March 2, 2002
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By STEVE BAILEY
AP Sports Writer
LEXINGTON, Ky. – Gerald Fitch made an impact in his first game back with No. 11 Kentucky.
The sophomore guard, who was held out of the last three games for disciplinary reasons, hit a 3-pointer with 33 seconds to play as the Wildcats rallied to beat No. 8 Florida 70-67 on Saturday.
The victory gave Kentucky (20-8, 10-6) a first-round bye in next week’s Southeastern Conference tournament as the Eastern Division’s No. 2 seed, while the Gators (21-7, 10-6) will have to play in Thursday’s opening round as the third seed.
Fitch and teammate Erik Daniels were suspended for last weekend’s Arkansas game after attempting to use fake identification to get into a Lexington nightclub. Both were reinstated but neither played in the 86-73 loss at Vanderbilt on Wednesday.
Fitch also missed the Wildcats’ 64-61 victory over Tennessee on Feb. 19, after getting into a scuffle with a teammate on a team flight back from a loss at Georgia.
“Coach (Tubby) Smith and I had a father-and-son talk because he knows I don’t have a father around,” said Fitch, who finished with 10 points, four rebounds and two assists. “He is a great coach and a good father figure in my life.
“I know plenty of people question this team because so many incidents have happened and we haven’t always played like we’re capable of playing. But these incidents have pulled us together and we know we’re capable of winning the NCAA tournament.”
Tayshaun Prince led the Wildcats with 13 points in his final game at Rupp Arena, while Marquis Estill added 10 points and nine rebounds.
“This should give us a big shot of confidence heading into the postseason,” Smith said. “We’ve had some trouble making clutch plays down the stretch this year, but today we made every play we needed to make to win the game.
“Today showed that when we band together, we can beat anybody.”
Fitch’s 3-pointer gave Kentucky a 68-67 lead. Florida’s Udonis Haslem got the ball underneath the basket at the other end, but his shot was blocked and he came down out of bounds with the rebound with 13 seconds remaining.
Cliff Hawkins made two free throws a second later to put Kentucky up 70-67. Matt Bonner’s long 3-pointer with two seconds left then bounded off the rim.
“We got the ball to Udonis in the post like we wanted and then got one of our better 3-point shooters a good look,” said Florida coach Billy Donovan, whose team lost its two games with Kentucky this season by a total of five points. “It’s tough, but you have to find ways to win games. To me, the better team won today.”
Brett Nelson scored 23 points to lead Florida, while Bonner had 16, Justin Hamilton 13 and Haslem 11.
Florida shot 45 percent to Kentucky’s 41 percent, but the Wildcats outrebounded the Gators 37-31 and scored 24 points off 16 Florida turnovers.
As it has much of the season, Kentucky’s depth proved to be the deciding factor as the Wildcats’ bench outscored Florida’s 30-0.
“We didn’t get a whole bunch from our bench, and that didn’t help things,” Donovan said. “But we certainly still had a chance to win the game.”
Smith said he was pleased to see Fitch, the team’s most consistent player this season until the disciplinary problems arose, come through at crunch time.
“Gerald has done that a couple other times this year,” Smith said. “It was critical to see him respond in all the right ways after being disciplined the last few weeks.”
Kentucky forced four turnovers and blocked a shot in the first four minutes of the second half, igniting the crowd. Prince and Keith Bogans each hit 3-pointers to spark an 11-2 run during that stretch, giving the Wildcats a 50-43 lead with 15:13 to play.
Down 55-48, Haslem made four free throws and Nelson hit a 3-pointer to pull the Gators within 57-55 with 7:50 remaining.
Nelson’s layup off a block by Haslem tied the game at 59 with 5:20 to play. Bonner’s baby hook in the paint gave the Gators their first lead of the half less than a minute later
Hamilton made two of three free throws to give the Gators a 67-65 lead with 1:15 to play.
