The No. 13 Florida Gators played a tight first half but couldn’t find their footing in the second, as they fell to the No. 22 Kentucky Wildcats, 76-68, at Rupp Arena on Saturday afternoon.
Florida (22-6, 11-3 SEC) had four players in double figures, led by sophomore Kenny Boynton (Pompano Beach, Fla.) with 21 points. Senior Chandler Parsons (Casselberry, Fla.) had 15 points, while junior Erving Walker (Brooklyn, N.Y.) and senior Vernon Macklin (Portsmouth, Va.) had 10 points apiece.
In a first half that featured 10 ties and seven lead changes, both teams had mini runs of four or five that stopped momentum whenever the other began to get into a rhythm and pull away.
Florida had solid point production from all of its contributors, as Walker had a team-high eight points in the first half. The Gators were a perfect 7-for-7 from the charity stripe, taking advantage of their presence in the paint. Florida led by no more than three points as Kentucky always seemed to have an answer for the Gators’ three-pointers.
The Wildcats began the second half on a 5-0 run, sparked by a Doron Lamb trey. The Gators hit three three-pointers in a row, courtesy of Parsons and two by Boynton, to tie the game at 41. Brandon Knight stopped the Florida momentum with a trey of his own, but senior Alex Tyus (St. Louis, Mo.) cut through the Wildcat defense for a layup to cut their lead to 43-44 heading into the media timeout.
The teams traded buckets back and forth as Kentucky began to pick up the tempo, taking a 54-49 lead into the second media timeout. A DeAndre Liggins jumper gave the Wildcats the lead at 58-49, finishing a 10-2 run. Parsons hit a much-needed trey as the Gators were finally able to stop the Kentucky run. Lamb answered with a trey of his own to widen the gap back to nine.
A Walker steal off of Liggins gave the Wildcats their first turnover in nearly 17 minutes of action, but the Gators couldn’t capitalize on the Kentucky miscue as Eloy Vargas blocked Walker’s trey attempt. A Miller trey gave the Wildcats their first double-digit lead of the afternoon at 69-58.
An in-bounds layup by Parsons put the Gators back within nine and Florida scored its first 2nd chance point with a Tyus free throw with 3:45 remaining in the contest, putting Florida within eight at 69-61. A Terrence Jones jumper put the Wildcats back up by double-digits with 2:10 remaining before Brandon Knight made two free throws to give Kentucky its largest lead of the afternoon of 11.
Boynton was able to stop the Kentucky momentum with a trey and Macklin grabbed a rebound off a Kentucky free throw attempt, pushing the Gators within eight before Parsons fed Tyus inside for a layup with 40 ticks remaining, cutting the Wildcats’ lead to six, 74-68. Two made free throws by Knight sealed the win for Kentucky and gave Wildcats Head Coach John Calipari his 500th career victory.
