LIVE BLOG: Kentucky vs. No. 5 Florida

FINAL: Florida 84, Kentucky 77

Kentucky fought back to cut a 20-point lead to five in the closing minutes, but it wasn’t enough. Florida wins 84-77, bringing Kentucky’s record to 19-12, 10-8 in the SEC.

The Cats will be playing on Wednesday at the SEC Tournament. If Oklahoma beats Texas tonight, Kentucky will be the No. 9 seed, playing the No. 16 seed in the first game on Wednesday (12:30 p.m. ET). If Texas wins, Kentucky will be the No. 10 seed, playing the No. 15 seed in the first game on Wednesday night (7:00 p.m. ET).

Officials missed an out-of-bounds call

The last minute of this game has been a mess, with clock troubles and now, a huge missed call by the officials. Collin Chandler stole the inbounds pass after Oweh’s free throws, but Klavzar stole it from him and threw it to a teammate. Officials failed to see that his foot was on the baseline when he did it. Ugh.

Down to 5!

Three free throws by Otega Oweh have it down to five with 27.4 remaining. Can these Cats do it???

57.4 2H: Florida 77, Kentucky 70

The refs missed what should have been a shot clock violation on Florida, but Otega Oweh made the Gators pay on the other end, driving to the basket to cut Florida’s lead to seven. Timeout Mark Pope.

Do you believe in miracles?

57.4 2H: Florida 77, Kentucky 70

Dickie V doesn’t want to hear about a moral victory

Dickie V has been spicy today, bringing the heat when it comes to the current state of Kentucky Basketball. In the first half, he said Kentucky’s $22 million roster was poorly constructed. In the second, he brought up the debate of whether or not Mark Pope was the right job. With the Cats trailing by eight with 1:23 to go, he is refusing to call this a moral victory for Kentucky.

“Moral victories do not count at this level of basketball…People may leave here saying, we kept it close. Bottom line is you’re Kentucky, and you’ve got to leave here, especially at home. There are no moral victories.”

The lead is down to 8

Mo Dioubate hasn’t had anything to eat or drink since sunrise, but he’s trying to bring Kentucky back into this game. Diobuate hit a jumper to cut Florida’s lead to eight. After Alex Condon pushed it back to 10, Denzel Aberdeen took it back to eight with a jumper. That’s where we stand with 1:46 to go.

1:46 2H: Florida 76, Kentucky 68

Kentucky’s showing some life!

It may not be over just yet. Kentucky had cut Florida’s lead to 12, and it could be 10 if Otega Oweh makes these free throws after the timeout. Oweh, Mo Dioubate, and Denzel Aberdeen have all scored in the last few minutes, giving the Cats a chance to get this to single digits. Still plenty of time left.

3:53 2H: Florida 73, Kentucky 61

7:42 2H: Florida 71, Kentucky 53

If you believe in the rule of 71, this one is over. Florida leads by 18 at the under-eight media timeout. Otega Oweh remains the only Kentucky player in double digits. The Cats are shooting just 35% from the field, 32% this half. Florida’s bigs are taking over, with 36 points in the paint to Kentucky’s 20. The Gators also have 23 fastbreak points to the Cats’ two. Oof.

Kentucky cut it to 13, then…

Things were looking up for a second, Kentucky cutting Florida’s lead to 13 with a three-pointer by Jasper Johnson. Malachi Moreno blocked Isaiah Brown’s layup and Denzel Aberdeen had two clean looks at threes, just to miss them. From there, Florida answered with a three of its own and a second-chance layup by Thomas Haugh.

Florida’s lead is back to 18. Add in Dickie V questioning whether or not Mark Pope is the right guy for Kentucky, and this is not fun.

10:44 2H: Florida 66, Kentucky 48

15:47 2H: Florida 53, Kentucky 36

Kentucky still trails by 17 at the first media timeout. Both teams have only scored four points this half. That’s gonna have to pick up in a big way soon for the Cats if they have a comeback in them.

In other news, John Pelphrey was the honorary Y. He was relieved of his duties at Tennessee Tech earlier this week.

Rough day for Collin Chandler so far

Collin Chandler has yet to score a point, but it looked like he was about to break out of that slump, flying toward the basket for a dunk…which he then missed. It was Kentucky’s 23rd missed layup/dunk against Florida this season. A minute later, Chandler had a wide-open three-point attempt and missed it. Now, they’re reviewing a foul on Chandler and whether or not it should be flagrant after he hit Xaivian Lee in the face. Rough day for Captain Clutch.

