UF Men’s Basketball: Gators fall to Kentucky in the last 12 seconds of the game

By Jennifer Cabrera with UF Athletic Association contributions

The Florida men’s basketball team dropped their regular season finale to Kentucky, 71-70, after leading for the entire game, up until the last 12 seconds. The Gators led by as much as 18 before Kentucky started chipping away at the lead.

Senior grad transfer Kerry Blackshear Jr. was honored in a Senior Day ceremony before the game but left the game in the second half with a wrist injury.

Mike White said, “We were just one big stop away and couldn’t get it… I don’t feel good about much now, honestly. That was a real tough one for us… We had every opportunity. We didn’t take advantage… They were tougher than we were down the stretch… We don’t have much time left to figure this thing out.”

Notable:

  *   Scottie Lewis led the Gators with a career-high 19 points, shooting 5-for-8 from the field and 8-for-10 from the free throw line.
  *   Noah Locke chipped in 14 points and shot 3-for-8 from 3-point range, his 10th SEC game with 3 or more made 3-pointers. His .481 3-point percentage in SEC play (51-for-106) is the best by any SEC player with 50+ makes since Vanderbilt’s John Jenkins also shot .481 (63-for-131) in 2011-12.
  *   Andrew Nembhard dished 8 assists vs. 1 turnover, bringing his season assists total to 173, which ranks as UF’s 8th-highest single-season total.
  *   Florida awaits the outcome of Mississippi State’s game vs. Ole Miss this evening to learn its SEC Tournament seeding. Florida would be the #4 seed if Mississippi State loses. If the Bulldogs win, MSU owns the tiebreaker vs. UF and the Gators would drop to the #5 seed.