Throughout the Southeastern Conference schedule, Billy Donovan has coached two different teams: the first-half and second-half Gators.
Once again, No. 3 Florida (23-2, 12-0 SEC) struggled in the first 20 minutes to shoot the ball efficiently against No. 14 Kentucky (19-6, 9-3 SEC) on Saturday.
However, like clockwork, the Gators came out of the break with the hot hand to defeat the Wildcats 69-59 in Rupp Arena for the first time since 2007. UF is just the third team to win in Lexington, Ky., since UK coach John Calipari took over in 2009.
“We really had to overcome a really poor shooting night,” Donovan said. “We had some decent threes (but) we could not get anything to go down from behind the line.”
Florida sunk only 10 of its 30 shots from the field in the first half compared to Kentucky’s 11-of-22 shooting performance. The Gators shot just a combined 1 of 9 from beyond the arc; Scottie Wilbekin landed the only one about four minutes into the game.
Despite the offensive struggles, Donovan said he felt good going into the half like he did on the road against Tennessee on Tuesday.
In both scenarios, the Gators were allowing their opponent to shoot at least 50 percent while being held below 40 percent themselves. But in each case, Florida wasn’t forced to climb out of a major deficit.
Against Tennessee, Donovan’s squad was just down one. And on Saturday night, the two SEC rivals were separated by only three points.
“That’s encouraging when you walk in because a lot of times that can be a recipe where you walk in the locker room down 10 or 12,” Donovan said.
“And now you’ve got a hole you’ve really got to battle out of to try to get back into it.”
It did not take long for the Gators to chip away at the Wildcats’ lead. Fewer than four minutes into the second half, a Wilbekin jumper put Florida ahead 36-34 for the first time since it held a 23-22 advantage with 5:17 in the first half.
Florida jumped ahead 49-48 with 8:14 left behind a pair of Wilbekin free throws, and the Gators never relinquished the lead.
Similar to the Tennessee game, Michael Frazier II all but guaranteed the victory with a late three-pointer to put his team ahead five with a little more than four minutes on the clock.
In 12 SEC games, Frazier is 25 of 51 from beyond the arc in the second half. Fortunately for the Gators, the sophomore’s clutch performances after the break are enough to make up for his 11-of-45 shooting efficiency in the first halves of the games.
But Frazier is not the only one finding his stroke in the second half. Against SEC opponents, Florida is 23.4 percent from three in the first half compared to 41.3 percent in the second half.
“It’s just going to be one of those things where you’ve got to kind of stay the course,” Donovan said. “It’s a 40-minute game and there’s going to be those kinds of things. It’s always a grind when you’re playing on the road.”
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Scottie Wilbekin shoots an uncontested three-point shot during Florida’s 69-59 win against Kentucky on Saturday in Lexington, Ky. Wilbekin scored a career-high 23 points in the win, which was the Gators’ first in Rupp Arena since 2007.
