Florida bracing for visit from No. 8 Kentucky (Feb 04, 2017)
At least a share of first place in the Southeastern Conference will be on the line Saturday night when No. 8 Kentucky meets No. 24 Florida in Gainesville, Fla.
Kentucky (18-4, 8-1 SEC) is the higher ranked team, but Florida (17-5, 7-2) is on the bigger roll. The Gators are riding a three-game win streak, all three victories coming by more than 30 points -- 35 over LSU, 32 at Oklahoma and 39 against Missouri Thursday night.
"We're in a good place," Florida coach Mike White said. "I don't want to sit here and say how good we're going to play Saturday or how many games we're going to win. This doesn't guarantee anything. But these past few games have gotten us into a very good place, which gives us a chance to play well in the next one."
The next one, of course, is a battle of old rivals, the two most successful SEC teams over the past decade.
"They're a very good team. They have experience. They have athleticism. They have size and they present problems for their opponents because of those things I just mentioned," Kentucky assistant coach Joel Justus said Friday. "I mean, when you have experienced guards in college basketball that always helps you. When you have guys that have been through the wars of the SEC, that helps you.
"They're disciplined. They are doing what they do well, and that's something as a coach -- I would imagine for them -- they feel good about."
Florida's resurgence is being credited for a team meeting held a few days after the Vanderbilt loss gave the Gators a two-game losing streak.
"People called each other out, but it wasn't personal," junior forward Devin Robinson said. "We said we weren't going to be mad about anything anyone said. We took it all on the chest. Everybody was humble and humbled in there. No egos. Everybody was checked. And Coach went down the line and checked everybody. It was good."
Kentucky, meanwhile, is also back on track after a two-game skid. The Wildcats defeated Georgia 90-81 in overtime on Tuesday. Kentucky rallied from a 12-0 deficit to win the game, but sorely missed starting point guard De'Aaron Fox, who has been ill. Fox and reserves Mychal Mulder and Sacha Killeya-Jones all missed Tuesday's game.
Justus was non-committal on the trio's availability for Saturday.
"We're going through practice today. We'll see where everybody is," Justus said. "But regardless of who plays, as you know, we'll put our best team out there.
"It's a college basketball season and those things happen," Justus said. "You just look across the country at teams that are losing good players for the season or losing guys for games. It's a bit of a thing of attrition. I think, in the big picture, we've been generally lucky when you talk about some of the guys other teams have lost."
Florida is led by sophomore guard KeVaughn Allen, who averages 13.6 points per game. Robinson is next at 11.8 points followed by senior guard Kasey Hill at 9.4 points and 4.9 assists. Reserve guard Chris Chiozza averages only 5.3 points but is coming off a triple-double against Missouri with 12 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists.
Kentucky is topped by freshman guard Malik Monk, whose 22.4 points per game average is tops in the SEC. Next comes Fox at 15.9, sophomore guard Isaiah Briscoe at 14.5 and freshman forward Bam Adebayo (13.2).
Florida averages 79.3 points per game, Kentucky 91.3. The Wildcats lead the overall series 99-37, including a 35-24 advantage in Gainesville.
But the renovated O'Connell Center promises to be rocking Saturday with ESPN's Game Day in town and a game that's long been sold out.
"They have great fan support," Justus said. "But I think it's a tough place to play because of the guys that are in the uniforms. That has a little bit more to do with it than the fans or arena. They have very good basketball players and are very well-coached. That's something that presents a bigger problem at times rather than however many thousand folks that are there for that game."
