No. 25 Kentucky men’s basketball (17-7, 8-3 SEC) has a Valentine’s Day date set with the No. 14 Florida Gators (18-6, 9-2 SEC) on Saturday afternoon inside of the Stephen C. O’Connell Center in Gainesville, Fla.
While having the opportunity to earn its fifth ranked and sixth quad-one win of the season, the Cats also have a chance at taking the reins of the SEC, currently sitting one game back from first place, which is currently held by the Gators.
Kentucky’s midseason peak:
Kentucky rides into the Sunshine State on the back of a three-game win streak, most recently downing No. 25 Tennessee 74-71 last Saturday in Rupp Arena.
In UK’s win over the Vols, Otega Oweh scored a team-high 21 points, which pushed his 20-plus point streak to five straight games.
Over those last five contests, where the Cats hold a 4-1 record, Oweh is averaging 22.4 points per game, reaching a game-high in four of them as well.
The Kentucky guard’s two highest scoring performances over that stretch came against No. 15 Arkansas and the Oklahoma Sooners, where he scored a game-high 24 points.
His performance in last week’s matchups against the Vols and Oklahoma also earned him SEC Player of the Week honors.
The SEC Preseason Player of the Year is now five points away from scoring 1000 career points as a Wildcat
Since the Wildcats’ second SEC game of the year, in which they lost 73-68 to Missouri, they have won eight of their last nine contests, only dropping one to No. 18 Vanderbilt on Jan. 17, faltering all around and losing 80-55 inside of Memorial Gymnasium in Nashville.
Kentucky is currently averaging 81.6 points per game, which is the 10th best in the SEC, however, on the other side, the Cats are only allowing 71.3 points per game, which is the third best in the SEC behind Tennessee (69.5) and Florida (71).
The reigning champs:
Florida hits its homecourt while riding a four-game win streak, most recently defeating the Georgia Bulldogs 86-66 on Wednesday night in Athens, Ga.
In the Gators’ 20-point victory over Georgia, guard Xavian Lee scored a game-high 18 points and a game-high seven assists, while big man Rueben Chinyelu contributed a dominating game-high 20 rebounds.
That game marked the third time that Chinyelu has grabbed 20-plus boards in a single game this season.
Head coach Todd Golden’s squad has won nine of its last 10 games, with its lone defeat coming at home to Auburn, falling 76-67 on Jan. 27.
During that 10-game stretch, Florida has beaten four ranked opponents: No. 18 Georgia 92-77, No. 21 Tennessee 91-67, No. 10 Vanderbilt 98-94 and No. 23 Alabama 100-77.
As a key piece to last year’s national championship-winning team, the “Gator Boys’” go-to man this season has been junior forward Thomas Haugh, who leads the team with 17.5 points per game while averaging 6.3 rebounds and 2.1 assists per game as well.
Haugh has reached 20-plus points in 10 games this season.
Statistically, Kentucky and Florida are competeing almsot identically by game. Both teams held opponents to 71 points a game and 16 rebounds, shooting 47% from the field.
As a team, Florida holds slight advantages in scoring (86.3 points per game to Kentucky’s 81.6), rebounding (46.0 to 37.9) and blocks (5.2 to 4.8).
Kentucky, however, leads the Gators in steals per game (7.3 to 6.7) and shoots better from beyond the arc, hitting 34.5% from three compared to Florida’s 29.2%.
ESPN currently gives the Gators a 79.5% chance of victory. Tipoff for Saturday’s contest is set for 3 p.m. ET and can be viewed on ABC.
