Aaron Harrison had 23 points in UK’s 68-61 win at Florida on Saturday. (Chet White, UK Athletics)

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Aaron Harrison has seen it all.Two years into his Kentucky career, he’s hit more big shots than most players make in a lifetime. He’s played on the biggest stages and in some of the most hostile venues in the game.But after he had faced down the latest raucous road crowd on Saturday night at Florida, even the ever-clutch shooting guard had to admit it never becomes routine.     “You can’t ever get used to it,” he said.It only seems like it.Harrison had just short-circuited the Gators’ upset bit and helped send their fans to the exits while time was still on the clock. After a quiet, foul-trouble plagued first 20 minutes, Harrison scored 18 of his 23 points in the second half of a 68-61 win at a packed O’Connell Center. Whenever the top-ranked Wildcats – who moved to 23-0 (10-0 Southeastern Conference) – needed a big basket, Harrison delivered.”If you don’t love coming into atmospheres like this, that’s the type of game you’re playing,” Harrison said. “Florida played really well tonight and came out with a great atmosphere.”It had been nearly two years since Kentucky had beaten Florida (12-11, 5-5 SEC), and the Gators did everything in their power to prolong the drought. They built a nine-point first-half lead, the Cats momentarily flustered by the environment, and came within one made field goal of becoming the first opponent to shoot 50 percent on UK’s historically stingy defense. “They played to win, they fought, they did whatever they had to do to keep it–they started putting their head down and driving into our centers and scoring layups,” John Calipari said. “They shot 49 percent against us today. Forty-nine.”Upping the degree of difficulty a bit more, UK shot just 3-of-14 from 3-point range and four players combined for all but one of the Cats’ points on Saturday night. Harrison, of course, was able to pick up much of the slack.”Not many teams in the country have a player like Aaron Harrison on their team,” said Karl-Anthony Towns, who dominated the interior with 19 points and eight rebounds. “Luckily, we have the only one. We have a person like him on the floor anytime the game gets really close you give him the ball, the ball’s going in.”Towns has learned that in less than a full season, so of course Calipari is even more certain of just how much Harrison can be counted on.”Now you understand that if Aaron Harrison is 1 for 9 and there’s three minutes left in a close game, he’s in,” Calipari said. “Somebody else might be out, but he is in. Because he makes all those plays and he’s not afraid and he sees himself making them.”Harrison shot 6 of 12 from the field and 3 of 6 from 3-point range, but it was at the free-throw line where he and the Cats closed out the Gators. He hit all eight of his free throws and UK made 21 of 22 (95.5 percent) as a team. UK scored its final 11 points at the line, with Harrison accounting for six of them.”Free-throw shooting is contagious both ways,” Calipari said. “It’s contagious when you’re making them if the right guys are shooting it. It’s contagious the other way. If you miss a couple, then all of a sudden your best free-throw shooter steps up and misses a couple.”Unquestionably, Harrison is one of those “right guys,” but there was a less-than-usual suspect who joined him. Willie Cauley-Stein made all five of his free throws, though that was only his second-most impressive feat of the night, trailing the and-one dunk with 12:09 left that gave UK the lead for good.”You’ve gotta go to the line with confidence and I think that’s what we did,” Harrison said. “The biggest thing is Willie. Willie definitely improved from the free-throw line, and we get on him about it, and I think that’s part of him just working so hard at it.”Hard work is a common theme for this team, even as the Cats passed one of their most difficult  remaining tests, kept their perfect record intact and kept alive all the talk that goes with it. Along those lines, Harrison dismissed the notion that UK found another gear in the final minutes with its unbeaten run in jeopardy.”We’re not really trying to survive right now; we’re just trying to get better,” Harrison said. “It’s midseason. We’ve still got a long way to go. We’re not really trying to survive; we’re trying to just get better as a team so we can play our best at the end of the year.” To that end, Coach Cal is looking for one thing above all else.”Andrew (Harrison) played so well last game. Come on, man,” Calipari said, referencing the point guard’s one-point outing. “He didn’t play bad, but why weren’t you in attack mode? Why did they attack you? You didn’t make one play, one shot. You know what I’m saying? Where was the guy that played last game? “Aaron, who played awful last game, was the outstanding player in college basketball today. So, what is what? Dakari (Johnson), come on. Willie, you know, let’s go. Let’s be more consistent.” 

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