The Florida Gators (14-6, 4-3 SEC) are preparing for round two against No.10 Kentucky (15-4, 5-2 SEC) following their 87-85 loss to the Wildcats during the first conference game of the season. This time around the Gators will tip-off inside Rupp Arena on Wednesday at 8:00 PM EST, which is known as one of the hardest places to play in all of college basketball.
“It’s a great venue and historic in our game, but I feel like every road venue in our league is tough to play in, whether it’s Kentucky or Missouri or any different school,” Head Coach Todd Golden said on Rupp Arena.
“The crowds in this league is fantastic and there’s a just of great support in these places. The thing about Kentucky, it’s just really big,” Golden added.
Wednesday night will mark Golden’s second trip to Rupp, with the first one ending in a 72-67 loss back in the 2022-23 season.
“What I remember from last year, we did a decent job of keeping the crowd out of it, but at certain moments when they’d make plays it would get pretty loud in there. So just trying to dictate tempo, dictate pace and do a really good job of slowing them down those are kind of things I would point to try and keep the crowd out of the game.”
The location of the game in not the only different factor in Florida’s rematch with Kentucky. Croatian center Zvonimir Ivisic has been granted eligibility for Kentucky after a lengthy review process and is set to play in his 4th game this season. The No.1 European recruit dropped 13 points in 16 minutes during his debut game against Georgia but has tallied just three points in a combined 12 minutes since, including two in Kentucky’s last matchup against Arkansas.
“It’s not going to change a lot,” Golden said on whether Ivisic’s availability will change their game plan. “He’s a guy that in his first game against Georgia played really, really well and then the last two hasn’t been as effective. They only played him three minutes against Arkansas so I think he’s trying to find himself as well and they have (Tre) Mitchell, (Ugonna) Onyenso and (Aaron) Bradshaw and then Z so we’re going to have to be prepared for all of those guys and the different looks they give us. The difference with Z compared to — even though Bradshaw hit a back-breaking 3 against us, he’s really only made one or two 3s on the year and Onyeso doesn’t shoot them so the difference is if they’re playing Z and Mitchell we would have to guard guys that can shoot or at least have the capacity to make some shots from outside. It’s something we’re mindful of and we’ll be ready.”
Kentucky brings one of the Nation’s best offenses in college basketball to the floor on Wednesday night, ranking 9th in adjusted offensive efficiency, according to KenPom.
“Our transition defense is going to be the first thing, the first box we have to check to give ourselves a chance to win,” Golden said on Tuesday. “If we’re letting them play in transition on their home floor it’s going to be a bad formula for us. They’re a fantastic offense and they’re even better in transition. So making them run against a set defense, and the first time we played them that was our big advantage. We were able to execute offensively in the halfcourt. We actually scored more efficiently in the halfcourt more so than in transition, which is not something that happens a lot. I think that was more of an aberration than anything else. But on the defensive end, they kind of carved us in transition, but we did a good job against them in halfcourt. We held them to under a point per possession, which is hardly hard to do against them. So I think pace and whoever is dictating that is going to be a big part of this game.”
“Fast breaks, dunks, those are the kind of swing plays that get a little more momentum and gets the crowd involved, so if we can find a way to limit those swing plays we’ll give ourselves a better chance,” Golden said on stopping Kentucky’s offense.
The Gators have been able to build significant leads over quality opponents as of late but are still in search of playing a full 40 minutes of quality basketball.
“That’s part of growing and getting better as a program and building, Golden said. “You’re in these positions to finish a team off and we did a good job with that against Arkansas a couple weeks ago whereas these past couple games. Mississippi State is a great opponent, they’re a top-35 team or whatever, Georgia has played everybody well in our league. We got over that first hump of being able to build those leads and now the second I think will be when we do (build a lead) to not even let it be tight, to not let it be a game. The great thing is, it’s always easier to teach those wins after wins so we’ll hang onto that and still focus on areas to improve but that’s going to be the next step for us.”
“The key is obviously we have to do a good job both halves defensively,” Golden said on how they are approaching Kentucky the second time around. “We did a good enough job over 40, but not a good enough job in the second half.”
“And then offensively we just got to play more solid for 40 minutes, but they’re the type of team, especially on their home floor, that’s explosive offensively, so we’re gonna have to do a really good job that way,” Golden added.
The Gators are 5-65 all-time on the road against AP Top-10 opponents and are looking for their first such win since a 2003 victory at #7 Mississippi State. Three of those five victories have come at Kentucky. Florida is searching for their signature quad 1 victory when they take the floor in Lexington, Kentucky on Wednesday night.