Kentucky is fighting hard, but needs another 2nd half comeback in Gainesville

Here we go again. For the 12th time this season against a high-major opponent, Kentucky will have to overcome a halftime deficit. This one isn’t quite double digits. The Cats trail the Florida Gators 43-34 at halftime in Gainesville. Florida led by as many as 15 midway through the first half.

It was all Gators early on, thanks to a hot start by Xaivian Lee. The former Princeton guard and Kentucky transfer portal target hit the first bucket of the game, a three, and followed it up with another one to push Florida’s lead to 10-2 at the 16:34 mark. Thanks to Malachi Moreno, the Cats were holding their own on the boards, but started off cold, hitting just one of their first six field-goal attempts.

After a rough start against his former school, Denzel Aberdeen came alive with 5:30 to go, scoring 7 points during a 12-2 Kentucky run to trim Florida’s lead to 5 at the 4:03 mark. The Gators punched right back, pushing the lead to nine at halftime. Aberdeen leads Kentucky with nine points so far, followed by Otega Oweh with eight. Oweh joined the 1,000-point club at Kentucky in the first half, an impressive feat for the second-year Wildcat.

A lot of the focus on this game coming in was on Florida’s frontcourt, but the teams are tied in rebounding, with 20 boards each, and the Gators only have four more points in the paint. Kentucky would have a lot more, but the Cats are just 5-13 on layups, an infuriating stat. Malachi Moreno played a good portion of the first half with two fouls and picked up his third with 5:47 to go. Kentucky is shooting just 37.5% from the field and three-point range, with just three three-pointers so far.

Another frustrating stat: Kentucky’s nine turnovers, which led to 16 Florida points. The Cats played better toward the end of the half. They’ve come back from double-digit deficits to win five times this season, four times in SEC play. Do they have more magic in the bag? We’re about to find out.