Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Freshman Eleanna Christinaki scored the final five points of the game that included a big steal resulting in a three-point-play with four seconds remaining and the Gators knocked off No. 12 Kentucky, 85-79, in the O'Connell Center Sunday afternoon.
 
Florida led by as many as 12 points with 6:36 left in the thrilling Southeastern Conference battle, before the Wildcats staged an 18-8 rally and got within two points, 79-77, with 42 seconds to play.
 
Gator junior Ronni Williams made the inside bucket after a great feed from Chistinaki, who finished with a career-best 11 assists to go along with 12 points for her second double-double, and Florida held a four-point advantage with 26 seconds on the clock.
 
Kentucky's Makayla Epps, who finished with a game-high 27 points, came right back with a jumper and 20 ticks remaining, before the Wildcats fouled Christinaki and forced her to the free throw line. The Gator rookie missed the first but made the second and Florida held an 82-79 lead with 17 seconds remaining.
 
The Wildcats called a timeout and got the ball at midcourt, where they worked the ball around the perimeter. The Gators were able to tie up the ball which took time off the clock, leaving Kentucky with just six seconds to try and tie the game.
 
Kentucky inbounded the ball and after a pass, Christinaki, jumped the passing lane, came up with a steal, dribbled the length of the court for the layup and was fouled with four seconds remaining. She made the ensuing free throw to complete the three-point-play and secure Florida's third upset win against a ranked opponent this season.
 
Junior Simone Westbrook scored a career-high 20 points, converting 7-of-10 field goals that included 3-of-4 from deep, as well as 3-of-5 free throws.
 
Haley Lorenzen tallied 18 points – two shy of her career-best – on 9-of-14 shooting for her seventh double-figure scoring game of the season and her first since December 30. The Gator sophomore extended her team-best scoring streak to 50 games.
 
Junior Carla Batchelor also tied her career-best scoring effort, as she pumped in 12 points on 5-of-6 from the floor and 2-of-3 from beyond the arc.
 
Updated Records:

• Florida: 18-4, 6-3 SEC
• Kentucky: 15-5, 4-5 SEC

 
At the Buzzer:

• Simone Westbrook nailed a three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to end the first and third quarters of the game.

 
Another Thriller in the Series between UF and UK:

• Each of the last 10 games in the series has been decided by 10 points or less, with 11 of the last 12 by 7 points or fewer.
• There were only two lead changes and four tied scores in Sunday's game. The previous four meetings between Florida and Kentucky featured a combined 43 lead changes and 31 tied scores

 
Fantastic Fourth:

• Both teams hit 10-of-13 shots (76.9 percent) from the floor during the fourth quarter, with UK hitting a pair of threes and one more free throw than UF to win the period, 25-22.

 
Numbers of Note:

• Today's 85-79 win over No. 12 Kentucky marks Florida's third win over a ranked opponent this season. 
• Each of the last 10 games in the Florida-Kentucky series have been decided by 10 or fewer points.
• The Gators are now 9-3 this year in games decided by 10 or fewer points.
• With today's win, the 2016 Gators have tied for the third-best 21-game start in program history, trailing only the 20-2 record of the 2009 and 2001 clubs.
• Today's 43-points at halftime are the most UF has scored in the first half against a ranked opponent this season.
• In addition, the 43 first-half points were the most Kentucky has surrendered to an opponent all season (previous high was 41 to Northern Kentucky, Dec. 2, 2015).
• Kentucky committed a season-high 30 turnovers.
• Kentucky shot a stellar 58 percent (29-50) from the floor during the game, the highest by a UF opponent this season.
• Florida hit 53.8 percent (35-65) from the floor, its second-highest mark of the season.
• The Gators are now 10-0 when leading at the half.
• UF now has 35 upset wins over ranked teams when the Gators are not ranked (15 under Coach Butler)
• This was UF's 55th all-time upset win against a higher-ranked team (16 under Coach Butler)

