Kentucky clips Florida 68-65
Jodie Meeks scored 23 points, including a fade-away three-pointer with under five seconds left, as Kentucky snapped a three-game losing streak with a critical 68-65 victory over Florida Tuesday night.
With the game tied at 65-65, the Southeastern Conference scoring leader swished the closely guarded shot.
Florida got an opportunity to tie when Kentucky’s Kevin Galloway fouled Nick Calathes trying a last-second desperation heave, but Calathes missed all three shots, the last one intentionally, as Kentucky held on.
The loss spoiled a huge night for Calathes, who scored a career-high 33 points and joined the career 1,000-point club, the eighth-fastest Gator to do so.
Kentucky (17-7, 6-3) pulled into a tie with Florida (19-5, 6-3) atop the SEC East.
Providence 77, South Florida 62: Jonathan Kale scored 15 points and Marshon Brooks added 14 to help Providence snap a three-game losing streak with a victory over South Florida in Tampa.
Randall Hanke also scored 14 for the Friars (15-9, 7-5 Big East), whose reserves outscored USF’s bench 35-6. Brooks did much of the damage after sitting out last Saturday’s lopsided loss at West Virginia with a sprained ankle.
Dominique Jones led USF (8-15, 3-8) with 29 points and eight rebounds. Chris Howard scored 12 for the Bulls, who upset then-No. 8 Marquette 57-56 last Friday for their first-ever victory over an opponent ranked in the Top 10.