The Gators’ final Southeastern Conference game of the 2011-12 campaign ended in familiar fashion.
Florida fell to 3-9 in conference games decided by six points or fewer in Friday’s 71-67 loss to top-seeded Kentucky in the second round of the SEC Tournament.
After dropping two contests to the Wildcats by a combined eight points during the regular season, the Gators were primed to pull off an upset victory in Nashville, Tenn.
Toppling No. 10 Kentucky would have likely guaranteed Florida an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament.
However, a loss makes the Gators’ postseason fate a bit muddled.
Florida seems to be on the right side of the bubble, going into Friday’s contest ranked 36th in RPI and 12th in strength of schedule, but a decision will not be made until next weekend.
“The difference here, this year, is that we know we’re in,” assistant coach Brenda Mock Kirkpatrick said. “I’m going to be shocked and surprised if we are not in the NCAA Tournament.”
A quick start by the Gators had them in good position early as they rattled off a 16-0 run to open up a 20-6 lead on the Wildcats.
However, Kentucky (25-5, 14-3 SEC) retaliated with a 15-2 stretch, tightening up a game that stayed close throughout.
UF and UK tied the score eight times in a contest that had 10 lead changes.
Kirkpatrick said that statistically, the free-throw line was the difference in the game.
The Wildcats finished 25 of 33 from the charity stripe thanks to some heavy hacking by the Gators.
Senior guard Lanita Bartley led Florida with five personal fouls, leaving the game with 2:57 left to play.
Junior forward Jennifer George and senior guard Deana Allen racked up four fouls each, and seven Gators recorded at least three fouls.
“We were fouling [Kentucky] too much,” Kirkpatrick said. “We knew we were going to have trouble guarding their dribble penetration entering into this game. … Our answer to that was fouling rather than playing tough defense.”
While UK scored 35.2 percent of its points from the foul line, Florida struggled to hit free throws, making just 12 of 20 attempts.
Perhaps the biggest culprit was George, who led the Gators with 18 points, but posted just a 2-of-7 effort from the charity stripe.
“We knew it was going to be a ball game that would be won or lost by two or three points, one or two possessions,” coach Amanda Butler said. “You look at every missed free throw.”
One bright spot for Florida was the play of Azania Stewart, who recorded her third double-double of the season with 15 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.
In two SEC Tournament games this week, Stewart averaged 12.5 points and nine rebounds per contest.
“[Stewart] knew that this was crunch time,” Kirkpatrick said. “This is the postseason, this is her last season and Z’s capable of that every ball game.”
The NCAA Tournament selection committee has one week to decide whether UF is worthy of its first trip to The Big Dance since 2009.
The key statistic on Florida’s resume is its 3-11 record in games decided by six points or fewer, but Kirkpatrick says the Gators’ confidence is not wavering.
“We’ve shown here that we can compete with the best, with a top-10 team in the country three times in a row,” Kirkpatrick said. “We’ve had some quality wins. So, yes, it is a waiting game, we don’t know where we’re going to go, but all eyes are on the NCAA.”
A radio broadcast contributed to this report.
Contact Joe Morgan at joemorgan@alligator.org.
Florida head coach Amanda Butler, right, talks to Azania Stewart (13), Lanita Bartley (3) and Jaterra Bonds (10) in the second half of Kentucky's 71-67 win Friday at the SEC Tournament.
