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Sports

Florida downs Kentucky, finishes 18-0 in SEC

By Sports Network
Published | Updated

Gainesville, FL (SportsNetwork.com) - The top-ranked Florida Gators concluded the regular season with yet another victory in SEC play.

The Gators became the first team to make it through an 18-game SEC schedule undefeated with an 84-65 victory over the 25th-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.

"As a coach it's the greatest regular season I've ever been a part of," said Florida coach Billy Donovan, who led the Gators to consecutive national titles in 2006 and 2007.

"Hopefully we can decompress a little bit and get a little bit of time here and try to get ready for the next step (at the conference tournament) in Atlanta."

Patric Young had 18 points and seven rebounds for Florida (29-2, 18-0 SEC), which extended its program-record winning streak to 23 games. Casey Prather and Scottie Wilbekin tallied 15 and 13 points, respectively.

The Gators, who have won a school-record 32 straight home games, shot 59.6 percent from the field and went 9-of-15 from beyond the arc.

Julius Randle ended with 16 points and 10 boards for the Wildcats (22-9, 12-6), who turned the ball over 14 times. James Young added 14 points.

Florida jumped out to a 20-9 lead, but Kentucky scored the next seven points.

Prather's jumper with nine minutes left in the first half sparked an 11-0 Florida run. Dorian Finney-Smith capped the spurt with a pair of free throws to make it 31-16.

Smith's 3-pointer with 2:51 remaining extended the Gators' margin to 44-22. It was a 49-28 game at the half.

But the Wildcats used a 15-0 run early in the second half to get within 53-47.

Wilbekin responded with a big 3-pointer to start a 9-3 Florida flurry. He capped the spurt with two free throws, making it 62-50 with 8:03 to play.

Kentucky never got closer than eight the rest of the way.

Game Notes

The Gators recorded their first regular season sweep of the series since the 2006-07 season. The Wildcats, however, own a 94-36 advantage in the all-time series with Florida ... Kentucky fell to 6-14 all-time against teams ranking No. 1 in the country ... Finney-Smith had 11 points.