Saturday won't be the first time that Mark Pope and Todd Golden coach against each other

When Mark Pope‘s Kentucky team hosts Todd Golden‘s Florida team on Saturday, it’ll be the first time the two have gone head-to-head as coaches of SEC programs. But it’ll be the eighth time the two have squared off, dating back to their tenures at BYU (2019-24) and San Francisco (2019-22), respectively.

BYU and San Francisco played each other twice per season when the Cougars were still part of the West Coast Conference. Pope leads the head-to-head series against Golden, having won four games against San Francisco while serving as the head coach at BYU. All four victories came consecutively. Golden and San Francisco won the very first matchup against Pope back in January 2020 and the final two within the span of a month in 2022.

In fact, the last time Pope and Golden faced each other, it was Golden’s San Francisco squad that came out with a 75-63 win in the WCC Tournament. The Dons would eventually lose to Gonzaga in the conference semifinals but still made the program’s first NCAA Tournament appearance since 1998. San Francisco then fell to Murray State in the first round. Golden was hired by Florida the very next day.

Mark Pope vs. Todd Golden

DATE	OUTCOME	LOCATION
1/25/20	San Francisco 83, BYU 82	@ San Francisco
2/8/20	BYU 90, San Francisco 76	@ BYU
1/16/21	BYU 72, San Francisco 63	@ San Francisco
2/25/21	BYU 79, San Francisco 73	@ BYU
1/15/22	BYU 71, San Francisco 69	@ San Francisco
2/3/22	San Francisco 73, BYU 59	@ BYU
3/5/22	San Francisco 75, BYU 63	Nevada | WCC Tournament

While this will be Pope’s first time coaching against Florida (and just his fifth against an SEC school as a head coach), Golden is no stranger to playing the Wildcats. He went 1-5 against John Calipari-coached UK teams since taking the job ahead of the 2022-23 season. That lone win was an overtime thriller in Rupp Arena around this time last year when Walter Clayton Jr.‘s late three-pointer in regulation sent the game into an extra period. Clayton is back again as Florida’s leader while playing even better ball than he was last season.

But this is not the same Kentucky team from last season — or the last 15 seasons, really. Pope’s veteran-heavy roster should match up well with the Gators in what will be a Top 10 showdown on Saturday in Rupp. Can Kentucky keep Golden from knotting up his individual record against Pope? We’ll find out at 11:00 a.m. EST on ESPN.

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