Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 84-77 Senior Day loss to Florida
Five things you need to know from Kentucky’s 84-77 loss to Florida on Senior Day:
1. The Cats fought hard but dug too big a first-half hole. Florida began the game with an 11-0 run. After UK pulled within 20-19, the Gators uncorked a 13-0 run to take a 33-19 edge en route to a 49-32 halftime advantage.
To its credit, Kentucky fought and cut its deficit to five points twice inside the final 29.9 seconds of the game. But the second of the two big Florida first-half runs dug a UK hole that was too deep from which to climb.
In the big picture, Todd Golden’s Gators have three of their top six players back from the team that won the 2025 NCAA championship.
If Florida’s backcourt play holds up, the Gators have a viable shot at a repeat national title for the second time in school history (2006 and 2007 being the first).
Kentucky has played most of the conference season without three of its projected top six players due to injuries. The UK team that is playing now has had some good moments but does not have the talent ceiling the Gators possess.
What is disappointing is that, when UK and UF played the first time in Gainesville on Valentine’s Day, it was for the SEC lead.
Since that 92-83 Florida win, the Gators have been peaking, winning their five SEC games in between their two meetings with UK by 14, 19, 13, 34 and 34 points, respectively.
Kentucky, meanwhile, has now gone 2-4 since it played for the Southeastern Conference lead in Gainesville.
2. Saying farewell to the seniors. Kentucky starting guards Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen plus walk-ons Walker Horn and Zach Tow each were honored as seniors before their final home game at Rupp Arena.
The old Kentucky tradition of all seniors starting in their final home game is no more, so Horn and Tow assumed their normal positions on the Cats’ bench.
Oweh and Aberdeen were in their familiar places in the UK starting lineup.
In their final games at Rupp as a Wildcat, Oweh had 28 points, Aberdeen 15. Neither shot especially well, as Oweh was 8 of 21, Aberdeen 4 of 13.
3. Oweh on the Kentucky all-time scoring list. Otega Oweh’s 28 points Saturday give him 1,148 for his two-year UK career. He passed Randolph Morris (1,123 career points) for 48th on the all-time Kentucky scoring list.
(A transfer from Oklahoma, Oweh has 1,646 points for his entire college career).
Immediately ahead of Oweh on the Kentucky scoring list are 47. Wallace “Wah Wah” Jones (1,151); 46. Vernon Hatton (1,153); 45. Antonio Reeves (1,155) and 44. Derrick Miller (1,156).
Among players who played only two varsity seasons for UK, only Bill Spivey (1,213) and Reeves (1,155) have scored more points than Oweh.
4. Cats vs. the AP Top 25 under Mark Pope. The loss to No. 5 Florida means UK will enter the 2026 postseason with a 5-8 mark against teams in the AP Top 25.
After starting this season 0-4 in such games, Kentucky has gone 5-4 vs. ranked foes since.
Overall in Pope’s two seasons as top Cat, UK is 13-14 vs. the AP Top 25.
5. UK coaches of the Rupp Arena era on Senior Day. With Kentucky’s loss to Florida, the Cats are now 43-7 in Senior Day/Night games in the Rupp Arena era.
Below are the records of each Kentucky head man in Senior Day/Night contests at Rupp:
▪ Joe B. Hall: 9-0.
▪ Eddie Sutton: 4-0.
▪ Rick Pitino: 7-1.
▪ Tubby Smith: 9-1.
▪ Billy Gillispie: 1-1.
▪ John Calipari: 12-3.
▪ Mark Pope: 1-1.
This story was originally published March 7, 2026 at 6:39 PM.
