No. 12 Kentucky falls 197.800-196.600 to No. 2 Florida
LEXINGTON, Ky. – No. 12 Kentucky recorded its fourth straight 196-point performance in its first Southeastern Conference loss of the season, falling 197.800-196.600 to No. 2 Florida on Friday at Memorial Coliseum.
The Wildcats move to 5-2 overall with a 2-1 mark in league play. The Gators improve to 4-0, having earned each win over an SEC opponent.
“First, I want to thank the Big Blue Nation for showing up and creating a great atmosphere,” said UK head coach Tim Garrison. “I’m proud of the team, but I know we are capable of so much more. It’s great that we got a 196.600 and I feel like we struggled. We’re not comfortable with just being good. We want to break through and be a top-tier team.”
Despite finishing with their second-best team score of the season behind only last week’s 196.750-196.650 win at then-No. 19 Arkansas, no Wildcats captured an individual event win for the first time on Friday. The closest efforts came from two second-place showings, including Mollie Korth’s team-best 9.925 floor routine. A solid night from the eight-time All-American produced a 9.875 on vault and a 9.800 on bars, but a rare fall on beam helped to prevent her from being crowned outright all-around champion in the first such instance of her senior campaign.
Sophomore Cally Nixon garnered Kentucky’s other individual second-place finish with a career-high-tying 9.900 bars routine, complemented by a career-high 9.850 on vault.
Kentucky’s 49.175 vault rotation was its best on the event this season, though its turn on floor (49.300) proved to be the highlight of the night. Coupled with a solid go on bars (49.100) and beam (49.025), the Cats scored at least 49.000 on each apparatus for the second time in 2020.
Kentucky is set to hit the road again next week, squaring off with No. 18 Auburn (3-3, 2-1 SEC) on Friday, Feb. 7 at 7 p.m. ET inside Auburn Arena, televised live on SEC Network.