[LEX 18] — Kentucky would go on the road in Gainsville and get a big SEC road win against the Florida Gators 82-74
The Cats started the game 4 of 5 from the field and led 10 to 4 at the under 16:00 media timeout. It was good defense early on that led to the early lead, Florida struggled from the field early on. Kentucky pushed the lead to 30-15 with 7:55 left in the first half and seemed to be in total control of the game. The Gators wouldn't go away so easy though, they went on a 13-0 run to cut the lead to 30-28. At the half, Florida had taken a 1-point lead on back-to-back threes from Ryan Kugel to close the half. Kentucky 36, Florida 37.
Kentucky opened the second half hot just like it did the first, and made 9 of its first 12 shot attempts. Florida sharp shooter Riley Kugel would keep the Gators in it though, again knocking down timely 3-pointers for the Gators. The score was tied at 50 with 13:47 remaining. The game would be back and forth all night, with 6 lead changes and 3 ties. Kentucky led 74-70 with 1:13 to play. Chris Livingston's hot streak continues he had a double-double and a giant putback (AND ONE) with 0:49 to play to make the Cats lead 77-72.
Oscar Tshiebwe had a big individual night scoring 25 on 12-13 FG and in the process became the 61st player in program history to score 1,000 points wearing the Kentucky uniform.
John Calipari did not sub in the second half.
Next up for Kentucky is a home matchup with the Auburn Tigers, at home in Rupp Arena Saturday at 4:00 p.m. on CBS.
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