First Scouting Report: UK goes for another Quad 1 win and a season sweep of Florida
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Game day: Kentucky 66, Tennessee 54
Click below for more of the Herald-Leader’s and Kentucky.com’s coverage of Saturday’s men’s basketball game between Kentucky and Tennessee in Rupp Arena.
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A look ahead to the Kentucky Wildcats’ next men’s basketball game:
The opponent
Kentucky (18-9, 9-5 SEC) will face Florida (14-13, 7-7 SEC) on Wednesday, Feb. 22, at Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center (capacity 10,500) on the campus of the University of Florida in Gainesville.
The game will tip off at 7 p.m. (EST) and be telecast by ESPN.
Coach Todd Golden’s Gators were routed 84-65 at Arkansas on Saturday.
Series history
Kentucky leads the all-time series with Florida 108-41.
As UK head man, John Calipari is 22-9 vs. the Gators.
Florida Coach Todd Golden is 0-1 against Kentucky.
Most recent meeting
Cason Wallace scored 20 points and Jacob Toppin had a double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds to lead Kentucky to a 72-67 win over Florida on Feb. 4, 2023, before 20,315 fans at Rupp Arena.
Power rankings
The NCAA NET rankings have Kentucky No. 39, Florida No. 51.
In the Pomeroy ratings, Kentucky is No. 40, Florida No. 46.
The Sagarin ratings have Kentucky No. 35, Florida No. 47.
Know your foe
1. Florida suffered a potentially lethal blow to its season when Gators star Colin Castleton suffered a broken right hand in UF’s 79-64 win over Mississippi on Wednesday night. It is feared that Castleton will miss the remainder of the season.
The 6-foot-11, 231-pound Castleton is averaging 16.0 points, 7.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists and three blocked shots a game.
A super-senior from Deland, Fla., who transferred home to Florida from Michigan, Castleton scored 25 points, had eight rebounds, three assists and three blocked shots while holding Kentucky star Oscar Tshiebwe (34) to 2-of-14 shooting and four points during UK’s 72-67 win over the Gators in Rupp Arena on Feb. 4.
2. The Gators entered Saturday’s game at Arkansas minus-2.1 in rebound margin — and that was compiled with Colin Castleton playing. On paper, one would expect that opponents — certainly including Kentucky’s Oscar Tshiebwe, the nation’s leading rebounder at 13.2 per game — should be able to exploit Castleton’s absence on the boards.
3. Going into play Saturday, Florida’s NCAA Tournament hopes were thought to be hanging on the slightest thread. The Gators were outside the field of 68 in most major projections and said to be barely hanging onto the bubble by ESPN.com’s “Bubble Watch.”
For that reason, Kentucky has every reason to expect a desperate foe.
UK has much at stake in the game, as well. With the Gators No. 51 in the NET rankings, a Wildcats victory on the road over UF would count as a Quad 1 win.
This story was originally published February 18, 2023 at 3:19 PM.
