COLLEGE BASKETBALL: Kentucky heating up at right time

Kentucky will host Arkansas at Rupp Arena om Tuesday night looking for their seventh win in the last eight games.

The Wildcats improved to 16-7 and 7-3 in Southeastern Conference play after beating Florida, 72-67, on Saturday night. It was the sixth straight SEC win.

Kentucky scored the game’s first five points and never trailed against the Gators, who dropped to 13-10 and 6-4 in league play.

Cason Wallace finished with 20 points, including 10 of UK’s final 16 in the game. Jacob Toppin had a double-double, scoring 17 points and grabbing 10 boards.

CJ Fredrick finished with 12 while Oscar Tshiebwe grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.

The Wildcats and Razorback will tip at 9 pm.

At Lexington

SCORE BY HALVES:

FL (13-10)…22  45 – 67

UK (16-7)….33  39 – 72

Scoring:

Florida (67) – Colin Castleton 9 7-7 25; Myreon Jones 1(1) 0-0 5; Will Richard 2(2) 3-4 13; Kyle Lofton 2(3) 0-1 13; Riley Kugel 2 2-2 6; and Kowacie Reeves 1 3-3 5. Totals: 17(6) 15-17 67.

Kentucky (72) – Jacob Toppin 7(1) 0-1 17; Chris Livingston 1 2-2 4; Oscar Tshiebwe 2 0-0 4; CJ Fredrick 1(3) 1-1 12; Cason Wallace 6(1) 5-5 20; Sahvir Wheeler 4 0-0 8; Antonio Reeves 2 0-0 4; and Daimion Collins 0 3-4 3. Totals: 23(5) 11-13 72.

Next up: Kentucky (16-7) vs. Arkansas (16-7), 9 pm, Feb. 7.