Ahead of tipoff, a Rupp Arena field with blue and white commemorated seniors Otega Oweh and former Gator Denzel Aberden.
However, despite the excitement of the Kentucky fans at tip-off, it was Florida who came out swinging.
Fighting against the crowd noise, the Gators went on to make 11 of their last 13 attempts from the field before the break, ending the first half with a 49-32 lead.
With what once seemed a safe lead with Florida up 68-48 in the second half, the Gators were tested late in the contest, as Kentucky cut Florida's lead to five points with 19.2 seconds left.
Despite the Wildcats’ comeback efforts, No. 5 Florida (25-6,16-2 SEC) prevailed 84-77 over Kentucky (19-12, 10-8 SEC), extending its win streak to 11 games to end the regular season.
“The first half, we played about as well as you could hope coming into a place like this, and second half thought we were solid,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “Last 10 minutes, I don't think we handled the pressure very well. We didn't make enough winning plays in the last 10 minutes, allowed them to have some hope the last five minutes or so.”
Thomas Haugh led Florida with 20 points on 7-of-14 shooting and a team-high nine rebounds.
At the half, the junior forward had 17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, including three makes from beyond the arc. His first 3-pointer of the game ended a 9-0 run by the Wildcats, putting the Gators up by five points with 13:21 to go before the half.
However, he was much quieter in the second half with three points on 1-of-5 shooting from the field.
“He got off to a great start,” Golden said. “He just did a great job picking his spots when he was at the 3. He slowed down a little bit late, but overall, he had a fantastic game and obviously we're a much better team when he’s out there.”
Behind Haugh was Boogie Fland, who recorded his fifth-straight double-digit scoring effort with 16 points on 4-of-8 shooting from the field in addition to a team-high six assists. He also extended his streak to five straight contests with at least one 3-pointer, going 2 for 3 from beyond the arc.
The sophomore guard did a majority of his damage in the second half with a team-high 11 points after the break. His second 3-pointer put the Gators up 18 with 13:43 left in the contest.
Alex Condon logged his eighth straight double-digit scoring effort with 14 points on 6-of-8 shooting, five assists and four rebounds. Defensively, he led the Gators with two blocks.
The Aussie recorded seven points on 3-of-4 shooting at the half. After the break, he tacked on seven more, including a jumper that banked in off the backboard with the shot clock winding down, giving the Gators a 73-59 advantage with 5:04 left in the contest.
Rueben Chinyelu finished the game with 13 points and eight rebounds, putting him two boards shy of setting a program single-season record with 19 double-doubles, which would have surpassed Bob Smith's during the 1975-76 campaign. The Nigerian's presence in the paint played an important role in holding Kentucky’s freshman center Malachi Moreno to 6 points.
Xaivian Lee rounded out Florida’s double-digit scoring efforts with 11 points, seven rebounds and five assists. Saturday marked the Princeton transfer’s fifth-straight double-digit scoring performance
The senior guard recorded seven points on 3-of-3 shooting from the field in the first half. His dunk off a Fland lob extended Florida’s lead to 16 with 4:23 left before the break. In the second half, Lee hit two free throws late in the contest to put the game out of reach.
The aforementioned Oweh was a problem for the Gators defensively, with a game-high 28 points on 8-of-21 shooting. At the break, the senior guard led the Wildcats with 17 points on 6-of-13 shooting, including four 3-pointers. In the second half, his layup with 57 seconds to go cut Florida’s lead to seven.
After finishing the first half with four points on 1-of-4 shooting, Abeerdeen finished the contest with 15 points.
Aside from these two, Florida’s defense stood tall against the Wildcats, holding them to 39% shooting from the field on 66 attempts.
At the half, Kentucky’s Collin Chandler, who logged 18 points when these two teams first faced this season on Feb. 14, finished the game with 2 points on 1-of-6 shooting from the field. He also went 0 for 3 from beyond the arc, despite coming into Saturday’s game shooting a second-best in the SEC 44% from 3-point range.
Next, Florida will look to defend its SEC Tournament title in Nashville, Tennessee. Coming into this year’s tournament with a double-bye as the No. 1 seed, the Gators will play Friday at 1 p.m. ET against the No. 16, 9 or 8 seed.
Contact Jeffrey Serber at Jserber@alligator.org. Follow him on X @JeffreySerber.
Jeffrey is the spring 2026 men's basketball beat reporter and a second-year journalism sports & media major with a media, management and production minor. In his free time, he enjoys hanging out with friends and family, and rooting for the Miami sports teams
