Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 71-63 win over Florida
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Game day: No. 7 Kentucky 71, Florida 63
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
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Five things you need to know from the No. 7 Kentucky Wildcats’ 71-63 win over the Florida Gators in an SEC men’s basketball game at at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.:
1. Oscar makes his case to the nation. In the regular-season finale, Kentucky big man Oscar Tshiebwe delivered his closing argument in the National Player of the Year race before a CBS audience.
It was a strong one.
Tshiebwe recorded his 13th straight double-double with 27 points and 14 rebounds. The Democratic Republic of Congo native also had three steals and two blocked shots.
It was Tshiebwe’s 25th double-double of the season, two short of passing Dan Issel (26 in 1969-70) for the UK single-season school record.
In one particularly emphatic stretch, Tshiebwe, a 6-foot-9, 255-pound transfer from West Virginia, responded to a 6-0 Florida run to begin the second half by scoring 11 straight points for Kentucky.
Tshiebwe ends the regular season averaging 17.3 points and 15.3 rebounds.
According to UK, Tshiebwe is attempting to be the first Division I player to average at least 15.0 points and at least 15.0 rebounds over a full season since Drake’s Lewis Lloyd and Alcorn State’s Larry Smith each did so during the 1979-80 season.
Tshiebwe would be the first UK player to do so since Bob Burrow (19.1 points, 17.7 rebounds) in 1954-55.
With 474 rebounds this season, Tshiebwe needs 55 more to pass Cliff Hagan (528 in 1951-52) for second place on the UK single-season rebounding list and 94 to pass Bill Spivey (567 in 1950-51) for first.
2. UK puts the “D” in “Wildcats.” Kentucky traveled to Gainesville off a stretch of games in which it has been struggling to contain opposing guards.
Alabama’s Keon Ellis hung 28 points on UK in Rupp Arena; LSU’s Xavier Pinson scored 26; Arkansas star JD Notae dropped 30 on UK; Mississippi’s Matthew Murrell went for 25 on the Cats.
The good news Saturday was Kentucky essentially shut down the Florida perimeter game. Tyree Appleby, who entered the contest off performances of 26, 19, 21 and 12 points in his prior four contests, was limited to six points on 2-for-6 shooting.
Overall, UK held UF — not a great offensive team over the course of the season — to 25-for-61 field-goal shooting, 3-for-15 on three-point attempts.
The Cats did have problems with 6-11, 240-pound center Colin Castleton (23 points, 11 boards) but some of that came after Tshiebwe picked up three second-half fouls.
Overall, this was an encouraging UK defensive effort after that had become a legitimate March Madness concern for UK backers.
3. TyTy’s shot. Kentucky freshman star TyTy Washington had five assists, four rebounds and went 4-for-4 on late-game free throws as a desperate Florida attempted to mount a rally.
So he made a positive contribution.
However, the Phoenix product hit only one of six shots, zero of two on three-point tries — and that continued a trend.
Over the past five games in which he has appeared — and Washington missed two full games and part of a third due to a “lower left extremity” injury he suffered against Florida in Lexington in the first Cats-Gators game Feb. 12 — Washington has made only 14 of 43 shots, five of 18 treys.
One big thing Wildcats fans should want to see in Tampa during next week’s SEC Tournament is Washington to find his shot.
When fully healthy and on top of his game this season, Washington has been Kentucky’s best combination of creator and shot-maker late in shot clocks.
Entering the NCAA Tournament, it would sure be nice to have that TyTy back.
4. Rivalry retribution tour. Kentucky entered 2021-22 having lost its most recent game vs. all of its primary rivals except for Tennessee.
So it is a positive aspect of the now-completed regular season that the Wildcats went 5-2 vs. opponents currently deemed as UK’s main rivals.
The Cats won over North Carolina (98-69 Dec. 18), Tennessee (107-79 Jan. 15), at Kansas (80-62, Jan. 29), and beat Florida twice (78-57 Feb. 12 in Lexington, 71-63 Saturday in Gainesville).
UK lost to Duke (79-71 Nov. 9) and at Tennessee (76-63 Feb. 15).
If seeds hold in the SEC Tournament, No. 3-seed UK would get another crack at No. 2 Tennessee in the semifinals.
5. All-time wins race. UK entered the current season with a four-win advantage over Kansas in the men’s college basketball all-time wins race, 2,327-2,323.
With its victory in Gainesville, Kentucky (25-6) now has 2,352 all-time victories and ends the regular season with the same four-win edge.
Kansas (24-6) defeated Texas 70-63 in overtime later Saturday. The Jayhawks have 2,348 all-time wins.
This story was originally published March 5, 2022 at 4:35 PM.
