Basketball Postgame Notes: Kentucky 87, Florida 85

Jeff Drummond · Jan 6, 2024

KENTUCKY MEN’S BASKETBALL POSTGAME NOTES
EXACTECH ARENA AT THE STEPHEN C. O’CONNELL CENTER | GAINESVILLE, FLA.
JAN. 6, 2024
ATTENDANCE: sellout crowd of 10,106

Final Score: No. 6 Kentucky 87, Florida 85

Team Records and Series Notes

Kentucky is 11-2 on the season and has won five in a row. Florida is 10-4, ending a six-game win streak.
This was the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams.
Kentucky leads the series 110-41 and has won the last five.
- UK leads 41-26 in games played in Gainesville and has won the last six there.
Next for Kentucky: UK returns home for Tuesday’s matchup vs. Missouri. Game time is 7 p.m. and it will be televised on ESPN.

Team Notes

Kentucky is 70-20 in Southeastern Conference openers, including 12-3 in SEC lidlifters under Coach John Calipari.
UK has a 1,047-303 record in league play with 49 regular-season titles, including six under John Calipari.
UK scored 87 points. The Wildcats entered the game fourth in the nation at 91.1 per game.
- UK has scored at least 80 points in all but one game this season.
UK won the second half 50-40, the second consecutive game that UK tallied at least 50 in the final stanza.
UK won despite making only 5 of 20 on 3-pointers, tying the season low for threes made.
- Kentucky entered the game 12th in the nation with 10.6 long balls made per game and third nationally in percentage at 41.6%.
Over the last seven minutes of the game, UK made 13 of 15 attempts (86.7%) from the foul line.
After committing seven turnovers in the first half, UK had only two miscues in the second half. UK won points off turnovers, 15-6.
During the telecast, ESPN analyst Jay Bilas called Kentucky “the fastest team, end-to-end, in the country” and the Wildcats won fast break points today, 19-12.

Player Notes

Antonio Reeves led the Wildcats with 19 points and a plus/minus of +17.
- He also had an unsung play by fighting for an offensive rebound early in the second half, feeding Wagner for a 3-pointer.
- He extended his streak of 24 consecutive games with a 3-pointer, longest since Jamal Murray’s school-record 36-game streak in the 2015-16 season.
Tre Mitchell notched 12 points and 10 rebounds, his second double-double at UK and 13th of his career.
- It is his third straight game with double-digit rebounds and he has had at least four boards in every game this season.
D.J. Wagner and Reed Sheppard each tallied 14 points. It is Wagner’s seventh double-figure scoring game of the season and Sheppard’s 10th.
- Sheppard did not have any steals, ending his streak of 12 straight games making at least two steals.
- Sheppard made 6 of 6 free throws in the final 19 seconds to preserve the victory.
Aaron Bradshaw scored 10 points, all coming in the final 9:05 of the game. He also had seven rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot.
- Tied at 76 with less than two minutes remaining, he finalized a shot-clock violation by blocking a Gator shot. On the ensuing possession, he put Kentucky in the lead for good with a 3-pointer.

Coach John Calipari

Calipari has an 843-255 (76.8%) all-time on-court record, including 398-115 (77.6%) at Kentucky.
Calipari is 328-65 (83.5%) at UK against unranked competition.
Calipari is 25-9 vs. Florida.
Calipari is now 395-126 (75.8%) all-time in conference games, including 187-60 (75.7%) in the SEC.

In the First Half

Kentucky started D.J. Wagner, Antonio Reeves, Justin Edwards, Tre Mitchell and Aaron Bradshaw for the fourth game in a row and has won all four games.
Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard were UK’s first substitutions with 16:05 remaining.
Tied at 27, Florida went on a 15-4 run for its largest lead at 42-31.
Florida went to halftime ahead 45-37. 3-pointers were the difference as Florida made 8 of 20 long balls while Kentucky made just 1 of 10.
- 45 points is the most UK has given up in the first half this season.
UK is 1-1 this season when trailing at halftime.

In the Second Half

Kentucky began the second half with the starting lineup.
Kentucky regained the lead at the 15:12 mark, 51-49, on a Wagner 3-pointer.
Florida replied with a 9-0 spurt, making it 58-51.
Kentucky rallied to tie the game at 72, 74 and 76.
A great defensive possession by UK – capped by a blocked shot by Bradshaw – forced a UF shot clock violation at the 1:43 mark.
On the ensuing possession, Bradshaw made a 3-pointer at 1:21 to give UK the lead at 79-76.
Ahead 81-79, Sheppard made 6 of 6 foul shots in the final 19 seconds to keep the Wildcats ahead 87-83.
Florida was fouled on a 3-pointer with 0.4 seconds left and made the first two foul shots. The third was missed intentionally but the ball was tipped away and UK hung on for the 87-85 win.

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