Kentucky, which improved to 8-0 in true road games and 6-0 in
SEC road
contests, rebounded from Saturday's 73-64 home loss to then-No.
16
Mississippi.
Greg Stolt scored 13 points for Florida (13-10, 6-7), which was
playing
its first game without leading scorer Jason Williams, who was
suspended
Tuesday for the remainder of the season for violating unspecified
team
rules. The Gators fell to 10-2 at home this season.
Florida, which entered the game tied for third in the SEC East
with
Tennessee, began a pivotal stretch of games on the wrong foot.
The
Gators, who have not reached the NCAA Tournament since 1995, host
No. 16
South Carolina this weekend before closing their regular season
with
road games at Tennessee and Vanderbilt.
The game was tied, 10-10, with just over seven minutes gone before
Kentucky took control by scoring 31 of the game's next 45 points
to take
a 41-24 halftime advantage.
Kentucky would build the lead to 50-32 five minutes into the second
half
and hold at least a 20-point advantage thereafter en route to
its 13th
victory in 15 games.
Allen Edwards chipped in nine points and Wayne Turner handed out
five
assists for Kentucky, which now leads South Carolina by two games
in the
SEC East. South Carolina fell to Arkansas, 96-88, Wednesday night.
Kentucky shot 51 percent (31-of-61) and held a 38-29 rebounding
advantage. Florida connected on just 38 percent (19-of-50) despite
hitting on 9-of-22 3-pointers. The Gators committed 22 turnovers,
including five by Eddie Shannon, who had to take on an increased
ballhandling role with Williams' absence. Shannon did finish with
10
points.
The Wildcats have won 11 of the last 12 meetings between the teams
and
leads the all-time series, 73-21.
(10) Kentucky 79, FLORIDA 54
KENTUCKY (79)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Padgett 16 2-6 3-3 2-3 1 3 7
Magloire 17 2-5 0-0 2-4 0 3 4
Bradley 11 2-2 3-5 2-3 0 1 7
Anthony 12 3-6 0-0 3-6 0 0 7
Hogan 5 0-2 0-0 0-0 1 1 0
Evans 10 1-2 1-2 1-3 0 2 3
Masiello 2 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Edwards 23 4-8 0-0 1-2 3 0 9
Mills 18 1-4 0-0 0-0 1 2 3
Sheppard 24 8-10 1-1 1-4 2 1 18
Mohammed 25 7-12 5-7 4-6 0 0 19
Smith 21 1-3 0-0 0-2 1 1 2
Turner 16 0-1 0-1 0-2 5 2 0
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 31-61 13-19 16-35 14 16 79
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.508, FT-.684. 3-Point Goals:
4-11, .364 (Padgett 0-2, Anthony 1-2, Edwards
1-3, Mills 1-3, Sheppard 1-1). Team rebounds: 3.
Blocked shots: 4 (Mohammed 2, Sheppard,
Magloire). Turnovers: 17 (Magloire 4, Padgett 3,
Anthony 2, Mohammed 2, Turner 2, Bradley, Mills,
Sheppard, Smith). Steals: 19 (Mills 4, Sheppard
4, Smith 4, Anthony, Bradley, Edwards, Evans,
Magloire, Mohammed, Turner).
FLORIDA (54)
fg ft rb
min m-a m-a o-t a pf tp
Wright 25 1-6 3-4 1-5 1 0 5
Stolt 34 5-9 0-0 1-1 2 2 13
Nnaji 15 0-2 1-2 3-6 1 4 1
Weaks 19 3-7 0-0 3-7 1 5 7
Shannon 35 4-11 1-2 0-1 4 4 10
Parker 20 2-7 0-0 0-1 1 1 6
Cristell 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 0 3 2
Maddox 16 1-1 2-4 0-1 0 2 4
D Williams 31 2-5 0-0 0-1 1 0 6
_______________________________________________
TOTALS 200 19-50 7-12 8-23 11 21 54
_______________________________________________
Percentages: FG-.380, FT-.583. 3-Point Goals:
9-22, .409 (Wright 0-1, Stolt 3-5, Weaks 1-2,
Shannon 1-7, Parker 2-3, D Williams 2-4). Team
rebounds: 6. Blocked shots: 4 (Parker 2, Weaks,
Stolt). Turnovers: 22 (D Williams 5, Shannon 5,
Wright 5, Nnaji 2, Parker 2, Maddox, Stolt,
Weaks). Steals: 6 (Shannon 3, Maddox, Stolt,
Weaks).
__________________________________
Kentucky 41 38 - 79
Florida 24 30 - 54
__________________________________
Technical fouls: None. A: 10,222. Officials:
David Dodge, Tony Greene, Mike Thibodeaux.