Kasey Hill rocked the ball back and forth as he stared down Wenyen Gabriel. Hill crossed over and stepped back as he launched a high-arching jumper over the outstretched fingertips of Kentucky’s 6-foot-9 forward.
The net didn’t move.
On the very next possession, Chris Chiozza stripped the ball from UK guard Isaiah Briscoe and flung a pass down the court to a streaking Hill, who capped off the assist with a powerful, one-handed dunk.
A few moments later, Hill danced with the ball amidst a forest of Wildcats defenders and buried another jumper.
And then another.
“Kasey Hill is not known as a jump shooter,” Kentucky coach John Calipari said. “He made five straight shots.”
Finally, after three long years, Florida’s senior guard flexed his “beer muscles,” dominating the game from start to finish.
Hill led the Gators with 21 points (8-for-16 shooting), five rebounds and six assists as No. 24 Florida (18-5, 8-2 SEC) shocked No. 8 Kentucky 88-66 on Saturday night in the O’Connell Center.
It was UF’s largest margin of victory over UK in school history.
“He made some big offensive plays to compliment how hard he’s playing defensively,” UF coach Mike White said of Hill. “He was incredible.”
The Wildcats (18-5, 8-2 SEC) found themselves down early after the Gators opened the game on a 5-0 run.
Kentucky fought back but had to do so without the offensive abilities of the SEC’s leading scorer, Malik Monk, who shot 4-for-10 from the field and 0-for-5 in the first half.
“We were very good defensively against one of the best offensive teams in the country, and in my opinion, the best transition team in the country,” White said. “We were flying around.”
But, after a Justin Leon three gave Florida an 11-point lead less than a minute into the second half, guard De’Aaron Fox and forward Edrice Adebayo led UK on a two minute, 7-0 run to cut the Gators’ lead to four.
Fox scored a team-leading 19 points and was the Wildcats’ only answer on offense for most of the night.
Then Florida’s Devin Robinson stepped up.
Robinson scored 10 of his 16 points in the second half and grabbed a game-high nine rebounds in the junior forward’s first win over the Wildcats.
“It was just heart. We just wanted it more,” said Robinson, who added that Kentucky’s players called UF “soft” early in the game.
“We had to prove to these guys that we’re not soft and just get physical,” he said. “We just went hard at them.”
Despite a shaky start on offense, Florida’s focus remained on defense.
And it showed.
The Gators held Kentucky to 37.7 percent shooting and dominated the conference’s leading rebounding team 54-29 on the glass.
Once Florida found its rhythm on offense to go along with its swarming defense, the game was over, and the upset was set in motion.
“We knew we was gonna win,” Robinson said. “We had the confidence from the beginning. We’re not scared of any program in the country.”
“We can play with anybody.”
Florida guard Kasey Hill drives the ball against Alabama forward Jimmie Taylor during the first half of an NCAA college basketball game, Tuesday, Jan. 10, 2017, in Tuscaloosa, Ala. (AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)
