The Gators were in a decent position to pull off an upset win at halftime at Rupp Arena on Saturday. They only trailed No. 5 Kentucky 33-28, and they played much of the half without point guard Tyree Appleby, who went down early with an apparent left thigh injury after colliding with a Kentucky player near midcourt while battling for a loose ball.
They had done a pretty good job against potential National Player of the Year Oscar Tshiebwe. He scored 17 points and secured nine rebounds in the opening 20 minutes but didn’t seem to make a ton of game-changing plays.