History favors the Cats when Kentucky and Florida meet as Top 10 teams

Saturday’s game at Rupp Arena is no ordinary SEC opener in Lexington. It’s a high-profile matchup between two of the conference’s rivals, each ranked in the top 10 as Southeastern Conference play begins. The last time Kentucky opened the SEC with a top-10 matchup? Never. It’s never happened. Saturday’s game between No. 10 Kentucky and No. 6 Florida is the first time Kentucky’s SEC opener featured two top-10 teams.

The top-10 meeting is also rare for the Kentucky-Florida series. Only four times in their 152-game history have the Wildcats and Gators both been ranked in the top 10 when they played.

Kentucky won all four of those games.

(10) Kentucky 70, (5) Florida 68 – Jan. 29, 2002

Tubby Smith coached Kentucky to a win the first time Kentucky and Florida played as top-10 teams. In 2002, the tenth-ranked Wildcats traveled to the O’Dome, reeling from a home loss to Alabama and a 3-3 start in the SEC. Florida was in a similar spot, ranked fifth but riding a two-game losing skid after 14 straight wins to open the season.

Keith Bogans and Tayshaun Prince were the difference-makers in a tight game, each with three significant 3-pointers (Kentucky’s only six 3s in the game) and a combined 39 points to lead Kentucky to a 70-68 win. Brett Nelson, Udonis Haslem, and Orein Greene led the Gators in scoring, but an intentionally missed free throw by Cliff Hawkins with 0.7 seconds left sealed the win for the visiting Wildcats.

(6) Kentucky 70, (1) Florida 55 – Feb. 4, 2003

Kentucky and Florida played a second top-10 game a year later at Rupp Arena. Florida traveled to Lexington as the new No. 1 team in college basketball to play sixth-ranked Kentucky with ESPN’s College Gameday in town and unbeaten SEC records on the line.

Kentucky won that game too, but by a much wider margin. Florida was never in the fight, stuck in a 22-point deficit at halftime before losing by 15 in the end. UK’s defense held Florida to 17-for-50 shooting from the field, helped out by a rowdy Rupp Arena that cheered Kentucky onto a 29-point lead with 12 minutes to play. “This is embarrassing!” said Dick Vitale during Kentucky’s blowout of No. 1, one of the most memorable games in Rupp Arena history.

(2) Kentucky 69, (3) Florida 67 – Mar. 8, 2003

A month later, Tubby’s Wildcats went into Gainesville and won another top-10 battle in the 2003 SEC regular-season finale, capping an undefeated run through the SEC. After the game, you may recall Gerald Fitch, Keith Bogans, and Erik Daniels popping the front of their Kentucky jerseys toward the crowd of Gators fans in celebration.

8-MAR-2003 #2 UK beats #3 Florida 69-67 on road, securing perfect 16-0 SEC record. Fitch w/18 & Bogans w/15 pts pic.twitter.com/9No7MEQQTO

— bigbluehistory (@bigbluehistory) March 8, 2015

Fitch and Bogans scored 18 and 15 in second-ranked Kentucky’s narrow win over third-ranked Florida. The Gators had a shot to win it, but Anthony Roberson air-balled a desperation 3 as Florida lost to Kentucky by two in the O’Dome in back-to-back years.

(1) Kentucky 78, (8) Florida 58 – Feb. 7, 2012

Kentucky-Florida’s most recent top-10 meeting came in 2012 when John Calipari’s national championship team beat eighth-ranked Florida in Rupp Arena in the middle of a 16-0 run through the SEC. Ranked No. 1 overall, the Wildcats won Super Tuesday by 20 points, led by Doron Lamb with 18, Anthony Davis with 16, Michael Kidd-Gilchrist with 13 points and 13 rebounds, and Marquis Teague with 12 points and 10 assists. Kenny Boynton and Bradley Beal combined for 32 for Florida in the 78-58 loss.

(10) Kentucky vs. (6) Florida – Jan. 4, 2025

On Saturday, Kentucky hosts Florida in its first-ever SEC opener featuring two top-10 teams. To quote Mark Pope, let’s go.