Florida 94, #10/8 Kentucky 91 (OT)
Rupp Arena | Lexington, Ky.
Box Score<https://floridagators.com/documents/2024/1/31/2024.01.31_Florida_at_Kentucky.PDF> | Season Stats<https://floridagators.com/documents/2023/11/17/2023-24_UFStats.pdf> | Media Resources<https://www.dropbox.com/sh/iv6cc1nl98a49pv/AAD_LkZm6hKvVz7FpyboOUR1a?dl=0>
Records: Florida 15-6, 5-3 SEC; Kentucky 15-5, 5-3 SEC
Next up for Florida: at Texas A&M, Saturday, Feb. 3, 4 p.m. EST, ESPN2
Notable
* Walter Clayton Jr.’s 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds remaining in regulation forced overtime. Clayton then hit the go-ahead 3-pointer with 1:35 remaining in the extra period. Clayton finished with a team-leading 23 points and career-high seven 3-pointers.
* The win marked the Gators’ sixth road win vs. a top-10 team in program history and the first since a 2003 win at #7 Mississippi State.
* Zyon Pullin stuffed the stat sheet with 21 points, seven rebounds and seven assists, including 11, 6 and 6 in the second half.
* Pullin, coming off a 20/8/7 game vs. Georgia became the first Gator with back-to-back 20/5/5 games since Eddie Shannon, who did so on Feb. 21 and 25, 1998.
* Tyrese Samuel added 22 points and 13 rebounds for his ninth double-double of the season.
* Florida fought back from a 41-31 deficit late in the first half, responding with an 11-0 run that spanned both halves to retake the lead, 42-41.
* Florida had three 20-point scorers for the first time since Nov. 24, 2017, vs. Gonzaga in Portland (Jalen Hudson 35, Chris Chiozza 26, KeVaughn Allen 23)
* Coming off a 102-98 overtime win vs. Georgia, Florida played back-to-back overtime games for the first time since Nov. 21 and 26, 2014.
Head Coach Todd Golden
On getting a win where Calipari said UK beat UF in every category…
“I thought it was a pretty even game, looking at the stat sheet. We hit 12 threes, they hit 10. We made 18 free throws, they made 11. We outrebounded them by two. We each had the same assists, same turnovers. So that’s kind of factually incorrect, to be honest. My stance is just that it was a heck of a game, man. It was a heck of a game. Very similar to the game in our gym where [we] built a little lead in the first half, and the opposing team was resilient and kept battling and didn’t let the home team off the hook. There was that stretch in the second half where I felt like we really couldn’t do anything to stop them. They just kept putting the ball in the basket. But we did a really good job executing on our end and stepped up and hit a lot of big shots, made six threes in the second half. At the end of the day, really proud of the way we executed down the stretch after going down four. Tyrese [Samuel] had a big-time layup…Our guys played really poised in that last 15 seconds. It would’ve been really easy for ZP [Zyon Pullin] to come down and take a hero shot trying to extend the game. Did a great job playing off two [feet], found Walt on the wrap and, as Walt said, got his defender up in the air, slide-stepped. That’s a great shot for him. Any shot he gets up, we feel like is a really good shot for our team. Once we got it to overtime, it kind of felt like we were playing with house money at that point. We weren’t nervous about anything. It was a five-minute game. Obviously, if you’d asked us coming into it tonight, would you have taken a five-minute game to determine the winner, we would have said absolutely. Again, in overtime, Tyrese hitting that baseline jumper kind of got us going. Just made some big shots, and thought down the stretch we guarded well, held them to 25 percent in overtime. Heck of a win for us. We’ve been knocking on the door for a win like this in our opportunities.”
Junior G Walter Clayton Jr.
On his shooting performance tonight…
“They’re a little young, and they were jumping at a lot of shot fakes for me – using my pump fake, letting them pass me and getting the shot off. Shout out to my teammates, especially ZP [Zyon Pullin], just finding me in my spot.”
On him game-tying 3-pointer and whether he was surprised to get an open look…
“No, not surprised at all. ZP does a great job attracting the defense. He’s a threat, obviously, so he drove middle, I raised up to the left wing. Reed [Sheppard] was a little far away from me, came and closed out, I pump faked and hit the shot.”
On whether this win can be a program-maker win for the season…
“I wouldn’t say a program-maker. It definitely helps, but me and the guys have been saying all year it’s us versus us. We know what we’re capable of, and tonight we came out and showed that.”
