Kentucky vs Florida Preview and How to Watch

Three straight Southeastern Conference wins have the Florida Gators (14-6, 4-3 SEC) sitting squarely on the NCAA Tournament bubble. The Gators have crept up to No. 39 in the NCAA Net Rankings and No. 36 in the kenpom.com analytics, legitimate indicators of tournament worthiness. What’s lacking for the Gators is a signature win, the kind that could bump them off the bubble and squarely into tournament consideration.

The Gators have their share of close calls against teams that are almost certain to make the tournament such as Virginia, Baylor and tonight’s opponent, 10th-ranked Kentucky (15-4, 5-2 SEC). A few weeks ago in Gainesville, the Gators fought Kentucky to the final horn, dropping an 87-85 decision that could have easily gone the other way. It was one of those if only kind of games as in if only the Gators had done a better job at the foul line (18-29), if only they had knocked down just one more 3-point shot (9-31) or if only one more second half defensive stop.

Despite giving up 87, Florida coach Todd Golden said the Gators weren’t all that bad defensively in that first game.

“We actually guarded them well enough to win the first time we played,” Golden said Tuesday before the Gators departed for Lexington where they face the Wildcats at Rupp Arena (8 p.m., ESPN). “We really did. They scored late after fouling a little bit, but we held them to like their third- or fourth-worst offensive performance of the year in here.

“So it was really our offense, specifically in the second half, that I thought let us down a little bit. Not that we weren't executing. We did turn it over eight times and we went 1-for-11 from three in the second half. They’re too good offensively to do that and give yourself the win. The key is obviously we have to do a good job both halves defensively. We did a good enough job over 40, but not a good enough job in the second half. You’ve got to do a better job away from our bench, and then offensively we just got to play more solid for 40 minutes, but they're the type of team, especially on their home floor, that's explosive offensively, so we're gonna have to do a really good job that way.”

The Gators have made enough shots to win three in a row, particularly in last Saturday’s 102-98 overtime win over Georgia. In wins over Missouri and Mississippi State, the Gators had 15 turnovers combined but in blowing a 21-point second half lead against Georgia UF gave it away 19 times. The foul line, so critical in the first loss to Kentucky, has been a source of a mini-revival in the last two. In both of the wins over Mississippi State and Georgia last week, the Gators went 17-20 from the foul line.

To win at Rupp, the Gators will certainly have to make shots from both the field and the foul line, plus they’ll have to limit the turnovers. In the loss to Kentucky, the Gators let the lead slip away in the final minutes of the game. Holding onto a lead is an area of concern. In the win over Missouri, the Gators saw a 19-point lead dissipate to six before they regained their poise for a 79-70 win. After losing a 21-point second half lead against Georgia, the Gators won in overtime.

"We've done a really good job getting leads these last three games,” Golden said. “We were up double figures on the road against Missouri, we were up 17 in the second half against Mississippi State and up big in the second half against Georgia and that's hard to do … This team a month-and-a-half, two months ago, we weren't getting leads like this against really quality opponents like we've been facing and now the big challenge is – and it's really hard to do to get over the hump – is playing with leads when teams have their back up against the wall and don't have as much fear of failure and they go out and play with freedom and start making some shots and they're pressing you and taking more chances defensively. Those are harder circumstances to play under and I think for us, just continuing to get more comfortable in those situations and the only way you can do that is by being in those situations.

“The disappointing thing on Saturday is we just didn't take care of the ball well in the second half. We beat the press okay but in the halfcourt we had some careless turnovers that allowed them to get all the way back whereas against Mississippi State, they made a run but we didn't turn it over and we kept them at six and it didn't really get so tight. Obviously Saturday got really tight."

Beating Kentucky in Rupp is one of the more difficult tasks in college basketball. Perhaps no one has a more rabid, loyal fan base than the Wildcats, who play every home game before crowds of more than 20,000. Visitors wilt under the energy in the building, something the Gators have to avoid tonight because this game is critical toward building a resume that will impress the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

The SEC is so deep this season that a 9-9 record in league play is almost a guarantee of marching to the madness. The Gators have a home loss to Kentucky and they have a road win at Missouri. They don’t have a road win over a quality opponent, however. Beating Kentucky in Rupp would qualify as stealing one on the road.

“The reality is every game is a resume game one way or the other,” Golden said. “If you lose to a team that you're supposed to beat, that hurts your resume and when you win those games helps you stack up your quality. For us to get to the tournament, we're going to have to win some of these games as we all know so I'm not necessarily stressing the importance of one over another in particular. A big part of what we do is process over result and being consistent in our approach and this is more about a good road opportunity against a team that we played pretty well against here and we feel we let slip away. I think they realize that as well and they're going to be ready for us. We should go in with a little confidence knowing that we can play with these guys if we stay true to who we are."

Anticipated starting lineups

FLORIDA (14-6, 4-3 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13.2 points, 8.3 rebounds); 7-1 Micha Handlogten (7.4 points, 7.9 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.8 points, 4.0 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (15.9 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (14.9 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.8 assists)

KENTUCKY (15-4, 5-2 SEC): 6-9 Tre Mitchell (13.4 points, 7.7 rebounds); 7-1 Aaron Bradshaw (6.4 points, 4.6 rebounds); 6-8 Adou Thiero (7.0 points, 5.6 rebounds); 6-6 Antonio Reeves (19.5 points, 4.4 rebounds); 6-4 DJ Wagner (12.0 points, 3.4 assists)

SEC BASKETBALL

Tuesday’s scores: South Carolina (18-3, 6-2 SEC) 63, No. 5 Tennessee (15-5, 5-2 SEC); Ole Miss (18-3, 5-3 SEC) 86, Mississippi State (14-7, 3-5 SEC) 82

Today’s games: FLORIDA (14-6, 4-3 SEC) at No. 6 Kentucky (15-4, 5-2 SEC); Vanderbilt (5-14, 0-6 SEC) at No. 8 Auburn (16-4, 5-2 SEC); Alabama (13-6, 5-1 SEC) at Georgia (14-6, 4-3 SEC); Arkansas (10-10, 1-6 SEC) at Missouri (8-12, 0-7 SEC)