LEXINGTON, KY — The Florida Gators might not have come away with the win that would have ensured their bid to the NCAA Tournament Sunday afternoon, but they might have gained the confidence they’ll need to pick up the necessary wins at the Southeastern Conference Basketball Tournament, which begins Thursday in Nashville.
Florida (20-11, 9-7 SEC East) lost to third-ranked Kentucky (29-2, 14-2 SEC East), 74-66, on Senior Day at Rupp Arena Sunday afternoon. While the loss wasn’t unexpected, Florida’s ability to step back off the edge when they were about to be blown out of the joint and give SEC regular season champ Kentucky all it could handle might have some carryover when tournament play begins Thursday.
The Gators open SEC Tournament play with Auburn Thursday at 6:30 p.m. at Bridgestone Arena and if they win their first round game, they advance to a 6:30 p.m. game Friday against Mississippi State, the SEC West champion. If the Gators couldn’t get the first round bye, this is about as favorable a bracket as they could have asked for since they’ve already beaten Auburn and Mississippi State this season.
Some bracket experts believe Florida could get into the NCAA with just one win in the SEC Tournament but two would almost certainly do the trick.
The Gators were well on their way to their most embarrassing loss of the season Sunday afternoon when they did a reversal of fortune in the final three minutes of the fist half with Kenny Boynton at the point and plenty of help off the bench from Ray Shipman and Erik Murphy. Trailing 34-16 with 5:20 left in the half after a 14-0 Kentucky run, the Gators outscored the Wildcats 15-7 the rest of the way to cut the deficit to 41-31 at the break.
Shipman, who scored nine points off the bench, scored five straight points to start the rally. Shipman delivered a three-point play with 3:26 left to cut Kentucky’s lead to 36-21 and he followed that up with a pair of free throws with 2:28 to go to get the Gators back within 15. A layup by Boynton and a Murphy layup on a one-hand off the dribble pass from Boynton offset a Kentucky three by Darnell Dodson and made it a 41-27 game.
Kentucky didn’t score again but the Gators closed with the final four points, two more by Murphy, who finished with nine points, his best effort ever in a Southeastern Conference game, and the final two by Boynton with 31 seconds left.
The Wildcats seemed to be back in control again in the first four minutes of the second half, extending the lead to 49-37 on a Darius Miller jumper with 16:44 to go but over the next 10 minutes, the Gators whittled away at the lead.
Shipman scored four straight points to get the Gators back within double figures, dunking in transition after Murphy dived on the floor to come up with a loose ball with 15:23 remaining in the half to bring Florida within eight, 49-41. Erving Walker’s first points of the game, a three with 14:59 left made it a five-point game (49-44).
Chandler Parsons scored on a layup with 14:29 to go to get the Gators within four at 50-46.
Kentucky stretched the lead back out to seven at 55-48, but the Gators battled back once again with threes by Erving Walker and Alex Tyus sandwiching a layup by the Wildcats’ Eric Bledsoe. Trailing by three (57-54) with 11:35 to go, the Rupp crowd was largely silent as the game became a possession by possession battle.
A tip in by Vernon Macklin with 6:53 to go got the Gators as close as they had been (60-58) since the 12:50 mark in the first half and after a dunk by Kentucky’s Patrick Patterson, Murphy got a dunk off a terrific pass by Parsons to get it back to a two-point deficit (62-60) with 5:23 left.
Florida gave up a three by John Wall with 4:52 left stretched Kentucky’s lead back to five. Kentucky got a break when the Gators missed on two chances to cut into the lead — a missed jump hook by Macklin and a controversial walking call on Parsons (replays showed he was tripped right in front of zebra Mike Eades, who ignored the trip and called a walk).
After a free throw by Wall with 4:07 made it 66-60, the Gators missed another chance to get some points back in a wild sequence that began with a missed front end of a one-and-one by Parsons. Tyus came up with an offensive rebound to save the possession but Walker missed a three. When the rebound came out long, Parsons outscrambled everybody for another offensive rebound and kicked it out to Walker, who missed again.
Kentucky made it 68-60 on two free throws by Darnell Dodson with 3:27 remaining and after a Florida turnover, the Gators lost a full minute of precious time. Kentucky milked the clock for a missed three by Wall with 2:39 left but Daniel Orton came up with the offensive rebound, allowing Kentucky to take another 30 seconds off the clock before Darius Miller missed an open three from the wing.
Florida got two back on a layup by Macklin with 1:43 to that cut the lead to 68-62 and they had a chance to trim the lead to four when Boynton picked Wall clean and drove the length of the court, but another controversial call went Kentucky’s way. Boynton was called for a charge by zebra Mike Stuart with 1:06 left but the replay seemed to indicate that the Kentucky defender never had position and was still moving well after Boynton had left his feet.
Following three Kentucky free throws, Parsons hit a couple of free throws with 29 seconds to go to get the Gators back to 71-64. After a free throw by Eric Bledsoe, Walker scored on a layup with 24 seconds remaining to cut Kentucky’s lead to six, 72-66. When Wall missed two free throws for Kentucky with 17 seconds left, the Gators had a chance to cut the Kentucky lead to three but Walker missed a three and that was pretty much the end of Florida’s opportunity.
Although the Gators came up empty, their ability to fight back from a potential blowout to give themselves a chance to win on the road does lend hope for the SEC Tournament. Considering the Gators went 6-0 against the SEC West, they couldn’t ask for a better draw than Auburn in the first round and Mississippi State in the second should they get past round one.
If, by chance the Gators were able to win those first two games, they would have a potential showdown with Vanderbilt, a team they should have beaten last week, in the semifinals.
Obviously, a win over Kentucky would have solved all of Florida’s problems with getting into the NCAA Tournament, but the luck of the SEC draw offers the best case scenario since they did not get that win.
GAME NOTES: Tyus led the Gators with 12 points while Boynton finished with 11. Parsons had nine points, six rebounds and four assists while Shipman and Murphy had nine each. Walker and Macklin chipped in with eight each … Kentucky won the game with its outside shooting. The Wildcats were 8-18 from the three-point line while the Gators were only 4-15 missing their last five from long distance … The Gators also hurt their chances with a sub-par effort at the foul line, hitting only 12-21 … Surprisingly, the Gators outrebounded the much taller Wildcats, 38-34 … Bledsoe and Miller scored 14 each to lead five Kentucky players in double figures.