NCAA News Wire
Top 25 roundup: Kentucky advances past Florida
Jeff Hawkins is an award-winning sportswriter with more than four decades in the industry (print and digital media). A freelance writer/stay-at-home dad since 2008, Hawkins started his career with newspaper stints in Michigan, North Carolina, Florida, Upstate New York and Illinois, where he earned the 2004 APSE first-place award for column writing (under 40,000 circulation). As a beat writer, he covered NASCAR Winston Cup events at NHIS (1999-2003), the NHL's Chicago Blackhawks (2003-06) and the NFL's Carolina Panthers (2011-12). Hawkins penned four youth sports books, including a Michael Jordan biography. Hawkins' main hobbies include mountain bike riding, 5k trail runs at the Whitewater Center in Charlotte, N.C., and live music.
All posts by Jeff HawkinsUpdated15 Oct 2021
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Having beaten Florida on March 7 to complete a perfect 31-0 regular season, Kentucky found itself facing the Gators again just six days later to open the 2015 Southeastern Conference Tournament at Bridgestone Arena.
Top-ranked Kentucky won again Friday, eliminating Florida 64-49 and advancing to Saturday’s semifinals.
The teams’ third meeting of the season proved to be a slugfest as Kentucky (32-0) ended the first half with a slim 31-27 lead. The game remained close until a jumper by sophomore guard Andrew Harrison late in the second half gave Kentucky its biggest lead of 17 points at 64-47 and capped a 14-2 run.
Freshman center Karl-Anthony Towns led Kentucky with a double-double of 13 points and 11 rebounds. Guard Aaron Harrison added 13 points
Center Jon Horford paced Florida (17-17) with 15 points.
Wisconsin 71, Michigan 60
CHICAGO — Forward Sam Dekker scored 17 points and hit a key 3-pointer to break open a tight game as No. 6 Wisconsin beat Michigan in a Big Ten quarterfinal at the United Center.
Dekker’s 3-pointer with 3:42 left in regulation opened a 61-56 advantage and the Badgers pulled away from there.
Forward Frank Kaminsky added 16 points and 12 rebounds for top-seed Wisconsin (29-3), which paces Purdue in Saturday’s semifinals. Guard Bronson Koenig finished with 12 points and forward Nigel Hayes added 11.
Guard Zak Irvin topped Michigan (16-16) with a game-high 21 points and 11 rebounds.
SMU 74, East Carolina 68
HARTFORD, Conn. — Junior guard Nic Moore and top-seeded Southern Methodist overcame sharpshooting East Carolina in the quarterfinals of the American Athletic Conference tournament at the XL Center.
The AAC player of the year, Moore finished with 20 points, including two clutch free throws with a minute remaining to help seal the win for 20th-ranked SMU (25-6). The 5-foot-9 point guard also had five assists and two steals, playing all but one minute.
East Carolina, the conference’s eighth seed, kept things interesting with its perimeter shooting, knocking down a season-high 15 3-pointers on 34 attempts (44.1 percent) to threaten the upset.
Junior guard Terry Whisnant scored 18 points to lead East Carolina (14-19).
