Big Blue Corner: Kentucky vs. Florida Post Game NOTES

Kentucky vs. Florida, Men’s Basketball
Bridgestone Arena, Nashville, Tenn., March 13, 2015

FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 64, Florida 49

UK defeated Florida twice during the regular season, 68-61 in Gainesville and 67-50 in the regular-season finale in Lexington.
The last time UK defeated Florida three times in a season was in 2012.
The last time UK held Florida to 50 or fewer points in consecutive games was the 1949 and 1951 seasons.

It tied the longest win streak in Kentucky history. UK went 25-0 in 1953-54, then won the first seven games of the 1954-55 season.
It extended the longest season-opening win streak for any team in SEC history.
It extended the longest win streak for a John Calipari-coached team.

Kentucky is 209-27 all-time when ranked No. 1 and has won 54 of the last 56 games as The Associated Press top-ranked team.
Calipari has led three schools to a No. 1 ranking (Massachusetts, Memphis, Kentucky) and has a 98-9 record as the top-ranked coach, including 57-4 at UK.
Calipari is now 184-37 (.833) as head coach at Kentucky, the best winning percentage of any coach in UK history.
UK was behind for 8:50 today. The Wildcats have trailed for only 178:43 of a possible 1,295 minutes this season.
Kentucky has an all-time record of 122-25 (.830) in SEC Tournament games.
Kentucky plays Saturday at 1 p.m. EDT in the semifinals of the SEC Tournament in Nashville vs. the winner of LSU/Auburn game.

Team Notes

UK held Florida to 49 points. UK is 112-5 under Coach Calipari when holding the opponent to 63 or fewer points. UK is 58-0 under Calipari when limited the opponent to 55 or fewer points, including 20 times this season.
UK limited Florida to 39.3 field-goal percentage today. The Wildcats lead the nation in field-goal percentage defense.
Kentucky shot 82.6 percent from the foul line, 19 of 23. The Wildcats have made 76.4 percent at the charity stripe over the last eight games.
UK won points off turnovers, 15-4. UK has won or tied points off turnovers in every game this season.
UK won bench points 13-11. UK has won bench points in every game this season.
Kentucky’s streak of 930 consecutive games with a 3-pointer was extended when Andrew Harrison swished a three at the 13:20 mark of the first half.

First-Half Facts

Kentucky’s opening lineup featured Andrew Harrison, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles, Karl-Anthony Towns and Willie Cauley-Stein for the 14^th time this season.
Florida made five of its first six shots in jumping out to a 10-5 lead.
The Gators were ahead 17-14 when Kentucky took the lead for good with a 6-0 run.
UK went to intermission ahead 31-27.

Second-Half Story

Kentucky started the second half with Tyler Ulis, Devin Booker, Aaron Harrison, Trey Lyles and Willie Cauley-Stein.
Kentucky made two big runs in the second half –

Leading 33-31, Kentucky had a 9-0 surge – capped by two foul shots and a 3-pointer by Aaron Harrison – for a 42-31 advantage.
After the Gators pulled with 50-45 with 7:40 to go, UK finished the game with a 14-4 run. Towns and Lyles scores the first nine points of the decisive spurt, combining to make seven consecutive foul shots.

Player Notes

It is his seventh double-double of the season, six of which have come against SEC opponents.
Towns has averaged 14 points over the last six games.

Aaron Harrison tied Towns in leading UK with 13 points. UK’s leading scorer for the season, he has tallied at least nine points in six straight games.
Tyler Ulis played a season-high 32 minutes, totaling seven points, four assists and three steals.

He has become more of a scoring presence recently, averaging 6.6 points over the last seven games.
He led the Wildcats with four assists and has averaged 3.6 over the last seven games.
His three steals tied his season high set on Nov. 30 against Providence.

Friday, March 13, 2015