Kentucky eliminated from SEC Tournament after another loss to Florida

NASHVILLE, Tenn. — The third time was not the charm for Kentucky.

Much like both games in the regular-season series, Florida got off to a good start and controlled the Cats throughout, ultimately scoring a 71-63 victory over UK in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals at Bridgestone Arena.

Kentucky, which was the 9 seed in Nashville and got wins over LSU and Missouri earlier in the week, will go into the NCAA Tournament with a 21-13 record. Florida was the 1 seed in the league tournament and is projected to be a 1 seed on Selection Sunday, too.

The Gators were too much for Mark Pope’s team Friday afternoon.

Florida jumped out to a double-digit lead in the opening minutes and were up nine points on Kentucky at halftime. That advantage was extended to as many as 17 points in the early going of the second half, and the Cats were down double digits most of the way after that, until making one last attempt at a comeback.

With the Gators running cold offensively but still leading by 11 points, Collin Chandler was fouled on a 3-pointer and made all three free throws to cut Florida’s lead to 62-54. UK guard Denzel Aberdeen drew a charge on the Gators’ next possession and drew another foul on a drive after that. He made both free throws, and that narrowed the score to 62-56 with 2:55 to go.

Chandler was called for a foul on Florida’s Thomas Haugh on the next play, however. Haugh made both free throws, and the foul was Chandler’s fifth of the game, sending him to the bench for the final 2:35.

Aberdeen scored on a drive to cut the deficit back to six on Kentucky’s next possession, but Florida got an offensive rebound on the other end, and Haugh hit a jumper to make it 66-58 with 1:38 remaining.

A 3-pointer by Aberdeen cut Florida’s lead to 66-61 as the clock ticked inside the final minute, but Xaivian Lee buried a 3-pointer to put the Gators back up eight and put an end to Kentucky’s rally.

UK struggled with Florida’s size — losing the rebounding battle 50-29 — and couldn’t get much of anything going offensively. The Cats shot 35.6% from the field and went just 5 for 23 on 3-pointers.

The Gators, who were one of the worst 3-point shooting teams in the league this season, were poor from deep, too — going just 3 for 20 — but they smothered Kentucky inside and beat the Cats 24-16 at the free throw line. Florida also won second-chance points 21-8.

Aberdeen, who played the past three seasons at Florida and transferred to Kentucky after helping the Gators win the national title last year, had 17 points to lead the Cats, who got 14 points from Mouhamed Dioubate off the bench.

UK star Otega Oweh, who scored 10 points, had a rough outing. He shot 5 for 18 from the floor and committed four turnovers. Oweh was also called for a technical foul for arguing with the officials with 5:37 left and the Cats trailing by 12 points.

Alex Condon led Florida with 22 points and 10 rebounds.

Kentucky, which has been plagued by poor starts all season long — and specifically against the Gators — got off to another subpar one Friday.

Florida led 10-4 at the first TV timeout — Pope had to burn one of his own timeouts before that stoppage came — and the Cats were down 16-6 by the 14:12 mark, with turnovers and an inability to secure defensive rebounds key contributors to the slow beginning.

The Gators were up 20-10 when Kentucky fought back.

The Cats got a pair of 3-pointers from Dioubate, who was 3 for 23 from deep for the season before Friday, sandwiched around a steal and dunk by Oweh to make it a 20-18 score and force a timeout from Florida coach Todd Golden, who gathered his team as “Go Big Blue!” chants thundered throughout Bridgestone Arena, where Kentucky had the clear fan advantage.

After the timeout, Jasper Johnson hit a scoop shot to tie it at 20 and complete a 10-0 run by the Cats. The Gators answered that flurry with an even bigger one of their own.

Back-to-back jumpers by former UK recruit Boogie Fland started it off. An emphatic put-back dunk by Micah Handlogten increased Florida’s lead to 30-20. Fland missed a 3-pointer on the Gators’ next possession, but Handlogten kept the ball alive, and it worked its way back to Fland, who made a 3 on his second attempt.

That sequence put Florida up 33-20. At that point in the game, the Gators had eight offensive rebounds to just one for Kentucky, and they were outscoring the Cats 12-0 in second-chance points.

Denzel Aberdeen finally made a layup to end Florida’s run at 13-0. In the meantime, UK had gone six minutes without scoring and missed 10 consecutive shots in that stretch.

The Gators took a 37-28 lead into halftime. Kentucky shot 33.3% from the field and 2 for 11 on 3-pointers in the first half. Florida, which also went 2 for 11 from deep before halftime, won the first half rebounding battle 25-16 but had five more 2-pointers than the Cats at the break.

This marked only the fourth time in Kentucky basketball history that a team has defeated the Cats three times in one season. Alabama did it last year — also eliminating UK in the conference tournament — Florida did it in 2014, and Tennessee accomplished the feat during the 1978-79 season.

The loss extended UK’s skid in the SEC Tournament, where the program hasn’t advanced to the championship game since 2018, which was also the last time the Cats won the league title. Pope’s first team was also ousted in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals last season.

With Friday’s defeat, Kentucky will now await its NCAA Tournament fate.

The Wildcats went into the game in the 6-7 seed range for Selection Sunday, and it’s unlikely that they would fall below a 7 in the final bracket. The selection show is set to air at 6 p.m. ET Sunday on CBS.