Two top-10 teams will begin Southeastern Conference play Saturday by diving into the deep end when the Kentucky Wildcats host the Florida Gators in Lexington, Ky.
The No. 10 Wildcats (11-2) are 9-0 at home this season, while the sixth-ranked Gators (13-0) are enjoying the best start to a season since they went 17-0 in the 2005-06 campaign, which culminated in the program’s first national championship.
Saturday’s matchup will feature two of the nation’s highest-scoring teams, with Kentucky third in Division I at 89 points a game, and Florida five spots back, averaging 87.4.
The Gators also get it done on defense. They rank third nationally in rebound margin, grabbing 12.8 more boards a game than their opponents, and they hold foes to 36.9 percent in field-goal shooting. That is sixth-best in D-I.
The Wildcats have only been held below that mark once this season. They hit just 29.8 percent (17 of 57) in an 85-65 loss to Ohio State on Dec. 21 in New York City.
“It’s going to be a great test for us,” Kentucky first-year coach Mark Pope told reporters on Thursday. “To see where we are right now, and the lessons we’ve learned and how we implement them.”
The schools split their two games last season, with the Gators needing overtime to win in Lexington 94-91 on Jan. 31. Florida’s Walter Clayton Jr. scored 23 points in the contest, going 7-for-13 from beyond the 3-point line. He forced the extra five minutes with a trey with five seconds left in regulation, and then he hit another with 1:42 left in overtime that put the Gators up for good.
An all-conference second-team performer last season, Clayton has not lost a step his senior season. The guard leads the team with averages of 17.2 points and 3.8 assists per game. Clayton is one of four players who average double figures in scoring. Four players have scored 20 or more in a game at least once this season, with Clayton hitting that mark five times.
“It’s scary,” senior guard Will Richard told reporters on Thursday. “We have such a deep team. We have a lot of talent. Any night could be somebody else’s night. So it’s fun to play on a team like that.”
Richard scored a career-high 26 in the Gators’ 99-45 victory over North Florida on Dec. 21. He’s reached 20 points four times this season.
Kentucky also features a deep squad, with six players averaging 10 or more points a game. Otega Oweh leads the Wildcats at 15.9. Koby Brea averages 11.9 and leads the conference in 3-point shooting, making 49.4 percent of his shots (38 of 77).
Saturday’s game will mark just the sixth time both Florida and its conference opponent have been ranked in the top 10 at the same time. The most recent occurrence took place in Lexington on Feb. 7, 2012, when the then-top-ranked Wildcats beat then-No. 8 Florida 78-58.
It also will be the 23rd time the Gators are involved in a top-10 clash overall, with Florida losing the last seven. The most recent matchup took place on Nov. 26, 2017, when then-No. 1 Duke edged the then-No. 7 Gators 87-84.
Florida won’t have to wait long for its next top-10 matchup. The Gators will host Tennessee, the current No. 1 team, on Tuesday.
–Field Level Media
