Gators upset Kentucky in OT for first road win vs. top-10 team since 2003

Trailing by two possessions with 37 seconds remaining, it appeared the Gators would fail to close out another game after a hard-fought battle at Kentucky. But they weren’t done fighting.

After having his 3-point attempt blocked by UK’s Reed Sheppard with 1:57 left, Florida junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. had redemption in the final seconds of regulation.

Down 84-81 with the clock running out, a ball fake by Clayton sent Sheppard flying through the air and he drilled the game-tying 3 to force overtime at Rupp Arena.

Clayton continued his clutch shooting in the extra period, hitting the go-ahead 3 to start an 8-0 run and knocking down the last two free throws in the Gators’ 94-91 win.

“Our guys played really poised in that last 15 seconds (of regulation),” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “It would’ve been really easy for ZP [Zyon Pullin] to come down and take a hero shot trying to extend the game. Did a great job playing off two (feet), found Walt on the wrap. Walt got his defender up in the air, side-stepped. That’s a great shot for him. Any shot he gets up, we feel like is a really good shot for our team.”

WALTER CLAYTON JR. SENDS IT TO OVERTIME 👀 @GatorsMBK pic.twitter.com/ljMbdlYU6Y

— SEC Network (@SECNetwork) February 1, 2024

Wednesday night marked Florida’s first road victory over an AP Top-10 opponent since beating No. 7 Mississippi State in 2003. It also gave the Gators their first Quad 1 win of the season after an 0-6 start and extended their winning streak to four games.

“That it was a heck of a game, man. It was a heck of a game,” Golden said. “Very similar to the game in our gym where (we) built a little lead in the first half, and the opposing team was resilient and kept battling and didn’t let the home team off the hook. There was that stretch in the second half where I felt like we really couldn’t do anything to stop them.

“They just kept putting the ball in the basket. But we did a really good job executing on our end and stepped up and hit a lot of big shots, made six threes in the second half. At the end of the day, really proud of the way we executed down the stretch after going down four.”

Clayton led UF with 23 points and a career-high seven 3-pointers (7-for-13). He was one of three Gators to score 20-plus points, along with grad transfers Tyrese Samuel (22) and Zyon Pullin (21).

Clayton broke down his game-tying 3 on the assist from Pullin.

“ZP does a great job attracting the defense,” Clayton said. “He’s a threat, obviously, so he drove middle and I raised up to the left wing. Reed was a little far away from me, came and closed out, I pump faked and hit the shot.”

After scoring a season-low 3 points in the first matchup against UK, Samuel posted his third 20-point game of the year and ninth double-double with 13 rebounds, one shy of his season high.

Pullin led the team with seven assists and grabbed seven boards, as the Gators committed just nine turnovers and outrebounded UK 50-48. Will Richard and Riley Kugel added 9 and 8 points, respectively.

Sheppard led Kentucky with 24 points on 10-for-18 shooting. He was one of four Wildcats in double figures, along with Rob Dillingham (20), Antonio Reeves (19) and Ugonna Onyenso (13).

Kentucky finished with a higher shooting percentage (45%) than the Gators (41%), but they were better from the behind the arc (43% vs. 38%) and shot above 80% at the foul line (18-for-22) for the fourth time in five games while UK made just 65% of its free throws (11-for-17).

Florida and Kentucky played close for the majority of the first half, with 14 lead changes and five ties in the game’s first 13 minutes. Then a 12-1 run by the Wildcats pushed their lead to 10, but the Gators responded in the last two minutes with a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 41-36 at the half.

“I thought we showed some good resolve there the last two minutes cutting that thing back to five,” Golden said during his halftime radio interview. “Got a couple stops. ZP hit a big 3, Tommy [Haugh] made a heck of a play there getting that outlet to Will and we settled down and got a stop there to end the half, which was huge. Big difference going down five instead of 10.”

The back-and-forth contest continued after the break as the two teams had a total of 29 lead changes and 15 ties. It was a one-possession game for over 18 minutes in the second half, with the biggest lead being a four-point edge by Kentucky for only 51 seconds.

“In overtime, Tyrese hitting that baseline jumper kind of got us going. Just made some big shots, and thought down the stretch we guarded well, held them to 25 percent in overtime,” Golden said. “Heck of a win for us. We’ve been knocking on the door for a win like this in our opportunities.”

The Gators (15-6, 5-3 SEC) are back on the road Saturday at Texas A&M. The game will tip at 4 p.m. on ESPN 2. The Aggies (12-8, 3-4 SEC) defeated Kentucky in overtime, 97-92, on Jan. 13 in College Station.