Kentucky prepares for 'great test' in No. 6 Florida: "Listen, it's another top-10 battle."

For the third time in 14 games, Kentucky will take on a top-10 opponent — this time in No. 6 Florida to open SEC play. As things stand today, there are six more top-10 matchups on the regular season schedule and 11 ranked foes coming up from January to March. 14 of 18 league matchups are currently considered Quad 1 opportunities beyond the four the Wildcats have already played.

Needless to say, it’s a gauntlet, and that gauntlet will feature exactly zero cupcakes this point forward. No time to breathe with the league not only as tough as it’s been ever, but maybe as tough as college basketball has seen with the SEC on pace to shatter the all-time record for most teams in the NCAA Tournament with 13.

How has the early start of the schedule helped with what is to come for Mark Pope and the Wildcats? It’s earned them well-deserved confidence that they can compete with anybody.

“I think our guys believe that we can grow into a great team. It’s not just a whimsical belief — the nice thing is there’s a little bit of teeth to it,” Pope said Thursday. “We know it’s hard, we know how demanding this game is. We don’t spend a lot of time worrying about outcomes, we’re just trying to get better. We’re hungry to get better.”

Up first? The undefeated 13-0 Florida Gators, who head to Lexington ranked No. 4 in the NET, No. 5 in the Coaches Poll and No. 6 in the AP Poll. Coached by Todd Golden, who has seemingly skated past controversy en route to the program’s best start since it opened the year 17-0 on the road to a national championship in 2005-06 under Billy Donovan, they’ve emerged as a legitimate threat to win the SEC and make a run in March.

Pope understands the challenge his group is set to face inside Rupp Arena on Saturday, Florida ranked No. 1 nationally in rebounding average and No. 2 in scoring margin, among other ridiculous stats.

“In the half-court defense, they’re in the top-one percentile. They’re one of the top teams defensively in the half-court in the country,” Pope said of the Gators. “They’re the No. 2 ranked team on the glass in the country. They’ve got three veteran guards that just score in bunches and a phenomenal talent coming off the bench that can really hurt you. Their bigs are just relentless and veracious and physical and skilled and can shoot it.”

It’d be easy to push all of his chips in on Florida, Pope pouring everything he’s got into the Gators both physically and mentally the way most teams do entering top-10 matchups. That’s not how it works here at Kentucky, though, especially with the league as strong as it is.

The party will just be getting started, no matter how things unfold against Golden’s squad this weekend.

“Listen, it’s another top-10 battle. You would get super excited about that, but then the next game is a top-10 battle, then the next game after that and the next game after that. That’s just this league,” he continued. “It’s gonna be a great test for us and to see where we are right now, the lessons we’ve learned and how we implement them.”

Something else to keep in mind beyond the numbers and analytics? It’s an 11 a.m. ET tip-off — rise and shine, folks. The Wildcats have already seen start times as late as 10 p.m. ET this season, and now, we get coffee and basketball coming on Saturday.

Pope pushed the practice schedule back for some of those later matchups in the non-conference, and now, he’s getting his group used to the early tip-offs by pushing practice up. Maybe that helps avoid another sluggish start in a game Kentucky really can’t afford one?

“It’s super important for us. We’ve pushed all of our stuff early, so we’re kind of simulating a little bit of a game day vibe time-wise,” Pope said. “We pushed it early Monday because we had a 2 o’clock start (vs. Brown), which was early for us. And then today and tomorrow, we’re pushing it early also, so the guys should be pretty used to it.

“Hopefully by starting early enough this morning, the guys will get to bed a little bit earlier tonight and kind of get on us the right schedule.”

Ready or not, here the league schedule comes. Get your favorite coffee mug and let’s get to work.