UNBEATEN IN SEC
Florida is the first team to complete an SEC season 18-0. Other schools to finish perfect in an SEC season with at least 10 games:
16-0
Kentucky: 2012, 2003, 1996
14-0
Alabama: 1956
Kentucky/LSU: 1954*
Kentucky: 1952, 1951
13-0
LSU: 1953
Kentucky: 1949
12-0
LSU: 1935*
11-0
Kentucky: 1947, 1935*, 1934
10-0
Georgia Tech: 1937
*Unbeaten Kentucky and LSU teams did not play each other in 1935 or 1954.
With several distractions in the back of their minds, the Gators on Saturday completed what coach Billy Donovan said was the greatest regular season he has seen in his 18 years in Gainesville.
No. 1 Florida (29-2) became the first team in Southeastern Conference history to complete league play 18-0 with an 84-65 pounding of No. 25 Kentucky (22-9, 12-6 SEC), the Gators’ most lopsided victory over the Wildcats in series history.
Florida’s four seniors, who were honored before their final home game, combined for 51 points, including 31 of the Gators’ 35 points in the second half. Patric Young finished with 18 points, while Casey Prather added 15, Scottie Wilbekin 13 and Will Yeguete five.
“I love senior days, and I don’t like senior days,” Donovan said. “Because it’s like you’re going to work the last day and that’s it, and you’ve got a job to do. It’s hard to focus on that.”
Donovan spent time during the week leading up to the regular-season finale talking with his team about blocking out anything that didn’t have to do with Kentucky. From the opening tipoff, it was clear Donovan’s lecture paid off for his seniors and the rest of the squad.
The Gators took just more than eight minutes to jump out to a double-digit lead over the Wildcats behind their best first-half shooting performance since Feb. 8 against Alabama.
Florida knocked down 61.5 percent of its shots in the first half, including 7 of 12 from 3-point range, which resulted in a 21-point lead heading into the break.
“Coach Donovan talks to us all the time about distractions,” said Prather, a forward. “We just have a commitment to each other, so we were trying not to let the distractions get to us.”
But the Wildcats’ talent finally broke through after halftime. Kentucky went on a 17-4 run to begin the second half and cut its deficit to six points.
For just less than six minutes, the Gators suddenly couldn’t find the bottom of the basket after enjoying such a hot start to the contest.
Donovan put the game in the seniors’ hands, though, and they responded behind a sellout crowd of 12,604.
“Those guys answered the bell,” Donovan said. “They made some plays. And it was good because in the huddle, as Kentucky made a run, the right things were being said. And there was a focus in their eye of, ‘OK, next play, we’re fine.’ ”
Florida finished the final 12 minutes of the game on a 31-18 run with freshman guard Kasey Hill the only non-senior to score down the stretch.
The dagger came with less than three minutes remaining on the clock when Wilbekin grabbed a rebound with his team up 74-60, took the ball up the court and drained a deep 3.
“In the second half, they came out very strong,” Wilbekin, a point guard, said of the Wildcats. “But we did what we have always done this year, and that’s fight through, weather the storm and finish this game.”
Julius Randle, a freshman forward, had 16 points and 10 rebounds to lead Kentucky.
Saturday’s victory clinched UF’s fifth season sweep of Kentucky in school history and the first since Donovan’s repeat national championship team in 2007.
The Gators also finished the regular season undefeated at home for the second straight year. They have won their last 32 games in the O’Connell Center.
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