Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 92-83 loss at Florida
Five things you need to know from No. 25 Kentucky’s 92-83 loss at No. 14 Florida:
1. Denzel Aberdeen’s homecoming. The top backcourt reserve on Florida’s 2024-25 NCAA championship team, Aberdeen made his return to the O’Connell Center as Kentucky’s starting lead guard.
A product of Orlando, Florida, Aberdeen departed the Gators program after last season’s NCAA title run to transfer to within the Southeastern Conference to UK.
It may have been Valentine’s Day, but Aberdeen received a hearty boo from the Exactech Arena crowd when introduced as a Wildcats starter.
Once the game started, Aberdeen was booed every time he touched the ball. Since he is UK’s primary ballhandler, he heard a lot of booing.
Aberdeen missed 4 of his first 5 shots and appeared to be pressing.
However, he hit a 3-pointer, a mid-range jumper and a driving layup between 5:30 and 4:04 of the first half to help UK cut a 32-21 deficit to 34-29.
At various time, the “Rowdy Reptiles,” the Florida student section, chanted “Gator traitor” and “Sellout” as well as one other thing we don’t print on family-friendly Websites.
Given that we are in the college sports era of nearly-unlimited player mobility, it is increasingly common for players to play against their former teams.
For current Wildcats, the outcomes in those games have been mixed.
In three games against Oklahoma — two last season and one this year — ex-Sooners guard Otega Oweh has averaged 26.3 points and twice hit last-seconds, game-winning shots for UK.
Earlier this season, ex-Alabama forward Mouhamed Dioubate had six points, eight rebounds, an assist and a steal for Kentucky as the Cats lost in Tuscaloosa to the Crimson Tide, 89-74.
On Saturday Aberdeen finished with 19 points and four assists on 8 of 21 shooting as Kentucky lost in Gainesville.
2. Florida’s dominant front line. The Gators entered Saturday’s game first in NCAA Division I in rebound margin (plus-14), rebounds per game (46.04) and offensive rebounds per game (16.33).
In an era when almost every team plays three perimeter players, Florida is a throwback that starts two big forwards, 6-9 Thomas Haugh and 6-11 Alex Condon, and a traditional center in 6-10 Rueben Chinyelu, the nation’s second-leading rebounder (11.8).
Kentucky actually fought the bigger Gators to a draw on the boards in the first half, 20-20.
UK was down 43-34 at halftime due to turnovers. The Wildcats turned it over nine times, and the Gators had a 16-5 edge in points off of miscues in half one.
In half two, however, Florida’s big men asserted their strength.
After halftime, the Gators won the battle of the boards 25-17.
Chinyelu and Condon each had 11 rebounds to pace Florida on the glass.
3. Florida guard makes shots. Because of the strength of the Gators frontcourt, it is very difficult to beat Florida when its guards shoot well.
Unfortunately for Kentucky, Florida point guard Xaivien Lee hit 4 of 7 3-pointers and finished with 22 points.
Off the bench, Urban Klavzar hit 5 of 11 treys and had 19 points.
4. Oweh in the UK record book. Kentucky senior guard Otega Oweh entered Saturday’s game vs. Florida with 995 career points at UK ( and 1,493 overall).
Oweh became the 63rd 1,000-point scorer in University of Kentucky men’s basketball history when he scored his fifth and sixth points of the game on a driving layup with 1:48 left in the first half.
The Newark, New Jersey, product finished with 13 points and now has 1,008 in his UK career.
Directly ahead of Oweh on UK’s 1,000-point list are Jimmy Dan Conner (1,009), Ron Mercer (1,013) and Bob Burrow (1,023).
5. The SEC race. With its loss to Florida, Kentucky (8-4) fell two games behind the Gators (10-2) in the loss column in the race for the SEC regular season championship.
Arkansas, which like UK began play Saturday 8-3 in SEC play, will face Auburn Saturday at 8:30 p.m.
This is how the rest of the SEC schedule shapes up for the three teams that began play Saturday atop the league standings:
Remaining games for Florida: South Carolina (2-9 in SEC play entering Saturday), at Ole Miss (3-8), at Texas (6-5), Arkansas (8-3), Mississippi State (3-8) and at Kentucky (8-4).
Remaining games for Kentucky: Georgia (5-6 in SEC play entering Saturday), at Auburn (5-6), at South Carolina (2-9), Vanderbilt (7-4), at Texas A&M (7-4) and Florida (10-2).
Remaining games for Arkansas: Auburn (5-6), at Alabama (7-4), Missouri (7-4), Texas A&M (7-4), at Florida (10-3), Texas (6-5) and at Missouri (7-4).
This story was originally published February 14, 2026 at 5:41 PM.
