'Pre-Game Stuff' - Florida vs No. 1 Kentucky (Saturday, 9 p.m.)
Saturday, February 7, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
FLORIDA vs. No. 1 KENTUCKY
When: Saturday, 9 p.m. (ET)
Where: O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: UF 12-10 (5-4), Kentucky 22-0 (9-0)
TV: ESPN (with Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Shannon Spake)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Mark Wise), check for local outlets here.
STAKES, STARS & STATS 
>>> This will mark the 11th time Florida has faced Kentucky when the Wildcats were ranked No. 1. The Gators are 0-10 in that scenario. ... UK leads the all-time series 94-34, but UF is 17-24 against the Wildcats under Coach Billy Donovan, with wins in four of the last five meetings, including three victories in 2014, when the Gators became the first program in 35 years to hand the Cats three losses in the same season. ... Florida is 11-7 at home against Kentucky with Donovan on the sidelines. ... The Gators won the last meeting 61-60 in the championship game of the Southeastern Conference Tournament, thanks to 14 points each from Patric Young and Michael Frazier II, though it took a big defensive play Scottie Wilbekin -- against UK guard James Young -- in the final seconds to close the win. ... Florida and Kentucky will play again March 7 at Lexington. 
>>> The Gators rank 11th in the SEC in scoring offense (66 ppg), eighth in field-goal percentage (.440) and eighth in 3-point shooting percentage (.336). Clearly, they have trouble scoring, and that figures to be a problem against a Cats team that ranks first in the SEC in scoring defense (51 ppg), first in field-goal percentage defense (.329) and first in 3-point shooting defense (.272). ... Frazier, the junior guard, is back atop the team in scoring (13.4 ppg) after breaking out of two-game slump with 21 points at Vanderbilt on 4-for-6 shooting from the arc. The Gators need offense from Frazier to stay in the game, but you can bet the Wildcats will be overplaying him around the perimeter knowing how much UF struggles for low-post production from centers Jon Horford (6.6 ppg, 4.8 rpg) and Chris Walker (5.2 ppg, 3.8 rpg). At Vandy, the two combined for zero field goals and just four points. ... Frazier isn't the only UF player in a must-deliver predicament. Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (12.8 ppg, 5.7 rpg), though undersized at 6-8 relative to UK's monstrous front, needs to bounce back from a tough night at Nashville, where he had just four points, four rebounds, took only six shots and fouled out with five minutes left. ... Florida could really use a positive night from streaky junior combo guard Eli Carter (7.8 ppg). Carter has made just 15 of his last 52 shots over the previous five games (28.8 percent) and eight of 29 shots from 3-point range (27.6 percent). 
>>> When you talk about the strengths of Kentucky, where do you begin? Probably with that defense, which starts up front -- and that starts with enormous size. The Cats have six players -- six! -- who go 6-9 or taller. Oh, and all of them were McDonald's All-Americans, of which UK has nine (not including forward Alex Poythress, who is out for the season with a knee injury) ... The duo of junior 7-0 Willie Cauley-Stein (8.7 ppg, 6.4 rpg) and 6-11 Karl Anthony-Towns (8.5 ppg, 6.1 rpg) is as lethal a pair of rim protectors as there is in the country and yet Kentucky also can bring in 7-0 Dakari Johnson (7.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg), incredibly slimmed down from the version of last season, plus 6-10 Trey Lyles (7.5 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and 6-9 Marcus Lee (3.0 ppg, 3.3 rpg). ... The backcourt is manned, like last year, by twins Aaron and Andrew Harrison (11.0 ppg, 2.5 rpg and 8.2 ppg, 4.0 apg, respectively). Both are 6-6 and can give UF's smaller guards fits on the perimeter. ... Backup guards Devin Booker (10.6 ppg) and playmaker Tyler Ulis (5.8 ppg) are dangerous scorers.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE 
* .166 - Florida's winning percentage in 12 games against team's ranked No. 1. Besides the 10 aforementioned losses to Kentucky, the Gators went 2-0 against No. 1 Duke (winning 89-78 in the Sweet 16 round of the 2000 NCAA Tournament at Syracuse, pictured right) and No. 1 Ohio State (winning 84-75 in the 2007 NCAA title game at Atlanta).
* 2 - UF players averaging in double-figures scoring this season (Frazier and Finney-Smith). Donovan's team's historically have averaged four over the years.
* 9 - SEC statistical categories topped by Kentucky: scoring defense (51 ppg), scoring margin (plus-22.8), field-goal percentage defense (.329), 3-point field goal percentage defense (.272), 3-point field goals allowed (4.7 pg), rebounds (38.5 pg), turnovers (10.9 pg), turnover margin (plus-4.5 pg) and blocked shots (7.3 pg).
* 56.6 - Average points scored by the Gators over their last three games (and those were against the defenses of Alabama, Arkansas and Vanderbilt).
* 73 - Blocked shots by Florida this season.
* 166 - Blocked shots by Kentucky this season.
* 1979 - The last time an opponent beat Kentucky three times in the same season, as the Gators did in 2014. The previous team was Tennessee, which should make for quite a motivational ploy for UK's coaches.
WATCH FOR IT
Can't imagine the Gators coming out with anything less than all the energy their bodies can muster. That wasn't the case at Vandy, as UF fell behind 15-0. But facing Kentucky has a way of bringing out the best in a team -- the Wildcats always get a team's most inspired effort -- but Big Blue has been waiting for another crack at the Gators. The Cats will be looking for an early knock-out punch. UF (along with the O'Dome fans) have to weather that storm.
