Florida puts up a fight, falls to No. 3 Kentucky

The Florida Gators traveled to Lexington, KY, with an outside shot at an upset victory over the No. 3 Kentucky Wildcats and possibly a guaranteed spot in the 2010 NCAA Tournament. Though Florida (20-11, 9-7 SEC) was unable to pull out the win, the team showed resilience and a solid all-around effort while falling 74-66 to Kentucky (29-2, 14-2 SEC) at Rupp Arena.

Three Gators – junior forward Alex Tyus (12 points) and freshmen F Erik Murphy (11) and guard Kenny Boynton (11) – scored in double figures, but Florida’s defense was unable to contain the Wildcats. Five Kentucky players posted double-digit points as guards Eric Bledsoe and Darius Miller led the way with 14 points, F Patrick Patterson added 13, G John Wall contributed 11 and G Darnell Dodson posted 10.

Read the rest of OGGOA’s Florida at No. 3 Kentucky game story after the jump!

On Senior Day, the Wildcats held the Gators without a basket for the first four minutes of the game. A 16-2 run for Kentucky pulled them ahead a game-high 18 points (36-18) in the first half, though Florida would cut its deficit to 10 at the half with a 10-3 run. UK shot 50 percent (6-of-12) from downtown before the halftime buzzer.

The Gators opened up the second half with a 7-0 run to cut the Wildcats’ lead to 49-44 with 14:53 remaining on the clock. Going back-and-forth for much of the half, UF was able to reduce its deficit to two (60-58) on a layup by Murphy with 6:52 to go. However, Florida would fall apart after a second layup by Murphy, allowing Kentucky to explode on a 9-2 run to put the game out of reach.

From 3:42 on, sophomore point guard Erving Walker took seven of the Gators’ final nine shots, missing six of them until adding a garbage-time layup with 0:25 left on the clock. Head coach Billy Donovan failed to play Murphy and sophomore G Ray Shipman, who had combined to go 8-11 from the field for 20 points and eight rebounds, in the final few minutes of the contest.

Junior F Chandler Parsons finished with nine points and six rebounds on 2-of-6 shooting, and junior center Vernon Macklin added six points and four rebounds. Walker had a team-high eight boards.

Florida shot a paltry 12-of-21 (57.1 percent) from the free throw line compared with Kentucky’s 20-for-28 (71.4 percent) effort from the charity stripe. The Wildcats outblocked the Gators 8-3 and shot 44.4 percent (8-for-18) from downtown versus 26.7 percent (4-of-15) for UF.

The Gators, a No. 4 seed from the East, now have their sights set on a match-up with the Auburn Tigers, a No. 5 seed from the West, in game three of the first round of the 2010 Southeastern Conference tournament on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. in Nashville, TN. The game will air live on your local SEC Network affiliate.

Florida must win at least one tournament game for a chance to participate in March Madness, though some analysts believe they will require two victories to get off the bubble. The winner of the Gators-Tigers tip will face the SEC West No. 1-seed Mississippi State Bulldogs in second-round action.