The Kentucky Wildcats are firmly on the bubble for the NCAA Tournament later this month, but after an upset win against the No. 11 Florida Gators on Saturday, the defending national champions have put themselves in an excellent place to clinch a spot in the postseason.
According to the Associated Press, the Wildcats upset the Gators at home 61-57 after making a 19-5 run to take a late lead and the team was able to hold on despite losing Nerlens Noels a couple weeks ago to a knee injury. The team improved to 21-10 and 12-6 in the SEC heading into next week's SEC tournament and if the Wildcats can win a game or two, it could give the committee a reason to put them in.
The team clinched a number two seed with the win over Florida and now the team has shown it can beat a top-tiered opponent after being beaten themselves a few times this year, including over the past two games to Arkansas and Georgia. Florida is still tops in the conference, but Kentucky has been able to stay close to the top after losing Noel by ranking 37th in points and 27th in rebounding, while being 17th in field goal percentage.
"They swam like heck," said Kentucky coach John Calipari, who used terms such as "sink or swim" and "do or die" to describe his team's chances on Friday. "In the last seven minutes, when it was in doubt, they swam like heck. When you're going to drown, you want to die, don't swim. If you want to live, the life raft is over there, you've got to swim to it.
The Wildcats were in a position to possibly miss the tournament some time ago, but after putting together some solid wins between losing streaks, the defending national champions now are in a position to make the postseason tournament. The Wildcats now have two wins against top 25 opponents, including a victory over No. 16 Mississippi.
The game against Florida was clinched with free throws from Julius Mays, who was playing in his final game with the team as a senior. Archie Goodwin scored nine points in the second half, while Ryan Harrow was solid with 13 points. The win gives the Wildcats 12 wins and according to Elias Sports Bureau, only two SEC teams have failed to make the conference tournament after getting that many wins since 1985.
The Gators fell to 24-6 and 14-4 in the SEC after the loss, but the team is still in a prime position heading into the NCAA tournament and won their second outright title in the past three years ahead of next week's tournament in Nashville.
The Wildcats have improved to 4-3 without their freshman star Boel and the Calipari now has his young squad hungry and motivated heading into the tournament.
