FINAL: No. 10 Kentucky ends No. 6 Florida's perfect record with 106-100 win in SEC-opener

The morning tip-time slowed Kentucky down early on, but the Wildcats responded in dominant fashion to hand a Top 10 team its first loss of the season.

On Saturday in Rupp Arena, the No. 10 Wildcats (12-2) won a thrilling, high-scoring battle against the No. 6 Florida Gators (13-1) to kick off the SEC schedule with a 106-100 victory. Six different Kentucky players scored 10 or more points, led by 23 from Koby Brea, who shot 7-9 from beyond the arc. As a team, the Wildcats went 14-29 (48 percent) from distance while turning the ball over just six times.

Lamont Butler finished with 19 points and eight assists for UK. Otega Oweh wasn’t far behind with 16 points while Amari Williams added 15 points, eight rebounds, and assists. Jaxson Robinson and Andrew Carr both contributed 14 points each. Despite losing the rebounding battle (38-30) and getting owned in second-chance points (31-12), Kentucky’s impressive 58 percent shooting mark from the field proved to be the difference.

We might just need to get used to these slow starts for Kentucky. The 11:00 AM tipoff certainly didn’t help, but we once again saw the Wildcats fall into an early hole. Florida jumped out to a quick 10-3 lead and imposed its will on the glass. The Gators led by as many as 11, 26-15, before Mark Pope‘s crew settled in. And once they did… the real fun started.

Kentucky turned that double-digit deficit into a five-point lead on the back of a 16-0 run over a four-minute span, which ultimately turned into a 21-3 stretch for the ‘Cats. The rebounding effort improved and the outside shots were falling. Behind some excellent on-ball defense from Butler, Kentucky went up by 10 going into the final minute of the first half and took a 52-42 lead into the break.

Brea and Oweh were the two stars of the opening 20 minutes for Kentucky. Brea was up to 14 points on 4-5 shooting from deep while Oweh chipped in 10 points, three rebounds, and two steals. Butler added seven points, four assists, and a pair of steals in the first half too. Williams saw just eight minutes of action due to foul trouble but made contributions when on the floor. Kentucky scored 30 of its points in the final 10 minutes of the half.

Florida struck first to start the second half, connecting on back-to-back triples. It was a back-and-forth affair from there. Alijah Martin turned into a flamethrower for the Gators, scoring 15 points in the first eight minutes of the half on tough shot attempts. Kentucky continued to respond though in large part due to Williams’ aggression in the paint. The score was 70-69 in favor of the ‘Cats with 12 minutes to go.

Kentucky went on another run over the next segment. A quick 10-0 kill shot stretch extended UK’s lead back to double-digits. Had Walter Clayton Jr. not made a late-shot clock triple with a hand in his face, Kentucky looked to be on the verge of a blowout. But Florida — living at the free-throw line at this point — continued to keep it close despite Brea’s hot outside shooting. It was just a two-point lead for the ‘Cats as we dipped under four minutes.

Butler responded with a personal 5-0 run to get Kentucky back in control before Brandon Garrison fouled on a questionable late whistle (a theme from the officials down the stretch). UK still led 96-91 with just under two minutes to go but Florida kept attacking the paint and getting to the line. Carr then hit the biggest shot of the game, a corner three-pointer to put Kentucky ahead by eight with less than 90 seconds on the clock. Ball game.

Kentucky hit enough free throws from there to fend off Florida’s last-ditch comeback attempt. It marked the Gators’ first loss of the season. Not a bad way to start off the SEC slate, huh?