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When Kentucky and Florida first played earlier this season on Jan.9, the Wildcats scored arguably their most impressive win of the season with a dominant 76-58 win over the Gators, who were still trying to find their way without Keyontae. Johnson. The victory was Kentucky’s third in a row to start conference play and seemed to suggest the Wildcats had turned a corner after a terrible start to the season.
The idea turned out to be a farce – Kentucky lost seven of their next eight games – but the Wildcats (8-13, 7-7 SEC) are back on the rise ahead of Saturday’s rematch. The Gators (12-6, 8-5) have won six of their last eight games, however, and would surely get a bit of a buyback for their most unbalanced loss of the year.
As the jockey for the SEC tournament standings continues, this game takes on special significance. Florida are trying to lock in a double bye and improve their projection as the No.7 seed for the NCAA tournament, according to Jerry Palm’s latest Bracketology. The Wildcats, meanwhile, are looking to prove that their latest resurgence is legitimate and that they will be a force to be reckoned with in the league tournament.
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Information display
- When: Saturday, 4 p.m. ET
- Or: Rupp Arena in Lexington, Kentucky
- TV: CBS | Direct: CBSSports.com, CBS Sports app (free)
- THE: CBS Sports app (Apple TV, Roku, Fire TV, Chromecast)
Storylines
Kentucky: A theoretical physicist could potentially concoct a scenario in which Kentucky makes the NCAA tournament as a team in general, but that would require the Wildcats to win their last three regular season games, win three games in the SEC tournament, and then lose in the title match to finish 14-14 overall after wins in nine of their last 10 games. But let’s be honest: the only realistic chance to dance the Wildcats is to win the conference tournament. Even that would have seemed absurd just a few weeks ago when they were 5-13 in total. But after three consecutive wins, this team finally seems to have put their worst difficulties in the rearview mirror. The offense was particularly good in the first half of an impressive 70-55 victory at Tennessee last Saturday. Beating the Volunteers was a sure sign of growth, considering Kentucky had collapsed in the second half of a home loss to them two weeks earlier. Of particular significance was the emergence of the Isaiah Jackson freshman center. He averages 16.3 points, nine rebounds and two blocks while making 60.9% of his shooting attempts during the three-game winning streak.
Florida: It was fair to wonder how the Gators would handle the loss of Johnson, the SEC preseason Player of the Year, after his frightening on-field meltdown against Florida State on Dec. 12. But Florida have quietly been one of the more consistent teams. in the SEC, winning six of their last eight games to establish themselves in a solid position for one of those SEC Tournament double. The emergence of Michigan transfer Colin Castleton continues to be a welcome revelation after struggling for minutes in two seasons at Michigan. But Florida will need Castleton to produce more this time around than he did in Game 1 with Kentucky when he finished with just six points and three rebounds. Gators top scorer Tre Mann also finished with just seven points in Game 1, his lowest in a game this season.
Game prediction, choose
Mann and Castleton’s poor performance in the same game in the first meeting was an aberration. The Gators have been strong lately, and Kentucky is down on a loss. Prediction: Florida 77, Kentucky 74
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