After No. 1 Florida sealed an 84-65 win against No. 25 Kentucky in the O’Connell Center on Saturday, senior forward Will Yeguete hoisted a sign that read “18-0 and more to go.”
Following the victory, Florida’s seniors made sure to relish their achievements — a list that includes the only 18-0 record in Southeastern Conference history, the winningest regular season in program history (29-2), their third outright SEC regular-season championship in four seasons and 23 straight wins.
First, they cut down the nets with their teammates and coaches. Once the ladder climbing was done, seniors Casey Prather, Scottie Wilbekin, Patric Young and Yeguete kneeled down and kissed the Gators logo at center court.
It was a coordinated celebration by the Gators for their most successful senior class in school history.
“We’ve been accomplishing a lot of things this year, but that’s just a result from hard work and everything we’ve invested from early this year,” Young said.
“This is the fruit of all that hard work.”
Added coach Billy Donovan: “This is the greatest regular season I’ve ever been a part of.”
Despite a strong first-half showing, Saturday’s win did not come easily for the Gators.
Entering the half with a 49-28 advantage, Florida shot 61.5 percent from the field — including a 7-of-12 clip from three-point range — and forced Kentucky (22-9, 12-6 SEC) to 34.8 percent shooting and 11 turnovers.
But coming out of halftime, the Wildcats clawed their way back into contention.
Thanks to a 15-0 run by UK, UF saw itself ahead by only six points after leading by as many as 22 previously. Donovan thought the Gators entered halftime drained.
“I knew Kentucky was going to make a run,” he said. “They’re too talented not to. Give them credit — they battled and fought their way back in there.
“I thought we got spread out on defense and played into their hands a little bit, in terms of opening up driving gaps for them and them getting the ball at the front of the rim offensive rebounding.”
With its back against the wall, Florida needed a spark. Then, the seniors came to the rescue.
Prather, Wilbekin, Yeguete and Young scored all but four of UF’s 35 points in the second half and made key shots down the stretch to finish the game on a 19-8 run.
“Like we’ve always done this year, we just tried to fight through and weather the storm,” Wilbekin said.
During the game’s final 12 minutes, Prather scored 10 points, Yeguete threw down an open two-handed flush, Young sunk a hook shot and Wilbekin drained two three-pointers.
His final attempt from beyond the arc iced the game to put the Gators ahead 77-60 with 2:33 left.
“Once he hit that one,” Young said, “we all knew it was over.”
Young finished with a game-high 18 points on 8-of-13 shooting, while Prather made all five of his shots for 15 points. Wilbekin added 13 points and four assists.
The No. 1 seed Gators now have four days to regain focus and prepare for their first game in the SEC Tournament on Friday at 1 p.m. in Atlanta against either No. 8 seed Missouri or ninth-seeded Texas A&M.
Saturday, Florida reveled in the moment. Now, the Gators are ready to regain focus on what’s ahead.
“Would you say this is mission accomplished? My answer is no,” Young said. “We’re in the right direction right now. The ultimate goal is to be national champions.
“We can say, ‘Yeah, we accomplished something,’ but the sun’s hopefully going to come back up tomorrow, and then we’ve got to get back to work.”
Follow Landon Watnick on Twitter @LandonWatnick
Scottie Wilbekin, Casey Prather, Patric Young and Will Yeguete huddle together after Florida’s 84-65 win against Kentucky on Saturday in the O’Connell Center. The Gators are the first team to finish their Southeastern Conference regular-season schedule 18-0.