 
Individual Highlights

• Haley Lorenzen scored her 400th career point at the 8:03 mark in the first quarter; finished with 18 points and now owns 417 career points.
• Lorenzen is the only Gator to have scored in every game this season.
• Simone Westbrook scored a career-high 20 points. Previous high was 18 at Wisconsin (12/10/15)
• Eleanna Christinaki set a new career-high in assists with 11 (previous was 10 at Ole Miss, 1/10/16)
• Carla Batchelor matched a career high this afternoon with 12 points (12 vs. Saint Francis, Dec. 20, 2015).
• Seven different Gators collected at least one of UF's 15 steals, paced by January Miller's four thefts

 
Postgame Links:

• VIDEO: Highlights w/ UF radio calls & music: http://floridagators.com/watch/?Archive=3636
• VIDEO: Postgame Press Conference (Butler/Westbrook/Lorenzen): http://floridagators.com/watch/?Archive=3635
• VIDEO: SEC Network Recap: http://floridagators.com/watch/?Archive=3634
• Box Score (PDF): https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/gatorzone.com/documents/2016/1/31/13_Florida_85_Kentucky_79.pdf
• Box Score (HTML): https://s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/sidearm.nextgen.sites/gatorzone.com/documents/2016/1/31/uf013116.htm

 
Quotes from the Court:
Florida Head Coach Amanda Butler
On today's game:
"It's a tremendous win. There are a thousand different reasons why it was tremendous, but to keep it brief it was just tremendous. The defensive end being able to turn over a team like Kentucky 30 times, I think is a great demonstration of what we are capable of. We always say, it seems like, when we gather in here and we feel good about what we've done, it's just tremendous team work – a lot of inside out basketball. I thought Haley played one of the best games of her career. She was really tough and confident in the paint and that was huge for us. Simone hit big shots, Batchelor hit big shots, but everybody on our team at a certain pointed contributed in either a play or an energy standpoint. Energy in a game like this is critical when you know it's going to be up and down, you know it's going to be physical, you know it's going to being mentally, emotionally, and physically draining and I think everybody contributed to the positive side of that."
 
On the pressure of close games in the SEC:
"This is the good stuff. That's why these kids choose to play in this league – because they know that they're going to be challenged, they know that they're going to have to bring their best. Our team does a fantastic job of preparing and that's the first battle we always try to win, the battle of preparation. There's nothing easy about it, but if you want easy you don't choose the SEC, you go somewhere else. I think it's a mindset they come in with even as freshmen."
 
On the offensive success:
"We practice really hard but we don't practice for an extended amount of time so we spend just short amount of time on things so that we don't wear ourselves out. We did work on our transition offense a little bit going in to this game because we knew it was going to be up and down and fast. We were a little bit more concerned with their transition defense than anything else. I think our shot selection was directly proportional to being able to turn them over as much that led to a lot of layups, advantages situations, two on ones, and things like that. I think we made good decisions with the ball. We were a little more patient with our passes. January did a really good job in the paint of getting some offensive rebounds and really battling in there. Our field goal percentage definitely reflects good defense and better shot selection."
 
On halftime locker room talk:
"We talked a lot about (Maci) Morris. As many points as (Makayla) Epps had, Morris was the hot hand in the first half. We had to do a much better job of personnel awareness, we weren't really guarding her the way that we had prepared to do. I thought we made great adjustments in that regard, but then Thompson an Epps took up the slack. I think we went back and forth of doing a good job defending their threes in particular. But you've got to give those kids credit for stepping up and knocking down shots when we left them open."
 
On winning strategies:
"I'll tell you guys the same thing that I told our team. What defense we're in does not matter as much as players making plays, and that's what you saw happen right there. This game is about them, it's not about coaches and coaches' adjustments. Some of those things have impact time to time but players making plays is what wins games and that's what you saw tonight."
 
**
 
Florida junior Simone Westbrook
On defending the perimeter more in the second quarter:
"We knew who the shooters were and we played them as such. Our first instinct was to protect the paint. They had big guys inside that could hit the little twelve foot shots, so we made sure we closed out really hard and we really wanted to put it all out on the floor and attack where we were guarding the ball. So we had to make sure that we were protecting the paint first."
 
