No. 10 Kentucky vs. No. 6 Florida: Preview, Odds & How to Watch

Ready or not, here SEC play comes. It’s an all-time year for the league, which is currently projected to bring a record 12 teams to the NCAA Tournament — with two others on the bubble. Not that there are any cupcakes in the conference, but Kentucky certainly won’t be starting with a layup, hosting No. 6 Florida inside Rupp Arena on Saturday. It will be an early-morning tip-off, scheduled for 11 a.m. ET on ESPN with all eyes on the Wildcats and Gators, both teams seen as top contenders in the SEC.

What do you need to know about the can’t-miss matchup in Lexington? KSR’s got you covered.

No. 10 Kentucky vs. No. 6 Florida: How to Watch, Listen

• Time: 11 a.m. ET
• Television: ESPN (Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas)
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 84
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

You can also follow the game via our new LIVE BLOG on the website, which will begin an hour before tip-off, or join the conversation on KSBoard.

Early season rewind

Kentucky: KenPom 21

• 11/4: 103-62 W vs. Wright State
• 11/9: 100-72 W vs. Bucknell
• 11/12: 77-72 W vs. No. 6 Duke
• 11/19: 97-68 W vs. Lipscomb
• 11/22: 108-59 W vs. Jackson State
• 11/26: 87-68 W vs. Western Kentucky
• 11/29: 105-76 W vs. Georgia State
• 12/3: 70-66 L at Clemson
• 12/7: 90-89 W OT vs. Gonzaga
• 12/11: 78-67 W vs. Colgate
• 12/14: 93-85 W vs. Louisville
• 12/21: 85-65 L vs. Ohio State
• 12/31: 88-54 W vs. Brown

Florida: KenPom 6

• 11/4: 98-83 W vs. South Florida
• 11/7: 81-60 W vs. Jacksonville
• 11/11: 86-62 W vs. Grambling State
• 11/15: 87-74 W at Florida State
• 11/19: 84-60 W vs. Florida A&M
• 11/22: 93-68 W vs. Southern Illinois
• 11/28: 75-58 W vs. Wake Forest
• 11/29: 88-51 W vs. Wichita State
• 12/4: 87-69 W vs. Virginia
• 12/14: 83-66 W vs. Arizona State
• 12/17: 90-84 W vs. North Carolina
• 12/21: 99-45 W vs. North Florida
• 12/29: 85-45 W vs. Stetson

Series History

Kentucky leads the all-time series 110-42 including an impressive 55-12 record at home against Florida. The two teams split the series in 2023-24 with both programs winning on the road, the Wildcats winning 87-85 in Gainesville in the first matchup, followed by a 94-91 overtime victory for the Gators in Lexington in the second. It was UF’s first road victory over a top-10 opponent in 20 years. Florida has only picked up back-to-back wins at Kentucky twice in series history, first in 1988/1989 and second in 2006/2007. With only one matchup this season between the Wildcats and Gators, it breaks a 60-year home-and-home series between the SEC foes dating back to 1964.

Todd Golden is 1-3 against Kentucky while Mark Pope is 0-0 against Florida — though the two coaches faced off in the WCC for three seasons from 2019-22 when Pope was at BYU and Golden was at San Francisco. Pope leads that head-to-head series 4-3 overall, though Golden won the final two matchups prior to their moves to the SEC.

Kentucky vs. Florida Odds

Spread: Kentucky -1.5
Total: 165.5

KenPom projects an 83-82 loss for Mark Pope’s squad while Bart Torvik sees UK coming away with an 83-82 win inside Rupp Arena. ESPN’s BPI likes the Cats by 3.0 points while giving the home team a 61.8 percent chance to pull off the win.

Kentucky Projected Starters

#1 – Lamont Butler
6-2 – 208 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
13.3 PPG, 4.1 APG, 3.1 RPG

#00 – Otega Oweh
6-4 – 215 – GUARD – JUNIOR
15.9 PPG, 3.8 RPG, 1.5 SPG

#2 – Jaxson Robinson
6-6 – 192 – GUARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
11.9 PPG, 4.0 RPG, 1.8 APG

#7 – Andrew Carr
6-11 – 235 – FORWARD – GRADUATE STUDENT
11.3 PPG, 6.3 RPG, 2.6 APG

#22 – Amari Williams
7-0 – 262 – CENTER – GRADUATE STUDENT
10.1 PPG, 8.5 RPG, 1.7 BPG

Florida Projected Starters

#1 – Walter Clayton Jr.
6-2 – 195 – GUARD – SENIOR
17.2 PPG, 3.8 APG, 3.2 RPG

#15 – Alijah Martin
6-2 – 195 – GUARD – GRADUATE SENIOR
15.2 PPG, 5.7 RPG

#5 – Will Richard
6-4 – 206 – GUARD – SENIOR
14.2 PPG, 5.0 RPG

#21 – Alex Condon
6-11 – 230 – FORWARD – SOPHOMORE
12.2 PPG, 7.5 RPG

#9 – Rueben Chinyelu
6-10 – 255 – CENTER – SOPHOMORE
5.2 PPG, 6.7 RPG

SEC availability report

In the first official SEC availability report of the season for the Cats released Friday evening, Kerr Kriisa was declared out, as expected. The good news? No other players for either team was listed.

Beyond Kriisa, both teams will be at full strength inside Rupp Arena on Saturday.

