Florida plays host to No. 19 Kentucky on Thurs., Jan. 20 in the O’Connell Center where tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET.
The Gators have played three of their last four games on the road, but return home where they are 8-1 this season, the lone loss coming in their most recent appearance—an 83-40 decision to No. 5/6 Tennessee.
Florida dropped a heartbreaking 70-64 decision at Georgia on Sunday. The Gators led by as many as 16 points with 14:17 remaining in the game. From that point forward, Georgia sank six three-pointers and Florida turned the ball over nine times that resulted in 16 Lady Bulldog points en route to the win.
Kentucky enters Thursday’s game riding a two-game winning streak, having earned home wins against South Carolina and Mississippi State.
Florida is averaging 65.6 points per game with redshirt junior Jordan Jones leads the Gator scoring effort, recording 9.9 points per game, hitting a team-leading 38 three-pointers and playing 32.3 minutes per outing.
Ten different Gators contribute at least 4.7 points per game, with 10 of the 12 players averaging at least 13 minutes of playing time per contest. Eight different Gators have emerged as the team’s leading game scorer, or tied as the leading scorer.
Through five Southeastern Conference games, junior newcomer Deana Allen is averaging team-bests of 9.0 points and 5.8 rebounds, including her 14 piont-13 rebound performance against Georgia on Sunday.
After dropping its first two SEC games, Kentucky is looking every bit like the league’s second-best team, as predicted in the SEC Preseason Poll.
Florida holds a 22-20 all-time lead in the 42-game series against Kentucky, including a 2-2 record in the last four games. The Gators have won the last two contests at home (Feb. 25, 2007 and Jan. 29, 2009) and have fallen in the last two games in Lexington (Jan. 10, 2008 and Feb. 18, 2010).
Thursday’s game marks the only meeting the teams will have in the regular season.
