SEC Saturday Showdown: Florida Men’s Basketball Travels to Kentucky

The No. 3 ranked Florida Gator men’s basketball team (22-2) goes into Lexington, Kentucky to face the No. 14 ranked Wildcats (19-5) in prime time Saturday night.

Florida goes into the first of two games against Kentucky this season with an undefeated 11-0 SEC record, while Kentucky sits in second place in the conference at 9-2. Kentucky leads the all-time series, 94-34, and the Gators are 14-24 vs. the Wildcats under head coach Billy Donovan. The Gators are looking for their first win at Rupp arena since 2007.

College Gameday will be in Lexington for the game this weekend. This marks Florida’s sixth appearance on ESPN College Gameday, and it’s the fifth time they’ve been on Gameday against Kentucky — the Gators are 4-1 on College Gameday games, including 4-0 against Kentucky.

Following Tuesday’s win at Tennessee, the Gators will be attempting to win in Knoxville and Lexington in the same season for just the third time in program history (1985 and 1988). Kentucky goes into Saturday’s game with a 22-game home winning streak — fifth longest in the nation. If Florida can snap that streak, it will be the second 20-win home win streak the Gators have snapped this season (Arkansas the other).

These are the two best teams in the league and statistics show that in many areas.  The Gators and the Wildcats are the best shooting teams and the two teams in field goal percentage defense as well.   Kentucky scores 78 points a game however, more than Florida’s 71 points per game average but Florida leads the SEC in defense giving up only 57 points a game while the Wildcats allow 66 a contest. Florida will have to handle Kentucky’s length and size as well.   The Cats lead the SEC in rebounding margin at plus 10 per game and they also average a league best 6.7 blocked shots per game.   Kentucky also leads the league in offensive rebounding at almost 15 pere game.

You can hear the game live on Country 103-7 The Gator starting at 8:25 pm.