[Quality88]

GAINESVILLE, Fla. -- His team led the University of Kentucky by two in overtime, and Florida guard Walter Hodge found himself open in the corner.
Conventional wisdom said not to fire.
Score one for unconventional thinking.
Hodge buried a three-pointer with 57.8 seconds to play in overtime and sealed Florida's seventh straight win against UK. The final tally was 81-70, but the game turned on what some might call an ill-advised shot.
"I was happy he took the shot," UK guard Joe Crawford said. "It was a tough, in-the-corner, contested shot. And he knocked it down."
And knocked the Wildcats out.
Hodge dealt the final blow, but it was Nick Calathes, who scored 13 of his 24 points in overtime, who jabbed the Cats (7-9, 1-2 Southeastern Conference) all night.
With Calathes' precision on the perimeter and Marreese Speights' punch in the post providing 20 points and eight rebounds, the Gators (16-3, 3-1) held off a furious rally and joined Notre Dame as the only programs to post seven straight wins against the Cats.
It looked for a time as though Florida would continue that winning streak in regulation.
UK trailed 58-56 with 44 seconds to play and the ball in Patrick Patterson's hands, but his hook shot over Speights was off the mark. With an nine-second difference between the shot and game clocks, UK elected not to foul, and Speights slipped free for a dunk with 19.7 seconds left that put Florida ahead 60-56.
Ramel Bradley made two free throws with 16.6 seconds to play to pull the Cats within 60-58, and UK's bench celebrated when coach Billy Gillispie and his players thought Florida had failed to inbound the ball in five seconds.
But the Cats were called for a holding foul away from the inbounds play, and Jai Lucas went to the line for two free throws. He missed the first but made the second.
Crawford's three-point try at the other end was off with 5.8 seconds to play, but the rebound -- ruled initially out of bounds off Patterson was declared off a Florida player.
UK called a timeout and set up an inbound for Bradley, and he used a Patterson screen on the left wing to get an open look from three-point range.
"I wanted to foul and prevent a three," Florida coach Billy Donovan said.
Instead, Bradley got open, launched and buried the shot to tie the score at 68 with 2.5 seconds to play.
"I felt like we got the game going our way going into overtime," Crawford said.
UK scored first in overtime on a layup by Crawford, and with 2:25 to play in the extra period, the Cats took a 67-66 lead on a short leaning bank shot by Bradley.
But Speights broke a 68-68 tie with a floater in the lane, and after Bradley missed on a drive to the basket, Hodge's unconventional decision all but sealed the deal.

Gators sink Cats in OT

[Quality88]

The Gators and the rest of the SEC better live it up while they can. Tubby is not the coach of the Wildcats anymore. We are rebuildin and will soon claim our rightful place atop the SEC