Has Hope Been Lost? Kentucky Beats Florida in Gainesville

The headline of Saturday’s game was the return of Keyontae Johnson, who was celebrated in his first start back at Stephen C. O’Connell Center. Unfortunately, however, Florida lost to Kentucky 63-71 in the Gators’ last regular-season game. Florida could have had the two biggest upsets of the season, but it’s tough to beat a talented group like the Wildcats. Nonetheless, the Gators showed a good sense of poise during their last stretch of the year. Here’s a quick recap of Florida’s loss to Kentucky. 

Castleton Carries the Gators

Colin Castleton, as expected, had another double-double for the Florida Gators. He finished with 23 points on higher than 50% shooting, and he had an impressive amount of five offensive rebounds. However, Castleton was unable to get much help from the other starters on Florida’s squad.

Phlandrous Fleming Jr. had seven points to end the game, but all of those came from the free-throw line. In fact, Fleming Jr. finished zero-for-nine from the field. Tyree Appleby just had six points, which made it tough for the Gators to get in rhythm on offense.

Florida got some production from its bench with Anthony Duruji and Brandon McKissic combining for 18 points. Duruji also had four assists, which was surprisingly the most for the Gators. Overall, Florida falling into a double-digit deficit in the first half really hurt its chances to win.

Tshiebwe Can’t Be Stopped

Kentucky basketball: Takeaways from win over Florida Gators | Lexington  Herald Leader

Oscar Tshiebwe, a junior for Kentucky, played more than 35 minutes in this game. Expectedly, he finished with 27 points and 15 rebounds; the Gators had no answer(s) for the junior from Congo.

The primary reason that Kentucky won this game was due to the help from the other starters. Sahvir Wheeler and Kellan Grady combined for 24 points, which was more than all of the Gators’ starters outside of Castleton. The Wildcats also shot better from the three-point line than Florida, who really struggled behind the arch in this matchup.

Concluding Thoughts

WATCH: Highlights from the 71-63 Kentucky Win over Florida

As the SEC tournament approaches, it’s clear that Florida will need some key moments in the game to go their way. The Gators managed to beat Auburn earlier in the season, and they put a fight up with Kentucky in this game. If the Gators can stay focused, they definitely have a shot to make a run in the SEC tourney and/or March Madness. Florida still has a shot to go for it all. 

One thought on “Has Hope Been Lost? Kentucky Beats Florida in Gainesville

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *