The final score says this was a close game, but the eye test says otherwise.
On Saturday afternoon in Rupp Arena, Kentucky (19-12; 10-8 SEC) never held a lead in what ended up as an 84-77 Senior Day loss against the No. 5 Florida Gators (25-6; 16-2 SEC). With the loss, the Wildcats have been eliminated from double-bye contention for the SEC Tournament. Kentucky will begin the postseason next week on Wednesday in Nashville against an opponent to be determined.
In what was his final game at Rupp, senior guard Otega Oweh led all scorers with 28 points and five rebounds. He was aided by 15 points, five rebounds, and four assists from fellow senior guard Denzel Aberdeen. Junior forward Mo Dioubate rounded out the double-digit scorers for UK with 10 points to go along with six boards.
The box score stats were identical in most categories, but one area stood out above the rest in favor of the Gators. A 24-4 advantage in fast break points for Florida proved critical. All five Gator starters finished with 11 or more points, too.
The first two minutes of this game had everyone in the building wanting to hit the reset button. Florida scored 11 straight points after the opening tip before Andirja Jelavić finally got one to fall for the Wildcats. Kentucky actually responded well from there, rattling off a 14-4 run of its own, even cutting the deficit down to a single point on a couple of possessions. Oweh was doing most of the scoring for the ‘Cats.
But then it all turned sour. After a bad Jasper Johnson turnover, he immediately fouled a Florida player in transition that was ruled intentional. The Gators began to run up the score from there, beginning with a 13-0 run that marked their second killshot of the first half, forcing UK into a timeout. Florida led by as many as 18 points in the opening 20 minutes before settling on a 49-32 advantage. Oweh had over half of his team’s points with 17.
I wish I could say the second half started any better for Kentucky. Every time the Wildcats did something right, Florida would counter with points. When Johnson cut the lead down to 13 after a made three, the Gators immediately punched back with five straight. Oweh’s hot-shooting didn’t carry over into the second half, either. It was a 20-point Florida lead with 10 minutes still to play.
Coming out of the final media timeout, a couple of Oweh free throws trimmed Florida’s lead down to 10 points. Dioubate would tack on a layup a few possessions to make it just an eight-point edge for the Gators. After UF went 1-2 at the line, Oweh came down the court with a layup that cut it to seven points with under 60 seconds left. UK would ultimately get it down to as few as a five-point deficit, but there wasn’t enough time to complete the comeback.
