Florida Gators
Kentucky
Men's Basketball Falls Short At No. 5 Kentucky, 69-66
Wednesday, February 9, 2005 | Men's Basketball
In search of its first victory on a top five opponent's home floor since 1988, the University of Florida men's basketball team came up just shy, falling to No. 5 Kentucky, 69-66, before a crowd of 24,191 at Rupp Arena.
Despite 23 points from Anthony Roberson and 18 from Matt Walsh, the Gators were unable to hold on to a seven-point halftime lead as they narrowly missed their first win at Rupp Arena since 1998.
The Gators had their opportunities and led 43-34 with 16:57 remaining in the game before Kentucky turned it up a notch.
Kentucky scored 13 of the next 15 points to go ahead 47-45. The Wildcats took the lead for the first time since early in the game when Rajon Rondo threw a behind-the-back pass to Ravi Moss for a lay-in with 13 minutes left.
The Wildcats went ahead for good at 53-52 on Kelenna Azubuike's 3-pointer with 9:52 left and held the lead thanks in good measure to the play of Rondo, their freshman point guard.
The 6-foot-1 Rondo had 14 points, seven rebounds and four assists. He also helped shut down Roberson, the SEC's second-leading scorer, in the second half, when he had eight mostly meaningless points after scoring 15 in the first half.
Rondo, a 50 percent free throw shooter, even went 8-of-10 from the line. Kentucky, which entered the game shooting 65.8 percent from the line, went 18-of-24 (75 percent) against the Gators.
Kentucky only had three second-half turnovers after committing eight in the first half.
Kentucky led 64-54 after a three-point play by Azubuike with 3:37 left. Florida came within four points with a minute left and had two chances to pull closer, but Walsh and Roberson each missed 3-point attempts.
Led by Roberson, Florida shot 54.2 percent in the first half and took a 36-29 lead and led by as much as 11 points in the first half.
Florida will stay on the road this weekend, traveling to Tennessee looking to avenge an 83-76 overtime loss to the Vols earlier this year.
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