Five things you need to know from UK’s 71-63 loss vs. Florida in the SEC tourney
Five things you need to know from No. 9 seed Kentucky’s 71-63 loss vs. No. 1 seed Florida in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament:
1. Kentucky hangs around again, but Florida is just better. When the Gators beat Kentucky 92-83 on Valentine’s Day in Gainesville, UK’s problem was turnovers. The Cats lost the ball 14 times and Florida won points off turnovers 25-12.
When UF beat UK 84-77 at Rupp Arena on Senior Day, the Kentucky problem was transition defense. Florida outscored UK 24-4 on fast break points.
On Friday at Bridgestone Arena, the Cats’ issue was keeping the Gators off the offensive glass. Florida had an 18-8 advantage in offensive rebounds, which led to a 21-8 edge in second-chance points.
That and UF converting 24 of 33 free throws were the difference in the game.
As they seek back-to-back NCAA championships, Todd Golden’s Gators boast a tremendously well-rounded team that can beat you in multiple ways.
It’s interesting. Florida has now won 12 games in a row. The only team in that stretch to play UF within single digits is UK — three times.
Yet, Kentucky and Florida played 120 minutes of game time against each other this season.
UK did not hold the lead for even one second in any of the three games.
2. Gators again stifle the “Three-Headed G.O.A.T.” Perhaps the biggest reason Florida went 2-0 vs. Kentucky in the regular season was because of the Gators defense on the UK backcourt.
The Cats’ trio of starting guards — who Otega Oweh nicknamed the “Three-Headed G.O.A.T. — shot a combined 31 of 85 (36.5%) in UK’s 92-83 loss to UF in Gainesville and the 84-77 defeat to the Gators in Lexington.
On Friday, Denzel Aberdeen, Collin Chandler and Oweh had another rough go. The trio combined to shoot 11 of 33.
It was an especially tough game for Oweh, who shot 5 of 18, committed four turnovers and was called for a technical foul.
3. SEC Tournament title drought rolls on. With its loss to SEC tourney top seed Florida, Kentucky has now gone eight years without winning the Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.
The Wildcats have only made the semifinals twice in that span, in 2019 and 2022.
After an opening-round win over LSU (87-82) and second-round victory over Missouri (78-72), Kentucky was bidding against Florida to win three games in one SEC Tournament for the first time since Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Cats to the 2018 conference tourney championship in St. Louis.
4. Cats vs. the AP Top 25. With its loss to No. 4 Florida, Kentucky will finish the regular season with a 5-9 record against teams ranked in the Associated Press Top 25 poll.
UK started the season 0-4 in such games and has gone 5-5 the rest of the way.
In two seasons under Mark Pope, the Cats are now 13-15 against the AP Top 25.
5. The Oweh watch. The Kentucky senior guard scored 10 points and now has with 1,202 points in his two-season UK career.
Oweh needs 12 points to pass Bill Spivey (1,213 career points) as the top-scoring player in Cats men’s hoops history who only played two varsity seasons.
Immediately ahead of Oweh on the overall UK scoring list are No. 41. Rodrick Rhodes (1,209 career points), No. 40. Chuck Hayes (1,211), No. 39. Spivey (1,213), No. 38 Derrick Hord (1,220), No. 37 Deron Feldhaus (1,232), No. 36 Tom Parker (1,238), No. 35 Jodie Meeks (1,246) and No. 34 Darius Miller (1,248).
This story was originally published March 13, 2026 at 3:37 PM.