Statistical Comparison

(via Kentucky’s game notes)

Fun stats from UK’s game notes:

• Kentucky is 70-20 all-time in SEC openers while this is the first time in the history of the AP Poll that the Wildcats will begin league play with a top-10 matchup
• Jaxson Robinson is 10 points away from eclipsing 1,000 in his career. He would join Koby Brea and Kerr Kriisa as Wildcats to reach that mark this season while Ansley Almonor, Lamont Butler, Andrew Carr and Amari Williams hit it before arriving on campus.
• Kentucky’s 11-2 finish in the non-conference is the program’s best since 2021-22. Florida boasts the third-best record for a team entering Rupp Arena, behind only Auburn in 1998-99 (17-0) and Vanderbilt in 2007-08 (16-0). The Wildcats won both of those matchups.
• Mark Pope is the first Kentucky coach to face an AP top-10 opponent in each of his first three matchups against a ranked opponent, going 2-0 in the first two.

Pregame Storylines

WILL FLORIDA STAY UNDEFEATED?

The Gators are just one of four teams remaining at the Division I level without a loss, joining No. 1 Tennessee and No. 12 Oklahoma entering league play. It’s the best start for a team entering Rupp Arena in 17 years and the first top-10 matchup in an SEC opener for Kentucky ever. It’s a chance for Florida to prove it’s better than its strength of schedule suggests, ranked No. 225 nationally compared to No. 85 for the Wildcats — who have two top-10 wins in the NET compared to just one top-50 win for Golden’s group. Is UF as advertised, and, more importantly, is UK closer to the team that beat Duke and Gonzaga or lost to Clemson and Ohio State?

GATORS BRING IN ONE OF THE BEST BACKCOURTS IN COLLEGE BASKETBALL

Florida’s trio of Walter Clayton Jr. (17.2 PPG), Alijah Martin (15.2 PPG) and Will Richard (14.2 PPG) combine to average an impressive 46.6 points, 13.9 rebounds, 9.1 assists and 5.3 steals per contest, forming arguably the best backcourt in the nation. “I’d put our backcourt up against anybody in America. Those three seniors are really, really good players and good leaders,” Golden told KSR ahead of the matchup. They’ll be taking on a talented Kentucky backcourt averaging 41.1 points, 10.7 rebounds, 7.6 assists and 3.8 steals per game — competitive, but just short in all four categories.

A REBOUNDING BATTLE UK MUST WIN

Kentucky has combined for just 55 rebounds in its last two games vs. Ohio State and Brown, including a 29-board finish against the latter, a team whose tallest player in the rotation is 6-8. Amari Williams finished with just two rebounds as the team lost the overall battle by six. Just not good enough. Come out with a similar effort on the glass against a Florida team sitting at plus-83 in its last four games and Pope’s group could be in trouble. The Gators rank No. 1 nationally with 45.7 rebounds per game, No. 3 in overall margin at plus-12.8, No. 6 on the defensive glass with 30.38 per contest and No. 7 on the offensive glass with 15.31 per outing. It’s a solid test for the Wildcats to find their footing once again, ranked No. 9 nationally in rebounding average (42.31 RPG) and No. 3 on the defensive boards (30.69).

Golden’s group is excellent on the glass, but not perfect, losing prior rebounding battles vs. Jacksonville, Southern Illinois and Virginia. Becoming the fourth team to win that battle against the Gators is undoubtedly a top priority.

DEPTH FAVORS THE WILDCATS (DEPENDING ON HOW YOU LOOK AT IT)

Golden singled out a depth advantage for the Gators, saying a key to a road win is “our eight or nine that we’re going to be playing has to be better than their seven,” highlighting Kerr Kriisa’s continued absence. Still, though, Kentucky’s got six players averaging double-figures compared to Florida’s four — 10 Wildcats playing at least 14 minutes in the team’s win over Brown on New Year’s Eve. UK’s production is spread out more evenly across the entire rotation while UF is somewhat top-heavy, albeit with nine players averaging double-digit minutes compared to eight for the Cats without Kriisa. Which is a better indicator of depth?

KENTUCKY NEEDS JAXSON ROBINSON TO JOIN THE 1K CLUB

Robinson is just 10 points away from scoring 1,000 in college, a chance to joins six other Kentucky teammates already in the club. He’s hit double figures in all but four games as a Wildcat, but has shot just 35.2 percent from the field against high-major competition and 40.7 percent overall. He admitted SEC play is important to him after previous stops at Texas A&M and Arkansas. “A lot of people don’t think I can play in the SEC, so proving them wrong will be super fun for me,” he told KSR. His first shot on that revenge tour begins on Saturday — and he’ll get it against a top-10 team with one of the best backcourts in the country. No better opportunity.

Join The Discussion on KSBoard

Want to interact with the KSR crew during the game? Consider joining the conversation on KSBoard, where we’ll be sharing live updates as your eyes and ears inside Rupp Arena while also answering questions and providing real-time analysis (and probably complaining about the officiating).

New members can get KSR+ for seven days for just $1.

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Rapid Reaction on the KSR YouTube Channel

Miss the game? KSR’s got you covered with a Rapid Reaction live on the KSR YouTube Channel. We’ll also have wall-to-wall postgame coverage on the website, including highlights, comments from Mark Pope and the players, stats, and takeaways.

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