SEC Basketball: Florida vs Kentucky preview, TV, and key matchups

Kentucky looks to bounce back from a home loss as they head out on the road to take on the Florida Gators in the SEC Basketball regular-season finale.

Who: 6. Kentucky Wildcats (24-6, 14-3) vs. Florida Gators (19-11, 11-6)

When: Saturday, March 7 at 1:00 PM ET

Where: Exactech Arena in Gainesville, FL

TV Schedule: CBS

Kentucky goes into Gainesville on Saturday needing to win to bounce back from a tough loss at home to Tennessee and keep itself in better position for selection Sunday coming up. The Florida Gators will welcome the visiting Wildcats needing a win themselves to likely solidify their place in the NCAA tournament. The regular-season finale for both teams should be a wild one between two teams in a conference that has seen plenty of ups and downs this season.

Kentucky is coming off their second loss at home this season, their first being the probably over discussed defeat to Evansville, after blowing a 17 point lead with under 17 minutes remaining in the second half. The Wildcats had won eight games in a row prior to the defeat and had risen to number 6 in the AP poll. Kentucky is safely in the tournament and far from panic mode after only one defeat, but a second loss this week would hurt their seeding in the tournament and give them some bad momentum heading into the postseason.

Florida, in their first game home after a 1-1 trip on the road, losing at Tennessee then winning at Georgia, currently sits on the positive side of the bubble and is a 9 seed in ESPN’s Joe Lunardi’s most recent bracketology. However, the Gators are not completely safe and could use the huge boost that toppling a top-10 team in the nation would give. Florida’s only previous win over a team in the top 25 was back in late November against a Xavier team that has since fallen out of the top 25 and into the bubble themselves. Playing their last game in Gainesville this season, the Gators need this win to all but guarantee their spot in the Big Dance this season.

In the first game between the Gators and Wildcats this year played in Lexington, Kentucky’s tough defense allowed them to pull away in the final 10 minutes of the second half. Florida then went on a quick burst to close the gap to 61-59 with 18 seconds left, before Tyrese Maxey and Immanuel Quickley each made two free throws to ice the game for the Wildcats. Kentucky’s defense has been their calling card all year and they will need to get back to their basics to right themselves against Florida, after faltering and giving up 50 points in the second half against Tennessee.

For the Gators, they will need to find production outside of their stars this go-around. In the first meeting, the team’s leading scorers Keyontae Johnson and Kevin Blackshear Jr. put up a solid 19 and 18 points each respectively. They were also helped out by freshman guard Tre Mann’s career-high-tying 13. Outside of that trio, however, only three other players scored and none of them topped 4 points. Johnson and Blackshear Jr. are a talented forward duo and the reason the Gators are in contention for the NCAA tournament, but the rest of the team will need to pitch in more for the Gators to win Saturday and keep chomping at the Big Dance.

The Gators and Wildcats rematch should be a fun one and got put in the national TV spotlight for a reason, not just because Kentucky has plenty of fans to be tuning in. Both teams are talented and athletic, though tough defenses and around-average shooting should keep the game fairly low scoring again. In the end, it will likely come down to free throws again, which heavily favors Kentucky (79.6% FT% ) over Florida (72.2% FT%).

Final Prediction: Kentucky – 66, Florida – 63