GAINESVILLE — Florida’s next trip to Kentucky will be much like the previous ones, filled with opportunity and fraught with peril.
The Gators (14-6, 4-3 SEC) hope Wednesday night’s showdown with the No. 10 Wildcats (15-4, 5-2) ends in a rare win at storied Rupp Arena and a likely return to the Top 25 for the first time in three seasons.
“We’ve lost to a lot of ranked games. I think we should be ranked,” power forward Tyrese Samuel said Tuesday. “We’re up there with the top 10 teams in the country. No question.
“We just fell short, just kind of being undisciplined a little bit.”
UF’s 87-85 home loss to Kentucky on Jan. 6 to open league play is one that slipped away for coach Todd Golden’s squad.
The Gators led by as many as 11 points and all for all but 5:25 of the 40-minute game, but ultimately stumbled down the stretch to lose their fifth straight in the series and 10th in the last 11 meetings.
UF has since struggled to hold leads against anyone. Yet during the past two games the Gators did hold on at home to beat Mississippi State, 79-70, and Georgia, 102-98 in overtime, after squandering second-half advantages of 17 and 21 points.
“It’s becoming too much of a common theme,” Samuel said. “We’ve got to fix it, especially coming down to the end of the season. Every game is going to get harder, every team is going to be dying for wins, so we’ve got to learn how to finish out games better.”
Samuel and Co. hope to be positioned to close out Kentucky.
The current Wildcats are Hall of Fame coach John Calipari’s best team in several years, featuring a blend of youth and experience forming one of the nation’s top offensive teams. Kentucky averages 88.5 points and shoots an SEC-leading 49.1% and 40.2% from 3-point range.
Fifth-year senior guard Antonio Reeves averages a team-leading 19.5 points, while 6-foot-9 West Virginia graduate transfer Tre Mitchell averages 13.4 points and 7.7 rebounds. True freshmen D.J. Wagner, son of former NBA player Dajuan Wagner and grandson of former Louisville legend Milt Wagner, averages 12 points and 3.7 assists while fellow first-year players Rob Dillingham and Reed Sheppard average a combined 25.4 points and 7.9 assists off the bench.
“Our transition defense is going to be the first box we have to check to give ourselves a chance to win,” Golden said Tuesday. “If we’re letting them play in transition on their home floor it’s going to be a bad formula for us.”
The Gators, who average 85.4 points, have the firepower to keep pace.
Point guard Zyon Pullin sets the tone. The 6-foot-4, 206-pound graduate transfer leads the SEC with a 6.2 assist-to-turnover ratio while averaging 14.9 points, second to backcourt mate Walter Clayton Jr.‘s team-leading 15.9 points.
The growth of 7-foot-1 sophomore Micah Handlogten, who totaled 23 points and 17 rebounds against Georgia, pairs nicely with the steady play of the 6-foot-10, 239-pound Samuel, who averages 13.2 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds.
“Team’s going to have to watch out for Micah,” Samuel said. “That was his coming-out party and I think he’s only gonna get better from here.”
Samuel, who scored just 3 points on 1 of 6 shooting during the Jan. 6 loss, and Gators will have to be at their best for the 8 p.m. tip-off on ESPN.
Florida has won just 10 of 50 trips to Lexington since 1974, often when either the Gators are at their best or the Wildcats were not.
Four of UF’s victories were by Final Four teams, including the 2006 and ’07 national champions and the 1994 and ’14 SEC champions. Three other wins occurred during a five-year span featuring Joe B. Hall’s 1985 retirement followed by four seasons under Eddie Sutton marked by a major recruiting scandal and ending with a 13-19 record in 1989.
These Gators aim to leave their own mark Wednesday night.
“It’s big,” Samuel said. “We came [up] short last time, unfortunately, but we’re ready.”
Edgar Thompson can be reached at egthompson@orlandosentinel.com
