Costly mistakes haunt Kentucky as Florida survives 92-83 in Gainesville

Kentucky basketball put their recent winning streak on the line in a big way on Saturday. Following winning eight of their last nine games, the Wildcats took on the #14 Florida Gators in a game that is going to end up as their toughest test of the entire season, not to mention it being on the road. Following a struggling first half, Kentucky made it interesting by never going away in the final minutes, including a Collin Chandler three to cut it to five points with 36 seconds left, but Florida used free-throws to avoid the late-game scare.

It started out like many Kentucky fans were expecting it to, as the Florida Gators got off to a very hot starting quickly, including going up 10-2 start on 4-5 shooting, while Kentucky was just 1-6 overall. An 8-0 Florida run then grew the lead to 14 points, which then got up to as much as 15 in the first half. But, as the Wildcats have shown to be able to do all season long, a 10-0 run took the deficit from 15 points to just five, before then taking a nine-point deficit into halftime. Points off turnovers were huge, as Florida had 16 points off of them in the first half.

A big part of their ability to come back early was the turnovers, as the Wildcats did not commit a single one in the last seven minutes of the first half after committing nine total, in which the Gators scored 16 points off of. As for Florida, they had five of their six turnovers in the span of five minutes. In the second half, Kentucky started out with a 7-0 run to quickly make it a two-point game, but Florida followed with a 9-0 run where they were then able to maintain their lead. Even when Kentucky did cut into the lead, the Gators quickly answered. The Wildcats stayed with Florida for a while, but towards the final stretch of the second half, the Gators pulled away and were able to maintain that lead, even when it looked like Kentucky might be threatening, thanks to missed opportunities and costly turnovers. Kentucky did cut it to five with 36 seconds left thanks to a Collin Chandler three, but Florida answered by icing the game with free-throws. Self-inflicted mistakes came back to haunt Kentucky in this one.

Florida just outworked Kentucky in the second half, especially with Kentucky looking very tired down the stretch. The Gators were relentless when it mattered and when you combine that with Kentucky missing easy shots, mainly layups, and multiple turnovers in key moments when they needed to make a run. The Wildcats missed an absurd 15 layups in this one and gave up 25 points to Florida off of their own turnovers. Credit to Kentucky, as they never stopped fighting, but Florida's execution was just better. It was their guards doing the damage today, as Xavian Lee and Urban Klavzar combined for nine threes, with star wing Thomas Haugh adding 17 points.

Kentucky went up against an elite Florida team and ultimately lost, but then again, they continued to fight, no matter what and ended up making it interesting in the final minute.