Kentucky finds a way to put Florida away. And UK’s finishing five never left the court.

When Kentucky’s five starters walked onto Florida’s home court to start the second half Wednesday night, they were trailing by one point and in search of another big victory.

Those five players — Cason Wallace, Antonio Reeves, Chris Livingston, Jacob Toppin and Oscar Tshiebwe — made their way back to the UK sideline at various points over the next 20 minutes of play. They sat down during timeouts. They walked over to listen closely to their coaches’ instructions. But, as long as the ball was live, not a single one of them left the basketball court.

Kentucky defeated Florida 82-74 for another good mark on its NCAA Tournament résumé.

And those five Wildcats played the entire second half.

“Honestly, I didn’t even know that,” Toppin said when that fact was relayed after the game. “I promise I didn’t know that. Just in the mix-up of the game, you’re not really focused on that. Obviously, we want to just win the game, so I don’t think …”

Toppin trailed off, looked around the O’Connell Center tunnel, and made his point.

“I mean, Oscar doesn’t look tired,” he said. “I don’t look tired. Nobody really looks tired. I feel like, in practice, we’re in great enough shape to play that many minutes. So we’re good.”

Good turned to great at various points Wednesday night.

The Cats jumped out to a double-digit lead before the second TV timeout of the game. Their lead ballooned to 30-15 before the third TV timeout. But Florida came roaring back and ultimately took a 37-36 advantage into the halftime locker room.

Kentucky hit the Gators with another run to start the second half, building a 50-43 lead with 15:16 left. But then Florida fought back again and led 51-50 just a couple of minutes later.

By that point, John Calipari was all-in.

Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe (34) drives the ball around Florida’s Jason Jitoboh (33) during Wednesday night’s win in Gainesville. Tshiebwe led UK with 25 points.

Daimion Collins, Adou Thiero and Lance Ware had given UK some meaningful minutes in the first half, but the UK coach decided before the midway point of the second half that — as long as it was possible — his starting five would be his finishing five. No one going from the bench to the scorer’s table. Whatever happens happens.

“It was a two-bucket game,” Calipari said. “How fair would that have been for Adou or Daimion or Lance? It wasn’t the kind of game — if I was going to do it, I would have done it in the first five or six minutes.”

When that timestamp had passed, Calipari was committed. He told his assistant coaches that if he had to use a timeout at an unorthodox point in the game just to get his guys some extra rest, he’d do it. And he almost did right before the final TV timeout, but Florida Coach Todd Golden beat him to the punch and called his own with 4:06 left, the Cats up 72-63.

“Adou played well. Daimion played well. Lance played well,” Calipari said. “And I just went with the five guys, because I was trying to win the game.”

With CJ Fredrick and Sahvir Wheeler still sidelined with injuries, Calipari’s finishing five carried the Cats to a third straight victory and another Quad 1 win. In a matter of one week, UK’s record in such games has improved from 1-7 to 5-7, with victories over Mississippi State, Tennessee and now Florida, and that win over Texas A&M from a month ago looking a whole lot better as the Aggies have surged up the NCAA’s NET ratings and into the AP Top 25.

In just one week, Kentucky has gone from the wrong side of the NCAA Tournament bubble to a team that could be wearing home whites as the better seed in round one. (ESPN had the Cats as an 8 seed in Tuesday morning’s bracketology update.)

Kentucky forward Chris Livingston (24) dives on a loose ball during Wednesday’s win on his way to a double-double of 10 points and 15 rebounds.

Over the past three games, this Kentucky core has also found ways to win on little rest.

If anyone was tired Wednesday night, there were no signs of it afterward. Instead of exhaustion, it was jubilation. And jokes. Those came at the expense of the national player of the year.

Tshiebwe scored his 1,000th point as a Kentucky Wildcat during the first half and ended the game with 25 points, making 12 of his 13 shots, several of them jumpers. But he had just four rebounds. Yet the Cats outrebounded the Gators by a stunning 40-21 margin, with 15 second-chance points to Florida’s zero. What does that say about these Wildcats?

“It shows Oscar can’t rebound,” Toppin said with a grin. “Nah, I’m joking. I’m joking.”

Toppin had 19 points and 11 rebounds. Freshman Chris Livingston had 10 points and 15 rebounds, snatching a couple away from Tshiebwe, college basketball’s king of the boards.

“That man took all my rebounds,” Tshiebwe said. “We’re gonna have to fight.”

He was joking, too, of course. Tshiebwe did say that Toppin and Livingston were teasing him in the postgame locker room about the individual disparity on the boards. “They were talking crazy,” he said. He promised payback when the Cats take the court again Saturday against Auburn, but his smile Wednesday night in Gainesville said it all.

“I don’t mind,” Tshiebwe said. “As long as we’re winning, I’m good.”

Livingston, who started this season relatively slowly, has emerged as a budding star in recent weeks. The McDonald’s All-American freshman earned his first career double-double in Saturday’s win over Tennessee. He got his second Wednesday night. In UK’s first 23 games, he scored in double figures only twice. He’s now done it in four of Kentucky’s past five games.

And if not for one play down the stretch against Florida, the Cats might have gone home losers.

With UK clinging to a 74-72 lead with about 50 seconds left — an 11-point lead whittled away in a matter of minutes — Wallace missed a three-pointer, the ball bounced off the rim and into the air, and in flew a blue-and-white blur to collect the rebound and put it into the basket.

Livingston was fouled in the process. He made the free throw to give UK a 77-72 lead. Instead of Florida’s ball in a one-possession game, the Cats led by five points with 46 seconds left.

The hometown fans headed for the exits. A “Go Big Blue!” chant bubbled up in Gainesville.

“To see Chris stepping up like he’s stepping up — he’s a beast,” Tshiebwe said. “… He was a beast tonight, going for every rebound, jumping for everything. That’s what we need for us to win.”

In this one, the Cats got a little something from everyone who stepped on the court. They got a lot from the five who stayed out there the entire second half. And in the end, they got another big win on the road.

“We have a team full of guys who are never going to back down from any challenge,” Toppin said. “And it shows. Even when we’re in a hole, we’re gonna climb out of that hole. We just have a group of guys with that mentality. And it’s showing right now — what we can do.”