The 11 am tip-off was the earliest in the history of Kentucky basketball at Rupp Arena. Students are still not back to campus from winter break. It didn’t matter. Big Blue Nation was rowdy for an exciting back-and-forth matchup between Kentucky and Florida.

Don’t just take it from me. After the game, ESPN play-by-play announcer Dan Shulman went to social media to commend the Rupp Arena crowd for creating an electric atmosphere.

“I’ve been doing this 30 years. I can count on one hand where both the game and the environment were as good as they were today at Rupp for Kentucky-Florida. College basketball at its best,” Shulman Tweeted.

The Cats and the Gators were electric offensively. The two teams each shot better than 55% from the field and combined for 206 total points.

It was a game of runs and none was more exciting than the one that got Kentucky back …