Florida Gators clinch outright 2014 SEC regular-season title with Kentucky loss

No. 1 Florida Gators basketball (26-2, 15-0 SEC) clinched the outright regular-season 2014 Southeastern Conference Championship on Thursday night without even stepping foot on the hardwood.

Now four games ahead in the SEC standings with only three contests left to play – after No. 17 Kentucky (21-7, 11-4 SEC) fell 71-67 at home to Arkansas in overtime on Thursday night – Florida is guaranteed to finish the season in first place and bring home the regular-season title for the seventh time in school history.

Six of those seven titles have come under head coach Billy Donovan with the Gators winning three in the last four seasons (2011, 2013) and back-to-back regular-season SEC crowns for just the second time in school history (2000-01).

UF has been in sole possession of five of its seven league titles and done so in consecutive seasons for the first time in program history.

Florida also clinched the No. 1 overall seed in the 2014 SEC Tournament, which is set for March 12-16 in Atlanta, GA. UF will get two byes and play its first game on Friday, March 14 at 1 p.m. against the No. 8 or No. 9 seed.

The Gators have won three SEC Tournament titles in school history, doing so consecutively in three-straight years from 2005-07. Florida’s first and only time sweeping its league crowns was in 2007.

Florida looks to continue setting records and making history this season. Below are a number of other program marks that the Gators have set in 2014:

» Record to start a season (overall): 26-2
» Record to start a season (SEC): 15-0
» Winning streak (overall): 20 games
» SEC wins (single season): 15
» SEC road wins (consecutive): 8
» Home wins (overall, consecutive): 30
» Home wins (SEC, consecutive): 16