Kentucky Basketball picks up 82-74 road win at Florida

The Kentucky Wildcats picked up a road win by defeating the Florida Gators 82-74 in Wednesday night’s SEC action. The Wildcats complete the season sweep of the Gators and are now winners of three straight in the conference. Kentucky basketball was led by a 25-point scoring performance from reigning SEC Player of the Year, Oscar Tshiebwe.

The Gators provided a hard fought performance, led by freshman guard Riley Kugel who provided a team leading 24 points on a sharp 4 for 6 from the three point line. Florida played Kentucky close, but the game got away from them at the end.

Kentucky got out to a 15-point lead at the 8:20 mark into the first half. The Gators were able to pull it together with a 13-0 run to bring the game close, and then had another 9-0 run to close out the first half and give Florida a 37-36 lead at halftime.

The Wildcats came out and were able to regain the lead in the second half 40-39 with 19:05 left in the second half. Kentucky never lost the lead after that and was able to create some distance from Florida in a game that was close for most of the contest.

Kentucky Basketball picks up 82-74 road win at Florida

There wasn’t much separation between the two teams statistically as the Gators won the turnover battle committing 10 to Kentucky’s 13. Florida also shot better from three point range, hitting more and at a better shooting percentage. Where Kentucky took advantage of the Gators was on the glass. The Wildcats out rebounded the home team 40-21.

Coach Calipari’s team saw strong performances from Jacob Toppin and Chris Livingston who both had double-doubles for the Wildcats. Toppin’s 19 points and 11 rebounds and Livingston’s 10 points and 15 rebounds helped push their team over the edge. Four of the five Kentucky starters scored in double figures.

Kentucky improves to 19-9 on the season and 10-5 in the SEC and winners of three straight. The three game win streak includes a win against top 10 Tennessee. The Wildcats next contest will be a home game against Auburn on Saturday, at 4:00 pm and can be seen on CBS.

Florida now slips to 14-14 and are 7-8 in SEC play. The Gators have lost two straight games and 5 of their last 6 contests. They have a chance to get back on the winning track on Saturday when they hit the road to face Vanderbilt. The game will be at 6:30 pm and can be seen on ESPN2.