For a little bit, this felt like it’d be a nice easy win. Florida was without its top scorer and rebounder, Colin Castleton, and Kentucky jumped out to an early lead. At the 8:17 mark, the Cats led by 15, 30-15. Tom Hart started dropping KSR Easter Eggs. A nice Quad 1 win seemed ripe for the taking.
Florida didn’t get the memo. The Gators went on a 13-0 run to cut Kentucky’s lead to two with 4:48 left. The Cats pushed the lead back up to eight with 2:54 to go, but Florida kept shooting. A monster dunk from Kowacie Reeves and two threes from Riley Kugel gave Florida the 37-36 lead at half.