No. 6 Florida at No. 10 Kentucky

 
* When: Saturday, 11 1.m. (ET)
* Where: Rupp Arena / Lexington, Ky.
* Records: Florida (13-0, 0-0) / Kentucky (11-2, 0-0)
* TV: ESPN Network (Dan Shulman and Jay Bilas)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
  (with Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey and Steve Egan) 
* Ticket info

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

SETUP: Sixth-ranked Florida and 10th-ranked Kentucky square off in the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams, tipping off what is expected to be one of the deepest and most competitive leagues in college basketball history. The Gators, one of just four undefeated teams remaining in Division I (along with No. 1 Tennessee and No. 12 Oklahoma), last played Sunday when they defeated Stetson 85-45 to continue the second-best start to a season in the program’s 118 years. The Wildcats, meanwhile, had to stew on an 85-65 blowout neutral-court loss to unranked Ohio State in their final game before the holiday break before getting back on the winning track Tuesday with an 88-54 home defeat of Brown.  

SERIES: Kentucky leads 110-42, including a swap of road wins in two meetings last season. The Gators and Wildcats opened 2023 SEC play Jan. 6 at Gainesville, with UK prevailing 87-85. Florida returned the favor at Lexington on Jan. 31 in an overtime classic, winning 94-91 for only the 12th road victory for the Gators in 66 all-time visits to the Commonwealth, as well as the first road victory over a top-10 opponent in 20 years. In that one, Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points, raining seven 3s, including one with three seconds to go in regulation to send the game into overtime and one in the extra that gave the unranked Gators the lead for good. The game featured a staggering 29 lead changes and 15 ties before UF took control and closed out in OT.  Clayton went seven of 13 from the 3-point line and also had two big free throws in overtime. UF’s two grad-transfers, point guard Zyon Pullin and forward Tyrese Samuel, were terrific, as well. Pullin tallied 21 points, seven rebounds, seven assists and two steals (with just one turnover) over 41-plus minutes. Samuel had his ninth double-double of the season with 22 points and 13 rebounds, plus four blocked shots. Clayton, Pullin and Samuel were all playing their first game at Rupp. Reed, the eventual No. 3 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, had 24 points, eight rebounds and six assists in defeat.

 

ETC: With the additions of Texas and Oklahoma into the SEC, the league decided to keep the conference schedule at 18 games, with each team playing every other league team at least once, with three home-and-home opponents. As such, UF and UK will play just once this season, with no game in Gainesville. The last time Florida did not play Kentucky at home was in 1963.

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

Their last outing — and the one before that, frankly — did very little to test the Gators. Before the 40-point rout of Stetson, UF beat up on North Florida to the tune of 99-45 and thus completed a sweep of six games against in-state opponents. Against Stetson, the Gators shot nearly 51 percent, thanks in great part to a 34-2 difference in fast-break points, and defended the Hatters at 26.5 percent, including just 3-for-24 from the 3-point line (12.5 percent). UF’s three-guard triumvirate again led the way, each finishing in double figures, led by Alijah Martin’s 18 points to go with four steals. Will Richard tallied 17 points and four assists, while Walter Clayton Jr. had 12 points (4-for-5 overall, 2-for-3 from deep) and seven assists. … Richard, whose statistical start to the season was not to his liking, has averaged 21.6 points over the previous three games and hit 75.7 percent of his field-goal attempts. … Clayton is at 10.6 points over the same three-game span, but only attempted 11 shots total the last two games and hit nine. 

Before facing Stetson and UNF, the Gators defeated five consecutive high-major opponents, including three (Wake Forest, Virginia and North Carolina) from the Atlantic Coast Conference. With the last two outings, though, Florida further cemented its status as a top-20 team in both offensive (8th) and defensive (16th) efficiency. The Gators defended UNF and Stetson at a combined 25.0 percent from the floor and 18.9 from the arc. The Gators also rate third nationally in offensive rebounding (41.4 percent), second in 3-point defense (26.6 percent), 13th in 2-point defense (42.7), as well as fourth in effective field-goal defense (41.7), a weighted metric that favors the 3-point line.  

Forward Alex Condon had a season-low two points over 21 minutes against Stetson, attempting only four field goals. He had seven rebounds and two blocks, as well. … Forward Rueben Chinyelu also had just two points in 17 minutes to go with six rebounds. He leads the team in defensive rebounding percentage at 24.1 percent. … Backup forward Thomas Haugh (7.4 ppg, 5.9 rpg) had seven points, seven rebounds and continued his amazing improvement at the free-throw line. Haugh hit both his attempts and is 28 of 34 on the season. That’s 82.4 percent after a freshman season when he shot 46.7. … Reserve guard Denzel Aberdeen (7.4 ppg, 2.5 rpg, 2.0 apg) scored nine points, banged four of his five shots and his lone 3. … Backup forward Sam Alexis (6.4 ppg, 6.3 rpg) leads the team in offensive rebounding percentage at 19.0. He had just four points, but 12 rebounds and two blocks against Stetson.  

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The wipeout of the Hatters allowed Coach Todd Golden to play some of his deep reserves. Freshman wing Isaiah Brown had eight points and a couple sweet slams in his eight minutes. Sophomore guard Urban Klavzar scored six points in 10 minutes, but more importantly went 2-for-2 from 3 after starting the season just one for 1-for-13. Klavzar is one of the team’s best shooters in practice and scrimmages. Sophomore point guard Kajus Kublickas had two points, four rebounds, two assists and no turnovers in his eight minutes. 

