Kentucky
Kentucky vs. Florida viewing info, what to watch for, and predictions
With the Kentucky Wildcats ranked in the top 10 with an 11-2 record, including big wins over Duke and Gonzaga, it’s been a good start to the Mark Pope era as the non-conference slate comes to an end.
However, the most difficult is yet to come.
Entering conference play in an SEC that is being discussed as one of the strongest conferences in recent memory, Kentucky has one of the toughest remaining schedules in the country. 14 of their 18 conference games will be Quad I opportunities. Their first opponent will be the Florida Gators on Saturday.
Considered one of the best young coaches in the country, Todd Golden has led Florida to a 13-0 record, holding the nation’s longest active win streak and No. 5 national ranking in the Coaches Poll. However, the Gators have played just one top-50 KenPom team in a struggling North Carolina squad.
Is Kentucky ready for the physicality of the SEC? Is Florida for real? Let’s take a look at the matchup.
Pace and Defense
Kentucky and Florida both rank top 10 in field goal attempts and average just more than 15 seconds per possession. Meaning, this is going to be a fast-paced contest with a lot of shots.
Just like Kentucky, Florida prioritizes attacking in transition. The best way to stop that is by scoring. So, in a way, Kentucky’s best defense against Florida is their offense. That means efficient movement, on and off the ball, and good shot selection.
When getting into halfcourt defense, Kentucky needs to be prepared for a lot of ball screens, an area they have been focusing on since the loss to Ohio State. “All of our guys were struggling to remember if there was anything involved in the game of basketball except for ball screen defense. We repped and repped and repped,” Pope said after the Brown win.
Offensive Rebounding Battle
Florida is the best rebounding team in the country by average. Statistically, Kentucky is, too, but there have been times they have lacked effort on the boards, most recently in the first half against Brown.
With Florida, it’s not just one player; it’s a balanced attack, with six players averaging more than five rebounds per game. All five Kentucky players on the floor will need to make the effort to box out and not look to leak out early.
Florida really excels on the offensive glass, rebounding 41% of their misses. That said, they give up nearly 10 offensive rebounds to their opponent per game, an area where Mark Pope prioritizes every game.
If the Cats can be in the net-positive with offensive rebounds, it would be huge for their chances to win.
Free Throws
Statistically, Florida’s biggest weakness is its free-throw shooting, which is 73.4% compared to Kentucky’s 73.8%.
Similar to Kentucky, the Gators have been inconsistent from the charity stripe, shooting nearly 82% on 33 attempts in one game this season to shooting 56% on 25 attempts in another.
All projections expect this to be a close game and taking advantage of FREE throws will always help your chances to win.
Opposing Players to Watch
G Walter Clayton Jr 6-3, 195 lbs
- 17.2 PPG (10th in SEC)
- 3.8 APG
- 37% 3P
G Will Richard 6-4, 206 lbs
- 14.2 PPG
- 5.0 RPG
- 2.2 SPG (8th in SEC)
F Alex Condon
- 11.2 PPG
- 7.5 RPG (10th in SEC)
- 1.5 BPG (8th in SEC)
Time: 11:00 AM ET on January 4th, 2024
Location: Rupp Arena at Central Bank Center in Lexington, Kentucky
TV Channel: ESPN
Online Stream: ESPN+ and the ESPN app.
Radio: Tom Leach and Jack Givens will have the call on the UK Sports Radio Network.
Replay: WatchESPN and ESPN network of channels (check local listings).
Rosters: UK | FLA
Stats to Know: UK | FLA
KenPom: UK | FLA
Team Sheet: UK | FLA
Odds: FanDuel Sportsbook does not yet have a spread, so check back later for that. EvanMiya gives Kentucky a 43.9% chance of winning, Bart Torvik is at 54%, KenPom is at 47%, and ESPN is at 58.8%.
Predictions: EvanMiya has Florida winning 82-77. Bart Torvik has the Cats winning an 83-82 thriller. Haslametrics is going with an 84-78 Florida victory. KenPom has the Gators winning 82-81. I’ll give the home team the edge in this one and predict an 85-83 victory, Kentucky!
How do you see this one going? Send us your Kentucky vs. Florida score predictions in the comments section!
Go CATS!!
The Brooklyn Nets have developed their teams through a number of strategies over the decades, and their front office has put together considerable success through the NBA draft. Many of the franchise’s best players have joined the Nets either by being selected directly in the annual draft or through trades made on that day.
Moreover, it is not only the star players who have been acquired by the Nets through the draft. Several prominent alumni have been selected by the team each offseason during this annual event, with certain colleges being more prominently represented than others. An analysis of the players from different schools reveals that both prestigious programs and smaller institutions have contributed top talent to the Nets’ roster over the years.
So without further ado, let’s take a look at every player who has been drafted by the Nets out of Kentucky State University.
Gerald Cunningham – forward
Draft year and position: fifth round (first pick, 89th overall), 1977 NBA Draft
Seasons at Kentucky State University:
Seasons played with Nets: did not make the team
All stats and data courtesy of Basketball Reference.
The best shooter in college basketball will, in fact, stay in college basketball — and Kentucky is ready to make its final push.
Iowa State star Milan Momcilovic has withdrawn from the 2026 NBA Draft and will play somewhere at his current level in 2026-27. That’s not expected to be back in Ames, as Cyclone coach T.J. Otzelberger made clear, saying that if the 6-8 forward doesn’t make the jump to the pros, “it’s important that he’s able to find a landing spot at a college that fits what he’s looking for.”
Could Lexington be that final destination? The perimeter sniper already said he’s got respect for the Wildcats and Mark Pope, watching his programs closely since his time at BYU when they competed against each other in the Big 12.
In his eyes, he could be the piece Kentucky was missing this past season in the program’s Round of 32 exit, led by Momcilovic’s 20 points and five rebounds in the Cyclones’ 82-63 victory in St. Louis.
“I think Kentucky would be a good fit,” Momcilovic told the Herald-Leader’s Ben Roberts last week at the NBA Draft Combine. “I obviously went against Pope at BYU his first year (in the Big 12), and I loved how his team played. I think we went 1-1 against them, but they killed us at their place, because they fly the ball up the court and shoot 3s. I really like the way they play.
“And obviously, Kentucky last year, he didn’t have enough shooters around him to really coach, I feel like, the way he wanted. But I think — if I were to choose Kentucky — that would be a good fit for me. I feel like I’d be a great player for him, and he’d be a good coach for me.”
Momcilovic averaged a career-high 16.9 points, 3.1 rebounds and 1.0 assists in 30.5 minutes per game while shooting 50.6 percent from the field, 48.7 percent from three and 87.8 percent at the line. He knocked down 260 3-pointers, good for 3.7 makes on 7.5 attempts per contest.
The former four-star recruit has been Kentucky’s dream portal target all offseason. Now, he’s officially a free agent, pulling out of the draft ahead of the withdrawal deadline.
On Tuesday, head coach Mark Pope revealed that there will likely be no summer trip for the 2026-27 Wildcats.
“We’re probably a lean towards not going right now,” Pope told Darrell Bird of Cats Pause.
The NCAA recently adopted a proposal that will allow schools to take summer tours every year after the rules previously limited schools to one trip every four years. Even if it ended up being somewhere close by, this would’ve been a great experience for the Cats to get some exhibition games in, especially with the roster overhaul they’re going through.
Oh well. The good news is UK will still have plenty of summer practices to develop and build chemistry.
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