GAINESVILLE, Fla. — For more than 28 minutes, the Florida Gators executed on both ends of the floor equistiely, especially given the opponent was sixth-ranked Kentucky. But as this team knows all too well — from both the good and the side of things — basketball games last 40 minutes, and the Wildcats needed every one to stage an epic comeback Saturday that left the Gators and their sold-out Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center crowd stunned, bummed and dumbfounded.
UK forward EJ Montgomery's tip-in with 11.8 seconds remaining gave the Wildcats their first lead of the game and it held up to deliver UF a soul-crushing 71-70 defeat in a game the home team led by 18 with just under 12 minutes to go.
Nick Richards, after going 1-for-8 in the first half, hit seven of his 11 shots in the second half on his way to 19 points and seven rebounds, including four on the offensive end. Richards and his teammates were able to exploit UF's post play after grad-transfer forward Kerry Blackshear (no points, 5 rebounds in 12 minutes), on his "Senior Day," tried to play through a wrist injury he suffered in the first half, but took himself out of the game for good after just two possessions after intermission.
Blackshear's team sorely needed his size and savvy in the post on a day, as they were blasted inside over the final 20 minutes.
"We missed him a lot," Gators sophomore shooting guard
Noah Locke said. "He's a strong guy down there, bangs with big guys. I mean, we needed everyone to step up and get those rebounds."
On the Wildcats' side, they were without starting point guard Ashton Hagans, the league leader in both assists and steals. Hagans did not make the trip due to personal reasons. His teammates, namely reserves Keith Brooks Jr. and Johnny Juzang, answered the call with a combined 20 points and five rebounds on a day UK's two other standout guards either fouled out (Immannuel Quickley, 12 points) or could not score (Tyrese Maxey went 1-for-11, but with seven assists),
"That was a tough one for us," said Florida coach
Mike White, whose club has come back for wins from down 21 (Alabama) and 22 (Georgia) this season, but also has come-from-ahead losses when leading by 16 (Mississippi State) and now 18 (Kentucky), both at home. "We had every opportunity and didn't take advantage. And [UK] was terrific down the stretch."
UF forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. tried to play through his left wrist injury after giving nine solid defensive minutes in the first half. Without Blackshear, though, the Gators had no answers inside against UK's Nick Richards (4).
Montgomery's game-winner — originally waved off for offensive goal-tending, then reversed upon an officials' review — proved a fitting fate for the Gators, who got blasted 19-7 on the glass in the second half, including 10-1 on the offensive end, in getting outscored 32-13 over those final dozen minutes. Fifteen of UK's 41 second-half points came on second-chance possessions, usually stick-backs due to poor boxing out.
When it was over, the 2020 SEC champion Wildcats (25-6, 15-3) had dealt a wicked blow to the Gators (19-12, 11-7) and their postseason seeding scenarios. Instead of a top-four seed and double-bye into the quarterfinals of next week's SEC Tournament in Nashville, Tenn., UF could be dumped to the No. 5 seed — if Mississippi State wins at home Saturday night against Ole Miss — and will face either Georgia or Ole Miss in Thursday's second round. In the larger, NCAA Tournament picture, a win over Kentucky would have greatly enhanced Florida's middling seed situation (a likely 8, 9 or 10, for now).
It was all right there, including a momentum-launching victory against the league champ.
Then, it wasn't.
"We're not the toughest team," White said. "Championship-level teams can go on a scoring droughts and not have a drop-off defensively; and they can make eight straight shots and not have a drop-off defensively. My team doesn't have that and it starts with me. I haven't found out how to get that done with this team."
He wasn't done.
"I told our guys that Kentucky won a [league] championship -- whether they've cut nets down or not, I don't know, since they've won a bunch of them -- because of the way they executed down the stretch defensively. They defended without fouling. They got defensive rebounds. They altered shots at the rim. The guys who were supposed to go to the offensive glass went every time and made every one of those big plays at the end, but especially defensively. We've shown it in spurts. Our last game [at Georgia], we were terrific defensively. Just the awareness, focus, discipline, the toughness. Hopefully, in Nashville, we can take another step in that direction."
Florida scored the game's first seven points and went on to shoot nearly 56 percent in the first period and lead 40-30 at the break against the SEC's top field-goal percentage defense. The Gators kept making shots in the second half, hitting five of their first nine, with an old-time 3-point play by Locke (14 points, 3-for-8 from 3) giving them a 57-39 lead at the 11:55 mark.
The margin was still 13 after a 3-point play by freshman wing
Scottie Lewis (career-high 19 points, 2 steals) with 8:19 left, but UK took off on a 12-2 run over the next four minutes. The Gators led 70-67 on a driving layup by
Keyontae Johnson (12 points, 3 rebounds) at 2:07, which turned out to be their final points.
"We just lost discipline in the second half,'' Lewis said. "All the things that we did great in the first half, we kind of lost it in the second half. That's definitely a regression, kind of reverting back to what we were doing early in the season. That's just not us. We know how good we can be. Our staff knows how good we can be. It's up to us to go out there and do it."
Brooks' baseline floater just inside a minute left made it a one-point game. and Montgomery's tip off a Brooks miss put the Cats up by one point, albeit with plenty of time for the Gators to answer.
The UF defense, keyed by freshman Scottie Lewis (23), helped the Gators build their short-lived 18-point lead.
Instead, point guard
Andrew Nembhard (7 points, 5 rebounds, 8 assists) drove the right side of the lane, left his feet and tried to force a pass to a teammate in the opposide corner. The pass ended up sailing out of bounds with 4.7 seconds to go. UF fouled Richards on the ensuing inbounds. He did the Gators a favor by bouncing the front end of a one-and-one
Out of timeout with 3.4 remaining, Nembhard managed to get into the front court and launch a 3 that caromed off the rim — and then high above the rim — only to bounce away to the groans of the home crowd. And home-team bench.
The Wildcats shot 52 percent in the second half, made eight of 13 from distance for the game, and obliterated the Gators with those 21 second-chance points on 14 offensive rebounds.
"I know you're [saying], 'We had an 18-point lead and lost,' " Kentucky coach John Calipari said, in essence speaking to the Florida fans. "Well, we just had one against Tennessee and lost. At home."
True. The Cats led the Volunteers by 17 in the second half Tuesday night and were beaten in Rupp Arena. The loss was Kentucky's first over the last 10 seasons — and 110 games — when leading by double digits in the second half.
Feel better?
Didn't think so.