17:19 2H: Florida 51, Kentucky 34

HALFTIME: Florida 49, Kentucky 32

This sucks. Kentucky is not competing against a nationally competitive team. These two teams do not belong on the same floor right now. In fact, if Otega Oweh wasn’t going nuclear — he’s got 17 points on 4-6 from three — the Wildcats would only have 15 points in a full half of basketball.

Florida has 49, for comparison, with Thomas Haugh leading the way with 17 himself, plus seven from Alex Condon and Xaivian Lee, six from Rueben Chinyelu, five from Boogie Fland and three from Urban Klavzar.

For the Wildcats? Brandon Garrison is the only non-Oweh player with multiple buckets as the team is shooting just 37.9 percent from the field.

We’re trending toward a Wednesday start in Nashville, folks.

Dick Vitale believes Big Blue Nation deserves better

Blink and the Cats are back down 14

Otega Oweh isn’t messing around on Senior Day

There’s the run…

Two fouls on Mo Dioubate

Vanderbilt upsets Tennessee to keep double-bye alive

So, uh, bad start for the Cats…

Starting on the ESPN App

Oweh, Aberdeen, Horn and Tow honored on Senior Day

Tip time pushed to 4:10 p.m.

With Vandy vs. Tennessee still wrapping up, tip time of Kentucky vs. Florida has been pushed to 4:10 p.m. ET. Prepare to switch to a different channel if the Vols vs. the ‘Dores runs over that.

Starting Lineups

Walker Horn and Zach Tow will not start on Senior Day. Kentucky is going with its usual five in the season finale vs. No. 5 Florida. Thomas Haugh is not only available for the Gators, but will start after missing Tuesday’s game vs. Mississippi State.

Kam Williams update

Mark Pope just wrapped up his pregame conversation with Tom Leach, which included an update on Kam Williams, who returned to practice on Thursday as he works his way back from foot surgery. Even though he won’t play today, there is a chance he could return for the SEC Tournament or NCAA Tournament.

“He was good. He had limited reps. He was pretty sore after, so we’re just in the process. It’s exactly what you would expect it to be, as he tries to recover.”

Today’s officials

The big three (Doug Shows, Pat Adams, Courtney Green) are not in the building today. The officials for Kentucky vs. Florida are Joe Lindsay, Vladimir Voyard Tadal, and Jeb Hartness. Joe Lindsay is the most well-known of the group. Coming into this season, Kentucky was 89-27 in games he’s called.

One last Walk and Talk outside Rupp Arena

It’s almost that time. Check out the scene outside Rupp Arena ahead of Kentucky vs. No. 5 Florida, thanks to our friends at Parlour Pizza.

Arkansas keeps Kentucky’s double-bye dream alive

We don’t give shoutouts to John Calipari’s Razorbacks often, but we will today. Arkansas just beat Missouri in overtime, which keeps the path to the double bye in the SEC Tournament open for Kentucky. Now, the Cats just need to beat Florida and for Vanderbilt to beat Tennessee. The latter is looking good so far, the Commodores up 32-22 with a minute to go in the first half.

Thomas Haugh is available

Thomas Haugh, Florida’s leading scorer at 17.1 points per game, missed the Gators’ game vs. Mississippi State on Tuesday with a foot injury. He was listed as probable on the SEC Availability Report last night, but is not in the final update, meaning he’ll be available today. Of course.

Florida still playing for a No. 1 seed

Florida already clinched the SEC regular-season title and, in turn, the No. 1 seed in the SEC Tournament; however, the Gators still have a lot to play for. Florida is a No. 2 seed in the latest NCAA Tournament projections. The Gators are the top No. 2 seed in Joe Lunardi’s Friday Bracketology update. A win over Kentucky could help them get a No. 1 seed, with Lunardi listing today’s game as one that could affect the bracket just over a week from Selection Sunday.

How to Watch, Listen

Dickie V is back at Rupp Arena, baby! Vitale will be on the call for today’s game alongside Karl Ravech and Jimmy Dykes. He called the North Carolina game with the duo earlier this year and the Indiana game with Charles Barkley a few weeks later. Hopefully, this game goes like the latter, not the former.