On widening the point gap at the end with two back to back buckets:
"It was a great way to keep our momentum up. They were really pressuring the ball, so just a lot of movement offensively, and back doors were really open. My teammates just found me and put me in the right position to put the ball in the hoop."
 
On her shooting percentage tonight:
"I've just put in a lot of extra gym time. I've been struggling the last couple of games so I just got in the gym, but more so my teammates finding me in the right spot, and me doing my part to knock it down for them."
 
**
 
Florida sophomore Haley Lorenzen:
On the intensity of the game:
"Kentucky is a good team and I think we responded to that as a challenge. We know it's going to be a good game. I think we played some of our best ball today. It all started with our defense and our energy on the court. When you're playing with flow, energy, and great defense, it leads to easy offense. Even the last play of the game, Eleanna making a steal because we had good pressure defense."
 
On pressure from all the close SEC games:
"We know coming into the SEC that every game is going to be a dog fight. No one is going to back away, no one is going to back down, and we don't think about that as pressure – we think of that as a challenge. I think we bring our best every single game and we have got to start out strong and finish strong. We've been working on that a lot in practice and its showing up in games."
 
On her success today:
"Honestly it's my teammates. They keep continuing to tell me and encourage me that they have confidence in me. My team and my coaches really help pick me up. I don't think it was just this game, I think it's just been slowly building up and it finally just came through."
 
On her jump shots:
"Just because of the people attacking the paint, I just got some good open looks. I always work on my shots and different things with Coach (Murriel) Page and Coach Shimmy (Gray-Miller), but it's not something I focus on. I tend to try to be more of a presence in the block."
 
On the fans:
"I think it's a huge energy giver for us. It means so much to us to have a crowd. When things aren't necessarily going our way, but then the crowd gets back into it and we get up and our energy gets back up, it's a huge thing for us. I think we really play off of that a lot in a positive way, so we really appreciate it."
 
**
 
Kentucky Head Coach Matthew Mitchell
Opening Statement:
"We played a really great game today. Both teams played incredibly hard and with great tenaciousness. Florida was the aggressor when it came to 50-50 balls and that was a battle in particular you needed to win if you were going to come away with a win.

"I'm real proud of this team and I see where we need to improve. We just need to keep working at it and we'll get there with time. I feel like we're getting better results each game despite what the scoreboard says.
Are these games the norm of the SEC this season? More pressure knowing every game will be tough?

"Where we are right now, we're not concerned with who the opponent is. Every team plays us the same way and forces us to overthink at times. A lot of times we get upset with ourselves and it's a result of us all not being able to crack the code of pressure.

"Florida had a great game plan to confuse us and force us into some mistakes. They did a great job of executing and came away with the win today."


On what caused the struggles with turnovers:
"We're not able to get the ball reversed and we haven't seen where our second options are after the first one is covered. We haven't always worked well under pressure and we tend to over think at times. It's my job to create an atmosphere where we have to make good decisions. Florida played real hard tonight and those 30 turnovers are a credit to their aggressiveness and smart defense."

On what is different between Florida this season and last year's team:
"They've managed to hang onto a few key players from a season ago. Those players had great offseason workouts and improvements as they've shown. In addition, they've brought in some talented newcomers and made a few changes to the coaching staff. When you put that all together, we see the new product.

"Florida is playing really aggressive basketball right now and credit to them. As far as talent and intensity go, I thought we matched it well. We just couldn't take care of the ball tonight."
 
**

UK junior Makayla Epps
On what changed in the second half with perimeter shooting?
"You have to credit Florida with their game plan. They corrupted us and made the right adjustments in the second half and they stayed on us the rest of the game."
 
On what the Florida-Kentucky matchup has been like over the past years:
As long as I've been here this has been a close game. We always look forward to the Florida-Kentucky matchup because it's never a blowout. It's always one of my favorite matchups within the conference.
 
Next for the Gators:

• Who: Florida hosts No. 10 Texas A&M
• When: Thursday, February 4 at 7 p.m. ET
• Where: Stephen C. O'Connell Center * Gainesville, Fla.

 
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