KENTUCKY WILDCATS (7-8, 1-1 SEC)
at Florida Gators (15-3, 2-1 SEC)
Saturday, Jan. 19 ? 9:00 p.m.
Gainesville, Fla. – (12,000)
TV: ESPN – Dan Shulman, Jay Bilas and Erin Andrews
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Kentucky travels to Gainesville for the first of two games this season against two-time defending national champion Florida. The game, to be televised live by ESPN, is also host to College Basketball GameDay. It?s the fourth-straight year UK has played at GameDay?s location (twice in Lexington, twice in Gainesville).
Both clubs are coming off road losses in the Magnolia State. The Wildcats dropped a 69-64 decision to Mississippi State Tuesday, while Florida lost to Ole Miss, 89-87. Kentucky, which trailed by as much as 12, but pulled to within a bucket in the last minute, was led by seniors Ramel Bradley (22 points) and Joe Crawford (20). For Bradley, it was his fifth-straight game reaching the 20-point plateau, making him the first Wildcat to do so since Jamal Mashburn in the 1993 season.
Despite the loss to the Rebels, Florida has won four of its last five and 10 of its last 12 games.
CAT SCRATCHES
Kentucky is the all-time NCAA leader in wins with 1,955. UK boasts three of the SEC?s top 11 scorers: Patterson (7th), Crawford (8th) and Bradley (11th). Kentucky leads the SEC and ranks 12th nationally at the foul line, shooting 75 percent (230-of-305). The Wildcats rank second in the SEC in field goal percentage defense (.383). Patrick Patterson ranks in the SEC?s top 10 in both scoring (7th, 16.7) and rebounding (t5th, 8.0). Ramel Bradley is the first Wildcat to record five-straight 20-point games since Jamal Mashburn (1992-93). Mashburn recorded six-straight 20-point games in the 1993 season. Kentucky has used 12 different starting line-ups through the first 15 games of the season. However, UK used the starting five of Bradley, Crawford, Harris, Coury and Patterson for two straight games. Joe Crawford (1,146 career points) and Ramel Bradley (1,083) have become UK?s 54th and 55th members of the 1,000-point club, respectively, this season. Crawford is currently in 42nd place on UK?s all-time points list, while Bradley is 45th. UK leads the series, 84-30, but has lost six in a row to the Gators. The Cats are 31-19 all-time at Gainesville and 16-11 in Stephen C. O?Connell Center.
SCOUTING FLORIDA
Located in Gainesville, Fla. (717 miles south of Lexington), Florida is in the SEC?s East Division.
The Gators enter the contest having won four of their last five games and 10 of their last 12. After facing mass defects to the NBA, junior Walter Hodge is the lone main cog from Florida?s back-to-back national championship run. Freshman Nick Calathes and sophomore Marreese Speights lead Florida in almost every category. Calathes is the team leader in scoring (15.3 ppg), assists (5.8) and steals (1.5 spg), while Speights leads the team in rebounding (7.6 rpg), blocks (1.4 bpg) and field goal percentage (.632).
The Gators are led by Billy Donovan, who is 311-126 (.712) including a 276-106 (.723) mark at Florida. Donovan?s 22 NCAA tournament victories at Florida more than triples the number of NCAA Tournament games UF had won in school history prior to his arrival.
Prior to his arrival in Gainesville, Donovan served as an assistant coach at UK from 1990-94. He was head coach at Marshall from 1995-96.
PRESS CONFERENCE QUOTES – JAN. 18
Head Coach Billy Gillispie
Opening comments ?
We?re excited about going to play the twice defending national champions. I think we?re making major improvements and it?s going to be a major test for us. I hope we?re going to continue to make improvements and start to see the desired results we would like to achieve.?
On Derrick Jasper and Jodie Meeks ?
?They have practiced a little bit but not much. They had very limited practice today. It?s not something our team is dwelling on. We would love to have them back because they are really good players. They aren?t dwelling on that we can?t win without them. I think we can be a force to be reckoned with if we can get them back and healthy and after they get a lot of practice time and understand what we are doing. But I am very proud of our team because they are not dwelling on it. We?re looking at it as strictly a bonus for the minutes they can play and a major bonus if they can ever recover to full health.?
On lessons learned from Mississippi State ?
?Our composure is getting better, we?re understanding where we need to be more often, we?re executing a little better offensively and defensively, and most importantly we?re competing and playing really hard together. I?m excited about those two things especially.?
On the team?s competitiveness ?
?They are trying to compete harder, they are competing harder, and they are trying really hard together. They?ve always tried hard but they?re really competing hard now and hopefully that continues to be the upswing and hopefully we gain steam and momentum as we go.?
On the Mississippi State game ?
?If you shoot 38-percent on the road and still have a chance to win, you have established an identity. A Southeastern Conference opponent as quality as Mississippi State, shows you would be on the right track of establishing a lot of good things. But, we didn?t get over the hump and make the plays that we needed to at the end of the game.?
On scoring in games ?
?I?m not putting limits on what we can do offensively or defensively in games. I couldn?t care less on what the score is, as long as we get one more point than them.?
On the talent of Florida ?
?They do a good job passing, catching and shooting the basketball and they do that from all five positions. That makes them very difficult to guard. I like how our schedule played out, but we didn?t handle our schedule as well as they did. They?ve definitely played good teams, which you probably should schedule with a young team like they have. That was very smart on their part.?
On similarities between Kentucky and Florida ?
?I don?t see a lot of similarities. We?re quite a bit different in the style of play, but we are both trying to achieve the same things. If you ask coach [Billy Donovan], they are continuing to grow as a team. I think we?re all trying to establish defensive superiority. They have a really nice team capable of getting into the tournament and winning a lot of games because they shoot the basketball well, mix their defense up, and are very good in end of game situations.?
On handling Florida?s skill?
?Try to guard them and plan before they catch it. If you let them get into a game where it?s going to be all timing and all precision, it?s not going to be the best because they execute well, pass and shoot well, are on target, and they are skilled young players.?
