NASHVILLE — Alex Condon collected 22 points and 10 rebounds as No. 4 Florida recorded a wire-to-wire 71-63 win over Kentucky in a Southeastern Conference tournament quarterfinal game on Friday.
Xaivian Lee chipped in with 11 points, six assists and three steals for the Gators (26-6), who out-rebounded Kentucky, 50-29, and held the Wildcats to 35.6% shooting despite 18 fast-break points.
Florida shot 15,0% from 3-point range and went from the 13:07 mark of the second half until 4:17 remained without a field goal. The Gators hit 10 free throws in that spell, however.
It was Florida’s third win over Kentucky in three tries this season.
The Gators will meet the winner of Friday afternoon’s game between No. 22 Vanderbilt and 25th-ranked Tennessee on Saturday.
Kentucky (21-13) got within five in the final minute before Lee canned a 3-pointer. He then picked up a steal on the other end.
Former Gator Denzel Aberdeen led Kentucky with 17 points and three assists. But Kentucky’s leading scorer, Otega Oweh, had just 10 points on 5 of 18 shooting, while its best 3-point shooter, Collin Chandler, was just 1 of 3 from distance and fouled out with six points.
Kentucky’s Mouhamed Dioubate had 12 of his 14 points in the first half and also fouled out.
Florida led 37-28 as Kentucky looked reluctant to challenge the bigger Gators in the paint from the jump, which allowed Florida to extend its defense on the perimeter.
That helped Florida bolt out to a 16-6 lead, but Dioubate — who was 3 of 23 on 3-pointers coming in — canned two in a span of 44 seconds to help get Kentucky within two.
The Wildcats’ Jasper Johnson tied it with a lay-up with 9:40 left and then went scoreless until Aberdeen’s lay-up with 3:39 remaining cut Florida’s lead to 33-22.
