KSR Game Day: Kentucky faces first true road test against Florida

Ah, Gainsville Rock City. Home of a nationally recognized roadside graffiti wall, the world-famous ska punk band Less Than Jake, and the infamous Gators from the University of Florida. Good morning, Big Blue Nation; while KSR did not make the trip to the late Tom Petty’s hometown, the Kentucky basketball team did, and they are ready to send the Gators free fallin’ into the loss column.

Today’s game will be Kentucky’s first true road test, considering most of the fans in Louisville were wearing blue when the ‘Cats put a beatdown on little brother a few weeks ago. Unlike at the Yum! Center, home orange will be the dominant color in the crowd as the good folks at Florida decided this would be a good opportunity to have an orange-out. Because of course they did.

There is no question that the Stephen C. O’Connell Center will be rocking. Will Kentucky’s freshmen unleash that dog in ’em and walk out with a win? Or will this game serve as a rude awakening to away games in the SEC?

How to Watch

No. 6 Kentucky (10-2) vs. Florida (10-3)
12:30 p.m. ET | Saturday, January 6 | Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O’Connell Center

• TV: ESPN (Jay Bilas, Dan Shulman)
• Streaming: WatchESPN
• Home Radio: UK Sports Network – 630 WLAP, iHeart Radio (Tom Leach, Goose Givens)
• Online Radio: iHeart
• Satellite Radio: Sirius 161 or 191
• Live Stats: StatBroadcast

What Vegas is Saying

Florida opened up as a 1.5-point favorite over Kentucky on Fanduel. Since then, money has trended in Gator’s direction and the line is now up to -3.5. There doesn’t seem to be too much faith in the Wildcats of Kentucky amongst those in the betting community.

As for point total, the over-under is set at 168.5. Florida averages 86.3 points per game while the Wildcats average 91.1. If nothing else, we could be in store for a high-scoring affair.

Prepare for Florida by relishing the past

Kentucky’s history with Florida runs deep. Sure, the ‘Cats have a bigger rivalry with Louisville and Tennessee but the Gators have been the source of some of the most memorable and notorious moments in recent memory. Relive the magic:

• Drew Franklin’s favorite Florida memories (and one that sucked)
• Great Florida basketball villains of the past
• One play from each Florida win since 1995 (courtesy of KSR intern, Daniel Hager)

Another blast from the recent past, entangled in the Florida-Kentucky series, stopped by practice last night. Former Kentucky legend, current Atlanta Dream star, and temporary Florida assistant coach, Rhyne Howard, paid the men’s team a visit. No word on who she’ll be cheering for when the ball tips, but know that the camera will be sure to find her multiple times this afternoon.

What’s a stop in Gainesville without the 🐐 stopping by? pic.twitter.com/fHMcnv1W8T

— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) January 6, 2024

The Scouting Report

The Gators will provide the Wildcats with one of their most difficult matchups to date this season. Specifically, the Gators’ offensive rebounding could pose a serious threat. The Gators rank fifth in the nation in offensive rebounding percentage, corralling 41.3 percent of their misses. Simply put, rebounding will be important for Kentucky in this matchup, one of the few areas where Kentucky has struggled this season.

The Wildcats gave up 24 offensive rebounds in its last game against Illinois State. Kentucky’s two seven-footers, Aaron Bradshaw and Ugonna Onyenso pulled down just two defensive rebounds in 31 combined minutes against the Redbirds. That can’t happen against Florida. Kentucky is going to need a better rebounding effort from top to bottom.

Then again, Florida’s aggressiveness on the offensive glass could lead to more transition points for the ‘Cats. As Tre Mitchell put it, “You’ve gotta think about it in a sense where if you’re sending two, three guys to the glass for an offensive rebound, there’s nobody getting back on defense. That’s an opportunity for us to get out there and run, we just gotta secure the rebound first.”

Easier said than done, but if Kentucky can regularly limit Florida to one chance on offense, fastbreak points will be easy to come by.

For a more in-depth scouting report, KSR’s Brandon Ramsey has you covered. For more Xs and Os from Brandon and Zack Geoghegan, check out the third episode of KSR’s best-named podcast, Floppy Action.

Free Big Z! Free Big Z!

Kentucky’s latest player enigma, Zvonimir Ivisic, is back from his native Croatia and is with the team in Gainsville. The NCAA eligibility crew is back from their Christmas break as well (purportedly), but continue to keep everyone waiting.

I’m sure it is probably Janice in Accounting’s birthday and a handful of folks have a serious case of the Mondays, but there seems to be little excuse for why is taking so long to make a decision on Big Z’s eligibility. Tre Mitchell told the Lexington Herald, “They just need to free my guy, man. They just need to let him loose.”

One group of Kentucky fans took the cause to the next level. Their idea? Put up a #FreeBigZ billboard outside of the NCAA Eligibility Center in Indianapolis. The targeted location is directly across the intersection, one within walking distance for employees to see going in and out of the office.

The campaign started Friday morning, and within four hours, the $3,600 needed to cover expenses related to the rental and material costs was raised.

You people are crazy.