Kentucky Wildcats Basketball vs. Florida Gators: Post game notes
Mar 9, 2013; Lexington, KY, USA; Kentucky Wildcats forward Willie Cauley-Stein (15) dunks the ball against Florida Gators center Erik Murphy (33) and guard Kenny Boynton (1) in the second half at Rupp Arena. Kentucky defeated Florida 61-57. Mandatory Credit: Mark Zerof-USA TODAY Sports
Men’s Basketball Post-Game Notes
Rupp Arena, Lexington, Ky., March 9, 2013
Attendance:Florida at Kentucky
24,294 – second best of the season
FINAL SCORE: Kentucky 61, Florida 57
Team Records, Notes
· Kentucky concludes the regular season 21-10 overall. The Wildcats are 12-6 in the Southeastern Conference and will finish second or tied for second after today’s games are complete.
· Florida is 24-6 overall, 14-4 in the SEC.
· Kentucky leads the series 94-34, including 48-8 in games played in Lexington.
· The SEC Tournament is March 13-17 in Nashville, Tenn. UK has earned a double bye, will be seeded second or third in the tourney and will play at 7:30 or 10 p.m. Eastern time on Friday.
First-Half Facts
· Kentucky started with the lineup of Ryan Harrow, Julius Mays, Archie Goodwin, Alex Poythress and Willie Cauley-Stein for the sixth-straight game. UK is 4-2 with that lineup.
· UK jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game.
· Trailing 24-20, Florida took its first lead with a 9-0 run to go up 29-24.
· The Wildcats scratched back and the game was tied at 31 at halftime.
Second-Half Story
· Kentucky got the first five points of the second half and built eight-point leads at 42-34 and 44-36.
· Trailing 45-38, Florida went on a 19-5 run to go up 57-50 with 7:36 remaining. However, the Gators did not score again.
· The Wildcats scored the last 11 points of the game for the 61-57 win.
o Archie Goodwin’s dunk at 4:48 was the last basket of the game for either team.
· Leading 59-57, it was a fitting Senior Day sendoff as Julius Mays hit two free throws with 9.4 seconds remaining to give the Wildcats a two-possession lead that was the final score.
Team Notes
· Going up against one of the nation’s best defensive teams, UK managed to win while shooting 39.3 percent from the field. It was the first time this season that the Wildcats won while making less than 40 percent of their field goal attempts.
· Under Coach John Calipari, UK is 74-2 when limiting the opponent to 63 or fewer points.
Individual Notes
· Willie Cauley-Stein had six points, eight rebounds and blocked four shots.
o Key element in the win today was that he re-entered the game with four fouls at the 11:15 mark in the second half and managed to play the remainder of the game without fouling out.
o Has blocked at least two shots in seven-straight games.
(over)
· Archie Goodwin led the Wildcats with 16 points, his 22nd double-figure scoring game of the season and sixth in a row.
· Ryan Harrow had 13 points, four rebounds and two assists.
o Averaging 13.5 points and 5.2 rebounds over the last six games.
· Julius Mays had 13 points, two assists and two steals.
o Made two clutch foul shots with 9.4 seconds remaining to clinch the win.
o Has hit at least one 3-pointer in 19 of his last 20 games.
· Jarrod Polson made both of his field goal attempts, totaling four points, two rebounds and two assists in 13 minutes of action.
o Has become more of a scorer in recent games, averaging 4.6 points over the last nine games.
· Alex Poythress had nine points and tied his career high with 12 rebounds.
o His second double-figure rebounding game of the season.
o UK is 5-0 this season when Poythress gets at least nine rebounds.