Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 82-74 win at Florida
READ MORE
Game day: Kentucky 82, Florida 74
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Wednesday night’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
Expand All
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 82-74 win over Florida at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville:
1. Presented with an opportunity, Kentucky seized it. Florida entered Wednesday night’s game No. 52 in the NCAA NET rankings. That meant the game was a Quad 1 opportunity for Kentucky. Given that the Gators were without their star player, 6-foot-11 center Colin Castleton, this was a chance for a Quad 1 win against a diminished roster that Kentucky could not afford to miss out on.
It wasn’t easy, but UK took advantage of the chance presented.
UK (19-9, 10-5 SEC) is now 5-7 in Quad 1 games and should be getting very near the point that it has an NCAA Tournament at-large berth locked up.
As the NET rankings stood Wednesday, the Wildcats will have at least two more chances to add Quad 1 wins before the regular season ends.
Saturday’s home game with Auburn (No. 30 in the NET) and the regular-season finale at Arkansas (No. 16) are presently both Quad 1 opportunities for the Wildcats (that will not be the case for Auburn if the Tigers drop below No. 30 in the NET).
Kentucky’s Senior Night contest with Vanderbilt (No. 87) is a Quad 3 contest for UK.
2. UK forwards carry the load. Kentucky’s starting forwards, senior Jacob Toppin and freshman Chris Livingston, each had points-rebounds double-doubles.
The 6-9, 205-pound Toppin finished with 19 points and 11 boards. It was the second time this season the Brooklyn, N.Y., product has hung a double-double on the Gators. Toppin had 17 points and 10 rebounds vs. Florida in UK’s 72-67 win at Rupp Arena on Feb. 4.
Livingston, a 6-6, 220-pound product of Akron, Ohio, had 10 points and a career-high 15 boards.
With UK clinging to a 74-72 lead inside the final minute, Livingston made the game-deciding play. After Cason Wallace missed a three-pointer, Livingston claimed the offensive rebound and put the ball back in while being fouled by Florida’s Will Richard with 46 seconds left.
When Livingston cashed the foul shot, UK had a two-possession lead, 77-72, and enough breathing room to escape.
It was the second straight double-double for Livingston. In Kentucky’s 66-54 win over Tennessee on Saturday, he had 10 points and 12 rebounds.
The late-season development of Livingston is the biggest reason UK has gone from an NCAA Tournament “bubble team” to one that is almost certain to go dancing.
3. Oscar worthy. Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe hit 12 of 13 shots — many of them jumpers from at least 15 feet out — and scored a game-high 25 points. The 6-9, 255-pound product of the Democratic Republic of Congo also chipped in four rebounds, three assists, a steal and a block.
It was an odd stat line for Tshiebwe, who missed more free throws (1-of-3) than field-goal tries and had the fewest rebounds in a game in his Kentucky career.
The performance helped Tshiebwe continue to etch his name in the UK record book.
With his 25 points at Florida, Tshiebwe became the 61st player in Kentucky men’s basketball history to go over 1,000 points while wearing the Wildcats uniform. He now has 1,010 points as a Wildcat to move ahead of Bobby Watson (1,001) and Jimmy Dan Conner (1,009) on the all-time UK scoring list.
Next up for Tshiebwe to pass among the Wildcats’ all-time leading scorers will be Ron Mercer (1,013) and Doron Lamb (1,018).
Meanwhile, Tshiebwe now has 844 rebounds in his two-season Kentucky career. That pushed him past Sam Bowie (843) for eighth on the all-time UK rebounding list.
Immediately ahead of Tshiebwe on the Kentucky career rebounding list is Chuck Hayes (910) in seventh.
4. Calipari vs. the SEC’s new coaches. With the UK victory, the Wildcats finished the 2022-23 regular season 5-3 in games vs. the Southeastern Conference’s six head coaches who are in their first seasons at their schools.
Calipari and UK went 2-0 vs. new Florida coach Todd Golden; 1-0 vs. both LSU’s Matt McMahon and Mississippi State’s Chris Jans; 1-1 vs. Georgia’s Mike White; and 0-1 against both Missouri’s Dennis Gates and South Carolina’s Lamont Paris.
5. Calipari moves into SEC top five. With Kentucky’s win, John Calipari is now 183-59 as UK head man in Southeastern Conference games. That pushes Calipari past former Tennessee head man Ray Mears (182-76 from 1963-77) for fifth place all-time in league victories.
The top five coaches in all-time SEC victories are now: 1. Adolph Rupp 397; 2. Dale Brown 238; 3. Billy Donovan 200; 4. C.M. Newton 195; 5. John Calipari 183.
This story was originally published February 22, 2023 at 9:37 PM.
