Five things you need to know from No. 10 Kentucky’s 94-91 overtime loss to Florida
Five things you need to know from No. 10 Kentucky’s 94-91 overtime loss to the Florida Gators in men’s SEC basketball at Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center:
1. It got away late. When Ugonna Onyenso scored on a follow shot with 39.8 seconds left in regulation, UK led 83-79 and it appeared the Wildcats were going to escape with a second close win over a Florida team UK beat 87-85 in Gainesville.
However, Florida’s Tyrese Samuel scored on a 6-footer with 15.7 seconds left to pull within 83-81. With 13.5 seconds left, the Gators fouled Rob Dillingham. The Kentucky freshman guard hit the first foul shot. Needing one more to give the Wildcats a two-possession lead, Dillingham missed.
Florida guard Walter C.layton Jr. made UK pay, draining a cold-blooded trey with 5 seconds left to tie the game at 84 and, ultimately, force overtime.
In the OT, it was Clayton — a transfer from Iona who began his college career playing for Rick Pitino — who also hit the pivotal shot.
With Kentucky up 87-86, Clayton buried a 3-pointer from the deep left corner to put Florida up for good, 89-87.
2. Defense still a major issue for UK. As has been the case for most of the season, Kentucky struggled defensively on the perimeter.
Florida guards Clayton and Zyon Pullin each had 23 points in Florida’s loss to UK on Jan. 6. This time, Clayton had 22 and Pullin went for 21.
The big difference from the first game between the two teams, Florida had a third 20-point scorer on Wednesday night. Tyrese Samuel, a 6-10, 239-pound super senior who transferred from Seton Hall, went for 22 points and 13 boards.
It’s hard to imagine Kentucky making a deep run in March Madness with such a struggling defense.
3. Cats play short-handed again. With Zvonimir Ivisic eligible and Rob Dillingham expected back after missing Saturday’s win at Arkansas, it seemed that Kentucky might finally enter a game with its entire roster of scholarship players available for the first time in the 2023-24 season.
Alas, that was not to be.
Justin Edwards (leg) and D.J. Wagner (ankle) both sat out Wednesday night’s game.
With those two out, Adou Thiero and Reed Sheppard started at small forward and point guard, respectively. Meanwhile, off his strong play against Arkansas, Ugonna Onyenso moved into the starting lineup at center instead of Aaron Bradshaw.
Onyenso, the 7-foot, 247-pound sophomore, played the best game of his Kentucky career, going for 13 points, 16 rebounds and eight blocked shots in 33 minutes of action.
With Wagner sidelined, Sheppard, the former North Laurel star, played every second of Wednesday’s game. The 6-3, 187-pound freshman finished with 24 points, eight rebounds, six assists, two blocked shots and a steal.
4. Battle on the boards. Florida entered Wednesday night’s game 10th in NCAA Division I in rebounding margin at plus-9.9 a game (44.6 to 34.7). Kentucky, meanwhile, entered the contest tied for 181st at plus-1 (38.1 to 37.1)
A big key in UK’s 87-85 win at UF on Jan. 6 is that the Cats lost the rebounding battle to the Gators by only 3, 43-40.
On Wednesday night, UK again essentially battled Florida to a draw on the glass, losing the rebounding battle 50-48.
Kentucky even had the upper hand in second-chance points, 16-9.
Rather than the boards, the difference in the game came at the foul line, where Florida hit 18 of 22 and Kentucky 11 of 17.
5. And then there were three. With Wednesday night’s win, Florida head man Todd Golden is now 1-3 vs. Kentucky.
That leaves three current Southeastern Conference head men who have never beaten the Wildcats — Mississippi State’s Chris Jans (0-2), LSU’s Matt McMahon (0-1) and Mississippi’s Chris Beard (0-1).
Beard has yet to coach vs. UK as Ole Miss coach; he lost to the Cats 76-74 in overtime in the 2019-20 SEC/Big 12 Challenge while coaching Texas Tech.
Florida’s win snapped a 5-game Kentucky win streak in the head-to-head series. The Gators are now 2-10 vs. the Wildcats in the past 12 meetings between the teams.
Kentucky can’t close out Florida in regulation. Short-handed Cats fall to Gators in OT.
Box score from No. 10 Kentucky basketball’s 94-91 overtime loss to Florida
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