‘He’s terrific.’ PJ Washington again shows the way to a UK victory

As Tyler Herro described it, Kentucky’s 65-54 victory at Florida on Saturday was a game of follow the leader.

The leader was PJ Washington, whose third straight double-double cleared the way for Kentucky’s eighth straight victory.

“Oh, he was big,” said Herro, who made a pretty sizable contribution himself with a team-high 19 points. “He’s just being a leader. When we see a guy like PJ who’s been here before, he works hard every day in practice. Us young guys can look up to him and follow his lead.”

Washington led a second-half comeback that erased an 11-point deficit, 42-31, inside the final 12-plus minutes. Kentucky outscored Florida 26-6 over the next 11-plus minutes.

Washington was omnipresent in game’s dramatic turnaround. He scored. He rebounded. He passed.

“‘Bigs’ that pass, dribble and shoot it are really dangerous,” Florida Coach Mike White said. “And draw fouls. And move his feet defensively. And run the floor like a deer. He’s terrific.”

Washington scored 15 points and grabbed 12 rebounds. But his passing also made a memorable impression.

A pass out of a double-team in the low post set up a corner three-pointer by Herro that put the Cats ahead 55-48 with 2:49 left. That deflated what had been a raucous Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center and all but clinched Kentucky improving its record to 18-3 overall and 7-1 in the Southeastern Conference.

“We’ve been really good with sending activity to the post all year and creating havoc in there,” White said of Florida double-teaming the low post. “It had no effect on this game for the first game all year.

“And it probably has a lot to do with his decisions and his poise.”

At the end of the first half, Washington’s pass out of the post resulted in an Immanuel Quickly three-pointer that reduced Kentucky’s halftime deficit to 33-29.

“Oh, PJ is great at that,” Herro said of Washington’s passes out of double-teams. “I think he has a good anticipation. He anticipates when the second defender or third defender is coming at him. He just finds the open man and makes the right play every time.”

Florida, which was among the first four out of Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament bracket, led for 31 minutes and 25 seconds. But the Gators fell to 12-9 overall and 4-4 in the SEC.

Except for Herro and Washington, Kentucky made only five of 22 shots in the first half. That included 1-for-11 shooting from three-point range.

That Herro didn’t miss any of his four shots (including two threes) and Washington made three of eight prevented Kentucky from trailing by more than the 33-29 halftime score.

Still, Kentucky faced the biggest halftime deficit since Duke outscored the Cats 59-42 at intermission on opening night.

Kentucky, which led for only two minutes and 24 seconds of the first half, had trailed at halftime only four times previously this season.

Thanks to the poor shooting, the first half here bore no resemblance to the 45-15 first-half smothering of Vanderbilt four nights earlier.

Those looking for omens could point to Keldon Johnson going to the bench with 16:42 left after getting his first two shots blocked. He made one of six in the half.

Herro’s shooting kept Kentucky close. A charging call sent him to the bench with two fouls at the 5:32 mark. Thereafter, Florida outscored UK 14-9 to take the halftime lead.

Kentucky did not respond with authority early in the second half. After a Hagans turnover led to a Noah Locke corner three-pointer in transition, UK was down 38-31. That matched the largest deficit so far and prompted a timeout with 17:15 left.

The deficit grew to 42-31 on Jalen Hudson’s driving layup with 13:56 left.

Washington led a charge. Fouled on a post-up, he made a free throw. Then he tipped in a missed shot. Then he rebounded a Florida miss.

When Johnson hit a corner three, Kentucky had scored six straight points to reduce the deficit to 42-37.

The run reached 10-0 when Herro made two free throws with 9:15 left.

Kentucky reached the summit of a seemingly game-long mountain climb with 4:53 left. A corner three by Johnson in transition put UK ahead 50-48. That marked the Cats’ first lead since the 3:50 mark of the first half. It was also UK’s largest lead to that point.

Thereafter, Washington led the way.

“He’s taking control of games,” UK Coach John Calipari said of Washington. “He’s coaching players on the court. I’ve been waiting a year and half for this.”

Next game

South Carolina at No. 7 Kentucky

7 p.m. Tuesday (SEC Network)

This story was originally published February 2, 2019 at 8:01 PM.