s hand, and the Wildcats’ athleticism was on full display as they pulled ahead 38-31 by the end of the first half and never trailed for the rest of the game.
“I think the speed and size and length after a period of time starts to wear our guys down just because of our lack of depth,” Donovan said.
In the opening 20 minutes, the Gators showed no signs of picking up their three-point shooting where they left off against Vanderbilt, but they found an unlikely weapon from the outside in Tyus.
Tyus, who had only attempted one three this season prior to Tuesday, hit his first two of the season before halftime.
UF hit only one other three in the opening 20 minutes — a bank shot by freshman guard Kenny Boynton with less than a minute remaining. The Gators shot better in the second half but finished at just 38 percent from the field and 30 percent from three-point range.
UF also struggled to stop UK’s post players, as forward Patrick Patterson scored 15 and DeMarcus Cousins added 13. With Cousins in foul trouble throughout the game, UK coach John Calipari turned to freshman forward Daniel Orton, who scored just two points but grabbed nine rebounds and had four huge blocks.
