No. 6 UK rallies from 18 down, stuns Florida
GAINESVILLE, FLA. — Nick Richards scored 17 of his 19 points in the second half and No. 6 Kentucky rallied from 18 points down to stun Florida 71-70 on Saturday.
The shorthanded Wildcats (25-6, 15-3 Southeastern Conference) needed the comeback to avoid losing consecutive games for the first time in nearly three months.
Richards, Keion Brooks Jr. and EJ Montgomery led the shocker in Gainesville. Brooks hit a floater in the lane with 59 second remaining to cut the lead to 70-69. Florida followed with a shot-clock violation on the other end, giving the Wildcats a chance to take their first lead of the game.
Brooks missed a driving layup, and Montgomery’s tip-in was initially waived off as a cylinder violation. Officials reviewed it and gave Montgomery the basket for a 71-70 lead.
Richards missed the front end of a one-and-one, giving Florida a final chance to win it. But Andrew Nembhard’s 3-pointer bounced twice off the rim before missing, setting off Kentucky’s raucous celebration.
Scottie Lewis scored a career-high 19 for Florida (19-12, 11-7). Noah Locke added 14, and Keyontae Johnson 12. Florida led by 18 points with 11:48 left in the game.
Kentucky played without point guard Ashton Hagans, who didn’t make the trip three days after arguing with coach John Calipari on the bench during a home loss to Tennessee. The Cats also played the final nine minutes without guard Immanuel Quickley, who fouled out with 12 points.
Calipari announce Hagans’ absence a little more than an hour before tipoff.
“He and I met a couple days ago and he asked to step away for a couple days for personal reasons,” Calipari posted on Twitter. “I support his decision. We are going to need him at 100% for the postseason.”
■ West Virginia 76, No. 4 Baylor 64: Emmitt Matthews ended a long slump to give West Virginia a much-needed boost heading into the postseason.
For No. 4 Baylor, Matthews’ re-emergence came at the worst possible time.
Matthews scored a season-high 18 points, freshman Oscar Tshiebwe had 16 points and 12 rebounds, and West Virginia used a big second-half run to beat Baylor on Saturday.
Baylor (26-4, 15-3 Big 12) went more than eight minutes without a field goal midway through the second half to take itself out of contention for the league championship.
“This really hurts,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said. “I don’t think another team in the Big 12 has lost a conference championship with 15 wins. We did what you normally would do when you win a conference championship and we don’t have anything to show for it. It sucks.”
Instead, it was West Virginia (21-10, 9-9) celebrating. The sellout crowd stormed the court after the Mountaineers’ second consecutive win and just the third in nine games.
■ No. Kansas 66, Texas Tech 62: Devon Dotson scored 17 points while Udoka Azubuike had 15 points and 11 rebounds as the Jayhawks (28-3, 17-1 Big 12) beat Texas Tech. They became the Big 12’s first champion with only one loss in league play since they were 15-1 in 2009-10, two seasons before the conference expanded to an 18-game round-robin schedule.
Texas Tech (18-13, 9-9), last year’s national runner-up after sharing the Big 12 title with Kansas State, had a chance to tie the game with 2.8 seconds left. But Davide Moretti, who made a 3-pointer only seconds earlier, missed another one from long range. The Red Raiders guard fell to floor after contact with Marcus Garrett, but was no foul called.
■ No. 24 Wisconsin 60, Indiana 56: Brad Davison and a bunch of Wisconsin players jumped around as the buzzer sounded Saturday, celebrating the end of a fiveyear Big Ten title drought.
They just wished assistant coach Howard Moore could have been there with them.
Ten months after an automobile accident killed his wife, Jen, and 9-year-old daughter, Jaidyn, and left him with severe burns, Moore was first and foremost in the team’s thoughts after the Badgers beat the Hoosiers.
“This whole period, this whole year we’ve been thinking about him,” Davison said. “Not a day goes by that we don’t think about him, and obviously this season was dedicated to him. So to go out like this with a regular-season Big Ten championship is crazy.”
The Badgers (21-10, 14-6) assured themselves at least a share of the Big Ten title. Losses by ninth-ranked Maryland and No. 15 Michigan State on Sunday would give Wisconsin the outright title.