Florida Gators basketball routs Kentucky at home

Mike White said on Friday that no one was expecting to blow Kentucky out of the water on Saturday night, but the Florida Gators did just that in an 88-66 defeat of the Wildcats at home. Florida has been on a new level over the last two weeks and it has been a pleasure to watch this team win its last four games by more than 20 points.
The No. 24 Gators never trailed in the game against the No. 8 Wildcats. Florida took a 34-26 lead into halftime, holding Kentucky to its lowest first half point total of the season. The Gators rode a 66.7 shooting percentage in the second half to put the game out of reach for a Kentucky team that looked to be mentally and physically defeated.
The Wildcats’ 66 points were its lowest of the season, making Florida just the fourth team to hold them below 80 in a game this year. The 22-point win was Florida’s largest margin of victory in the history of the series, dating back to 1927. The previous high was 19 in the historic 18-0 SEC run of the 2013-14 season.
Senior guard Kasey Hill carried the team on his shoulders in what was arguably the best game of his career. Going into the game, he was the only player remaining on the roster who had defeated Kentucky in his career. The rest of his teammates joined him on Saturday.
Hill’s jump shot hasn’t always been the most impressive part of his game, but it was on against Kentucky. He finished with 21 points on an 8-for-16 night from the field. He had six assists to move up to the seventh all-time assists total in school history. Hill was also terrific on defense with 5 rebounds in the game while being tasked with guarding Kentucky’s Malik Monk, who came in averaging 22.4 points per game. Monk finished with just 11 points and did not score a single point in the first half.
“I’m proud of him,” said junior forward Devin Robinson. “He’s been the leader of this program for numerous years. He kept the motor going. He played defense, he played hard and he made the shots that he needed to make and just kept the team going. He’s a great leader. I’m happy for him tonight.”
Robinson had a nice night for himself behind Hill with 16 points and nine rebounds in what Mike White said was one of his best overall games. His nine boards tied with Chris Chiozza for the team high on the night. Canyon Barry (14) and KeVaughn Allen (12) were also in double figures for the Gators.
Barry scored all of his points in the second half, but came up big at a time in the second half that the momentum was creeping into Kentucky’s favor. The Wildcats cut an 11-point Florida lead to just four within a two-minute span early in the second half. Barry quickly silenced it with five straight points on back-to-back possessions and Kentucky had no answers.
For the second game in a row, the Gators absolutely dominated on the boards, which has been the glaring weakness of this team all season, while Kentucky has been one of the best rebounding teams in the conference. Florida was as aggressive as its been all season, coming away with nearly every 50-50 ball of the night. The Gators finished with a 54-29 advantage in total rebounds, 37-23 in defensive rebounds and 17-6 on the offensive glass. Florida also totaled seven blocks on the night to add onto a great defensive performance.
“We just did the same thing we do every day,” Robinson said. “Just tried to attack them, show them we’re not scared to get a little dirty down there, get physical and just attack every rebound, you know, boxed out, got physical, hit them first before they hit us.”
As for Mike White, it is the biggest win of his career and just his second win against a ranked opponent in his time at Florida. The first came against West Virginia last season. While it is his biggest win, he won’t take much time to enjoy it with a road game at Georgia coming up on Tuesday.
“Not much,” White said on how much he will be able to enjoy the win. “I mean, at Georgia’s gonna be hard. It’s gonna be really hard, you know, and it’s the SEC. Just like the ACC and the Big 12. I don’t mean to slight anybody, but there’s some leagues now, like this league, where we can’t celebrate this but an hour. I’m gonna go home and hug my kids and have a big pizza with my wife and feel good about it, and then, we’re on to Georgia. That’s it. We’ve gotta play well.”
As for the 11,171 fans who packed the O’Dome and the others who watched from home, they will probably take a little more time to take in the signature win. Florida fans brought the most electric atmosphere of the season to the game on Thursday night and the Gators made their tickets well worth every penny.