 

The Wildcats

It’s their first season under favorite son Mark Pope, who went 110-52 and went to two NCAA tournaments over five seasons at Brigham Young, but is more famous in Big Blue Nation as a forward on Rick Pitino’s 1996 national-championship team. Pope, who also won 77 games in four years at Utah Valley State, is known for running outstanding, creative offense, but had to literally rebuild the UK roster from scratch after a big chunk of the ’23-24 team and some incoming freshmen Wildcats either followed former UK coach John Calipari after his stunning exit to Arkansas or went elsewhere. Pope has mostly kept the rabid and spoiled fan base happy, having already beaten Duke, Gonzaga and rival Louisville, but that 20-point blowout loss against Ohio State (mere days after the Buckeyes were clobbered by 38 against Auburn) left Big Blue a little short on Christmas cheer. Getting an unbeaten, brand name foe to start SEC play most definitely will have Rupp rumbling, even for an 11 a.m. tip. 

Pope (at BYU) and Golden (San Francisco) coached against each other for three seasons in the West Conference Conference. They split their six games. 

The Cats were one of two conference teams to get beat in the ACC/SEC Challenge last month, falling 70-66 at Clemson for their first loss of the season. Then came three straight wins before the Ohio State game in New York City, where the Buckeyes shot 57 percent for the game, had a 35-29 edge on the glass and only turned the ball over seven times, evidence of a UK defense that struggles to force teams into giveaways. What the Cats can do is score, with their 89.0 points per game the second-highest in the league. They share the ball and are efficient with it at 57.4 percent from the 2-point area and 35.5 from 3, and are No. 2 in the country in turnover percentage (just 12.8 percent), meaning they’re going to get a shot off.

The entire UK rotation is made up of transfers, most of them (as one might expect) highly sought ones. And (this is a switch) older. The Cats will play a main rotation of seven, with six seniors and one junior. They won’t try to out-athlete and out-skill opponents, like Calipari’s teams did, but rather out-execute and make winning, veteran plays. … Guard Otega Oweh, by way of Oklahoma, leads the team in scoring and does damage from inside the arc (55.1 percent) and outside (36.1). He’s a three-level scorer, who gets to the line and converts 80.6 percent. In the OSU loss, he hit all 13 of his free throws on the way to 21 points, but was just 4-for-13 from the floor. … Amari Williams, formerly of Drexel, is an elite rebounder and rim-protector who converts at 56.6 percent and has not attempted a 3 this season. … Guard Jaxson Robinson followed Pope from BYU and will do a little bit of everything, but is not outstanding at anything. He’s capable of heating up from deep, however. … UF fans might recall Andrew Carr from the big man’s performance (especially from the arc) at Wake Forest last season, when he led the Demon Deacons with 22 points (with five 3s) and six rebounds in an 82-71 win over the Gators. He’s only made six so far this season. … Point guard Lamont Butler will get reacquainted with UF’s Martin. The two faced off in the Final Four two years ago, with Martin scoring a game-high 26, but Butler hitting the buzzer-beater to put San Diego State in the national championship game against Connecticut. Butler, who’s shooting 41.9 percent from deep, can be feast or famine. He had 33 in the win against Louisville, but just four against Ohio State. 

The Gators better know where 3-point assassin Koby Brea (11.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg) is at all times. The Dayton transfer comes off the bench, but is 24th in the country from distance at 49.4 percent (38 of 77). The 6-7 grad-transfer wing shot 49.8 percent for the Flyers last season, which ranked No. 3 nationally. He has three games with this season with at least five 3s. He’s taken 587 career shots from long range (at 44.3 percent) compared to just 215 from inside the arc. … Point guard Kerr Kriisa, the heralded transfer from West Virginia (by way of Arizona before that), underwent foot surgery last month and is expected to be out for six weeks. Backup 6-10, 250-pound forward Brandon Garrison (5.5 ppg, 5.1 rpg) reportedly has been sidelined during practice and did not play in the win over Brown. … Another reserve, 6-7, 244-pound forward Ansley Almonor (5.2 ppg), played for the No. 16-seed Farleigh Dickinson team that shocked No. 1 seed Purdue in the first round of the 2023 NCAA Tournament. 

 

Numbers of Note

* 5 —All-time SEC games (out of 1,381) that both the Gators and their opponent were ranked in the AP Top 10. This one will make six. The last time a top-10 UF team faced a top-10 SEC foe came on Feb. 7, 2012, when the No. 8 Gators were beaten 78-58 by No. 1 Kentucky at Rupp. That UK team went on to win the national championship.   

* plus-23.9 — Florida’s average margin of victory in its 13 wins. That ranks second behind unbeaten and top-ranked Tennessee’s 24.6.

* plus-83 — UF’s combined rebound margin over the previous four games. The Gators have been out-rebounded just three times this season (by Jacksonville, Southern Illinois and Virginia).

* 93.8 — Richard’s shooting percentage from the 2-point area over the previous three games, based on 15-for-16 from the floor, including a handful of nasty dunks. He’s also 10-for-17 from the 3-point line (58.9 percent) during that span. Imagine what anything close to those numbers from Richard will do for his team in SEC play. 

* 2007 —The last year the Gators won a second consecutive road game against Kentucky, doing so on the way to a second consecutive NCAA championship. The date was Feb. 10. The final score was 64-61. Junior forward Corey Brewer had 16 points, including four free throws over the final 32 seconds to help put the game away. It marked the only time in a series entering its 98th year that UF won two straight in Lexington.