WATCH: Florida fan hooks Kentucky's Cason Wallace around the neck

During the Florida–Kentucky game on Wednesday night a fan sitting courtside became the center of attention after seemingly hooking Kentucky guard Cason Wallace by the neck.

The play happened early in the second half, when a ball took Wallace toward the sideline.

After saving the ball from going out of bounds and as he was getting ready to run back on defense, a fan had his arm extended and ended up grabbing Wallace around the neck, preventing him from getting back on defense.

Cason Wallace was grabbed by Florida fans after chasing a loose ball into the crowd.

Unacceptable.

The three Florida fans were ejected, but received an applause from the crowd… pretty classless. pic.twitter.com/DoGy903a26

— Tristan Pharis (@TristanUda) February 23, 2023

The officials paused the game and went to the review monitors and the fan was quickly escorted out of the game. Following the sequence it appeared that everyone involved in the interaction with Wallace had been removed from their seats.

Kentucky was not awarded a technical foul for the occurrence.

Florida-Kentucky game has been a game of runs

Prior to the sideline hi-jinks, Florida and Kentucky had been involved in a game of runs. Kentucky led by as many as 15 in the first half before Florida put together a run and ended up taking a 37-36 lead into the halftime break.

The Gators are playing without star center Colin Castleton, who suffered a broken hand recently and has not suited up since.

Castleton was one of the SEC’s stars this season, averaging 16.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 3.0 blocks and 2.7 assists per contest. His replacement is big man Jason Jitoboh.

“We definitely need Jason,” Golden said immediately after Castleton’s injury. “That’s the one guy that we know is capable. He’s done a wonderful job of being a great teammate, understanding that he has a guy in Colin in front of him that’s playing like a top 10-15 player in the country.

“But as you saw in the second half I think he played the last 12 minutes without getting a sub. He kept himself in great shape. He knows all of our stuff, knows our coverages and I think he’s going to do a decent job if we need him to spell Colin here for a little bit.”

With Castleton relegated to cheering from the bench, the Gators were doing their best to remain competitive.

At the time of this writing Kentucky led 61-59.