Kentucky vs. Florida game thread and pregame reading

The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. Game time is set for 4:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Cats are 6.5-point underdogs going into their Senior Day matchup with Florida. Mark Pope’s squad is now 19-11 as they’re in the midst of their fourth straight season

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What is the story about?

The Kentucky Wildcats will take on the Florida Gators on Saturday afternoon in Lexington. Game time is set for 4:00 PM ET on ESPN. The Cats are 6.5-point underdogs going into their Senior Day matchup with Florida.

Mark Pope’s squad is now 19-11 as they’re in the midst of their fourth straight season with double-digit losses. Kentucky is 10-7 in conference play, which includes a 92-83 loss in Gainesville, and will end up playing on Wednesday in the SEC Tournament for the first time ever if they fall

to the Gators again. And with a loss today, Kentucky will likely end up with just its fifth season in history with 14 losses if they don’t win the SEC or NCAA Tournaments.

This season has been one to forget, but the Cats did put up a heck of a fight last time they faced off against Florida. The nine-point loss was Florida’s only single-digit win since a loss on January 24th against Auburn.

However, Kentucky has been so up and down this season that there’s no telling which team will show up—the one who embarrassed the Vanderbilt Commodores at home last Saturday or the one who was embarrassed by the Texas A&M Aggies on the road on Tuesday night (as well as by Vandy earlier this season).

Todd Golden and Co. sit at 24-6 on the season and 15-2 in conference play. The Gators have won 10 straight and outright dominated the SEC.

However, they aren’t unbeatable, especially away from home. This team is uber aggressive and physical — a style of play that doesn’t always make it far in March (or with the wrong officiating crew).

While Florida has the 1 seed in the SEC locked up, they’re still vying for a No. 1 seed in the NCAA Tournament, so every game counts the same. There will be no lying down by the Gators. Pope has not been great against ranked teams in his tenure, but we’ve also been riding this roller coaster for two seasons now, and nothing would surprise me.