ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM / 850 AM WRUF
The 14-6 Florida men’s basketball team travels to Lexington to take on the No. 10 Kentucky Wildcats on Wednesday at Rupp Arena.
Wednesday night plans at Rupp Arena
@ Kentucky
@ 8 PM pic.twitter.com/qMpN5ipMIM— Florida Gators Men’s Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 31, 2024
The Gators are on a three-game win streak after beating Georgia 102-98 in overtime Saturday. Florida blew a 21-point lead in the second half, but managed to stay on top of the Dawgs. Nineteen UF turnovers reduced to 24 points for Georgia, a mistake that could be fatal against Kentucky’s No. 4 scoring offense.
Kentucky took down Arkansas 63-57 on the road on Saturday to make up for their previous 79-62 loss in South Carolina. The Wildcats have been on the road the past couple games but are pulling out their home jerseys, which have only seen one loss over 11 games. Florida stands at a 1-3 away game record.
Thoughts from Goose
Kentucky’s Jack “Goose” Givens talked about his impressions of Florida after the teams’ first matchup this season.
Jan. 6 featured the teams’ SEC season opener in the O’Connell Center. While the Gators put up a fight, the Wildcats came away with the 87-85 win.
He said Florida is a really good team and that the Gators played hard.
“The thing that kind of helped Kentucky a lot was that Florida didn’t score a lot of points in the paint,” he said.
Kentucky was able to focus more on offense due to a lack of need for double or triple teaming.
“Nobody wants to play anybody on the road,” Givens said.
He said Kentucky is trying to stay in the conversation behind “cream of the crop” Tennessee.
“I would be surprised if there’s not at least nine teams from the SEC that make the tournament.”
He said the players, coaches and teams make for a difficult conference.
The Gators will stay on the road for their next game against the Texas A&M Aggies on Saturday. They return home for No. 16 Auburn on Feb. 10.
Coverage for Florida vs. Kentucky begins at 8 p.m. on ESPN, ESPN 98.1-FM/AM-850 WRUF.
