Denzel Aberdeen scored 17 points, but Kentucky fell to top-seeded Florida 71-63 on Friday in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Southeastern Conference Men\u2019s Basketball Tournament.<\/p>\n
Kentucky (21-13) got 14 points from Mo Dioubate and 10 from Otega Oweh. The Cats struggled offensively, making just 21 of 59 (35.6 percent) from the floor, including 5 of 23 (21.7 percent) from behind the arc. The Gators dominated the glass, grabbing 50 rebounds compared to just 29 for UK.<\/p>\n
Florida scored the first three points of the game before Malachi Moreno got the Cats on the board and within one. The Gators scored five in a row before Oweh scored to cut the deficit to 8-4. The Gators would score again to lead by six.<\/p>\n
Oweh connected to cut the deficit to 10-6, but Florida scored six in a row to build the lead to 16-6. Dioubate scored to cut the deficit to eight but Florida answered to lead 18-8.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s when Dioubate brought the Cats back.\u00a0 He hit two free throws and later hit two three-pointers, the second of which cut the deficit to 20-18. And when Jasper Johnson scored, the game was tied at 20 apiece. However, the Gators scored the next 13 points to establish a double-digit lead.<\/p>\n
Kentucky fought back, with a Aberdeen layup, two Brandon Garrison free throws and a Doiubate layup to cut the deficit to 33-26. The Gators scored four straight but Aberdeen hit two free throws and Florida took a 37-28 lead into the half.<\/p>\n
Oweh got the second-half scoring going, getting the Cats within seven. However, the Gators scored the next six points to lead by 13. Dioubate scored underneath to cut the deficit to 43-32, but the Gators scored the next six to lead by 17.<\/p>\n
Moreno and Aberdeen scored on dunks to cut into the Florida lead but the Gators made a free throw to lead 50-36. Moreno hit a pair at the line but Florida made four in a row to extend their lead to 54-38.<\/p>\n
Andrija Jelavic scored underneath and Collin Chandler hit a three to cut the deficit to 54-43. After two Florida free throws, UK got a free throw from Garrison and a dunk from Oweh to cut the deficit to 56-46. However, Florida scored the next four in a row to lead by 14.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen hit a free throw, then Garrison made one before a Florida basket. Aberdeen hit a three to cut the UF lead to 62-51. Chandler then made three free throws and Aberdeen made two more to get UK within six, 62-56. Florida made two free throws to lead by eight.<\/p>\n
Aberdeen scored at the rim, but Florida responded to lead 66-58. Aberdeen hit a three to cut the deficit to 66-61 with 1:21 remaining. However, the Cats would get no closer.<\/p>\n
Kentucky now awaits the NCAA Tournament Selection Show on Sunday, where the Cats will find out their opponent and destination for next week\u2019s first and second rounds.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Denzel Aberdeen scored 17 points, but Kentucky fell to top-seeded Florida 71-63 on Friday in the quarterfinals of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":190600,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[28,30,29,13769,16379],"class_list":["post-190599","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-florida","tag-florida","tag-florida-headlines","tag-florida-news","tag-headlines","tag-men-s-basketball"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190599","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=190599"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/190599\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/190600"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=190599"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=190599"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=190599"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}