Kentucky vs. Florida: Score and Reaction from 2017 Regular Season

No. 24 Florida recorded its most impressive win of the 2016-17 season so far, defeating No. 8 Kentucky 88-66 on Saturday night at Exactech Arena to improve to 18-5 overall and 8-2 in the SEC.Florida held Kentucky to its lowest offensive output this season, while the Gators recorded their largest margin of victory in series history, per the ESPN telecast.Kentucky, which shot just 37.7 percent from the field, could not find a way through an aggressive Florida defense.Florida's Kasey Hill led all scorers with 21 points along with six assists, while Devin Robinson added 16 points and nine rebounds in the winning effort.Freshman phenom De'Aaron Fox was the only Wildcats player to find any kind of success against the hosts as he put up 19 points.Florida established its dominance on the glass and worked from there as it limited Kentucky's offensive attack while creating second chances of its own. The Gators out-rebounded Kentucky 52-30 on the night, including a 33-14 margin in the first half.Florida also held the Wildcats to 9-of-30 shooting from the field, and Kentucky mustered a season-low 26 points in the first half as Florida built an eight-point lead heading into the break.The Gators led by as many as 13 points in the first half, but an offense that shot 35 percent from the field missed the opportunity to blow the game open early. Regardless, Florida continued to go right at Kentucky by putting tons of defensive pressure on the Wildcats and running the floor as fast as possible on offense.Kentucky had no answers as Florida unleashed a 13-0 run to build a 23-point lead with 6:47 remaining and put the game away.There was no complacency from the Gators, either, as they kept the high intensity level to hold Kentucky down and out until the final buzzer.The Wildcats, who dropped to 18-5 overall and 8-2 in conference play, were already in the midst of a rough stretch that included two losses to Tennessee and No. 3 Kansas in their previous three games. Kentucky had lost just two games all season before that.It was one of a number of high-profile schools that had problems Saturday, as six Top 10 programs went down, per ESPN.com's Jeff Goodman.Florida, on the other hand, recorded its fourth straight victory, but its decisive performance against Kentucky will have a bigger impact on its ranking next week than any other triumph this season.Postgame ReactionKentucky head coach John Calipari tried to sum up his team's performance the best he could, via Eric Crawford of WDRB:It couldn't get much worse for him either, via Kyle Tucker of theAtlanta Journal Constitution:But he's not admitting defeat, via Crawford:Kentucky has a chance to steady the ship as its next five games are coming against unranked opponents before meeting Florida again on Feb. 25.
Click here to read full news..