Florida's second-half rally falls short at Kentucky

The Gators rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit Saturday at Kentucky but couldn’t complete the comeback in the game’s final minute.

Myreon Jones drained a rainbow 3-pointer to cut it to 70-67 with 38 seconds left, and then the Wildcats missed the front end of a one-and-one.

With a chance to tie, Jones was trapped in the corner and the bad possession turned worse as he forced an awful 3-point attempt with 17 seconds left.

Kentucky’s Cason Wallace grabbed the rebound and added two more points at the line to finish with 20, handing the Gators a 72-67 loss at Rupp Arena.

“They are a lot better now than they were a month ago. Credit to them,” Florida coach Todd Golden said of the Wildcats. “The reality is, since the loss to South Carolina they’ve been playing really well. I’m sure that was an emphasis that Coach [John] Calipari had. Getting this team back right, they’re playing really well again.”

Down 59-45 with 8:19 to play, UF battled back behind a monster performance from Colin Castleton, who scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half.

Castleton posted 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots and a steal. He shot 9-for-16 from the floor and 7-for-7 from the foul line.

“When teams don’t double-team I kind of take that a little personal and use my moves, my one-on-one and post-up abilities to face-up guys who maybe can’t move as well laterally as a smaller guy or a guard,” Castleton said. “I just try to make it to our advantage to help the team. If they guard me one-on-one, make the right play. If they double me, kick it out.”

Castleton is the first player since Dwyane Wade (3/29/03) to post that stat line (25p/8r/5a/3b/1s) vs. Kentucky and the first to do so against a power conference opponent since Greivis Vasquez (2/21/09 vs. Duke). He is the eighth player nationally this century to post that stat line in a single game, just the second to do so on the road (Phlandrous Fleming Jr. for Charleston Southern, 1/25/20 at Gardner-Webb).

Castleton also limited Oscar Tshiebwe to four points, tied for his season-low, on 2-for-14 shooting and induced a foul-out.

“We didn’t double him,” Golden said of Tshiebwe. “Colin is one of if not the best defensive player in the country with his block numbers and by our two-point field goal percentage defense, and we like that matchup one on one for us on the defensive side of the ball. Colin has got so much better defensively then he was last year. We wanted to make him turnover his right shoulder and finish that way.

“Oscar is a lot more effective inside five feet then outside five feet, so we tried to make him get catches away from the rim. We didn’t do a good enough job on the glass with him, he got seven offensive rebounds, and that’s what he does. I thought we did a great job collectively limiting his opportunities. For him to go 2-for-14 without doubling, I thought Colin had a great game defensively.”

Despite the performance from Castleton, the Gators could not overcome another slow start and gave up too many offensive rebounds (13) to the Wildcats, who scored 15 second-chance points.

Florida had just nine points in the game’s first 12 minutes and shot 26.9 percent (7-for-26) for the half, trailing 33-22 at intermission. UF shot 55 percent (16-for-29) in the second period to rally.

Will Richard and Kyle Lofton finished with 13 points apiece. Lofton hit a season-high three 3-pointers and was 5-for-7 from the field but didn’t miss from downtown. Kentucky’s Jacob Toppin (17 points) and CJ Fredrick (12) also scored in double figures.

The Gators (13-10, 6-4 SEC) are back on the road Wednesday at No. 4 Alabama. The Crimson Tide (20-3, 10-0 SEC) defeated LSU 79-69 on Saturday.