Kentucky mens basketball defeated Florida 72-67 to improve to 6-1 in its last seven games.

The Wildcats entered the matchup on the back of a five-game conference winning streak, suffering a loss to No. 8 Kansas in between, to find themselves 6-3 in the SEC.

Regardless, the season as a whole could not be described as anything short of disappointing after the Wildcats started the season ranked No. 4 overall yet entered the matchup against the Gators unranked entirely.

Starting with a lineup of CJ Fredrick, Cason Wallace, Jacob Toppin, Chris Livingston and Oscar Tshiebwe, Kentucky tipped off against the Gators, who started with Myreon Jones, Will Richard, Kyle Lofton, Riley Kugal and Colin Castleton.

The Gators won the opening tip off but a strong defensive effort by the Cats saw Florida come up empty handed before Tshiebwe threw down a dunk on the other end for the first basket of the game.

The Wildcats would then extend their opening lead with a 3-pointer from Fredrick, marking his first deep ball since Kentucky’s win at Vanderbilt on Jan. 24.

The Gators wouldn’t stay scoreless forever though, as Castleton scored in the paint to give Florida its first basket of the night with just over 17 minutes left to play in the half.

A low scoring affair, Kentucky led the Gators 15-9 after 10 minutes of play, with Florida averaging less than one point per minute and Kentucky averaging 1.5 points per minute. After 10 minutes of play the Gators were shooting just 15% from the field.

The offense picked up a bit in the next five minutes, but Kentucky entered a timeout with just under five minutes left to play with a 24-16 lead and added to it immediately after the pause with a basket by Sahvir Wheeler.

The Gators quickly battled back, bringing the score to 26-22 with 2:30 left in the half, recording a 6-0 scoring run in roughly a two-minute span.

Despite the brief run, Kentucky surged forward once again with Fredrick nailing a 3-pointer that would ultimately stand as the last basket of the half to give Kentucky a 33-22 lead at the break.

As a team Kentucky shot just 38% from the field but went 3-5 (60%) from beyond the arc, with two deep balls coming from Fredrick.

Florida, on the other hand, shot just 27% from the field and 17% from beyond the arc, hitting just one 3-pointer in the half.

Toppin and Fredrick co-led the Cats with nine points each at the halfway point and, apart from Wallace right behind with eight points, no other Wildcat had more than two points at the break. The Gators were led by Castleton, who had six points, at the halfway point.

Kentucky used the break to retire the jersey of Kentucky hall of famer Mike Pratt, who played for the Wildcats for their 1,00th program victory and was an announcer for their 2,000th program victory, who died in June after battling colon cancer.

Starting the second half, it was Florida who got on the board first as Castleton recorded a second-chance bucket to get the Gators back within single digits.

Florida was able to get back within four points of the Wildcats before Kentucky shot right back ahead 10 points once again. The Gators refused to go away though, hitting a 3-pointer to get back within seven points and forcing a timeout with just under 14 minutes left to play.

Regardless, the resurgence of Fredrick continued as the former Iowa Hawkeye scored yet another 3-pointer to extend the lead back to 12 points.

While Florida battled back once again, Kentucky tied its largest lead of the night up to that point with just under nine minutes left to go, going up by 13 after a Livingston layup put the score at 56-43. Kentucky had connected on 10 of its last12 shots from the field leading up to the layup.

The feat would quickly be one-upped on Kentucky’s very next possession when Wallace recorded and “And-one” to give the Cats a 14-point lead with just over eight minutes left in the game.

The Gators cut the lead in half with just under five minutes left to play, with Kentucky finding itself ahead 61-54 as both teams neared the home stretch.

Regardless, Kentucky managed to claim victory, defeating Florida for its sixth consecutive conference victory.

The team was led by Wallace, who recorded 20 points, followed by Toppin (17) and Fredrick (12).

Notably absent from that list was reigning consensus National Player of the Year Tshiebwe, who recorded just four points after going 2-14 from the field and fouling out. Tshiebwe also finished the game with 15 rebounds.

Florida was led by Castleton, who finished the night with 25 points.

With the win the Wildcats will turn their sights towards Tuesday, when they are set to face off against the Arkansas Razorbacks inside Rupp Arena. Tipoff against Arkansas is scheduled for 9 p.m. EST and will air live on ESPN.