Florida (19-11/9-8 SEC) vs. #7/6 Kentucky (24-6/13-4 SEC) Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) Gainesville, Fla. | Game 31 | March 5, 2022 | 2 p.m. BROADCAST INFO CBS | CBS Sports App Play-by-Play: Brad Nessler Analyst: Clark Kellogg Gators Sports Network Play-by-Play: Mick Hubert Analyst: Lee Humphrey
HEAD COACHES Mike White 142-86 | 7th season at UF 243-126 | 11th season overall John Calipari 363-99 | 13th season at Kentucky 766-237 | 31st season overall MATCHUP BASICS All-Time Series: 42-106 All-Time/Home: 26-38 Series under White: 4-9 Home under White: 2-4 Last Meeting: L, 57-78, 2/12/22 (Away
FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 1 CJ Felder F 6-7 231 Jr. 12.5 3.6 2.4 0.7 blk 12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 240 Sr. 29.7 16.1 9.0 2.5 blk 0 Myreon Jones G 6-3 175 Sr. 27.9 9.1 2.7 2.0 3fg 22 Tyree Appleby G 6-1 163 Sr. 27.8 11.4 2.0 3.8 ast 24 Phlandrous Fleming Jr. G 6-5 205 Gr. 27.1 10.9 4.2 1.4 stl KENTUCKY POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 12 Keion Brooks Jr. F 6-7 210 Jr. 24.9 11.2 4.6 .494 fg% 34 Oscar Tshiebwe F 6-9 255 Jr. 31.4 16.9 15.3 1.8 stl 2 Sahvir Wheeler G 5-9 180 Jr. 30.6 10.0 2.3 7.0 ast 10 Davion Mintz G 6-3 195 Gr. 24.8 8.7 2.2 1.5 3fg 31 Kellan Grady G 6-5 205 Gr. 33.1 11.9 2.1 2.8 3fg
NUMBERS OF NOTE 4 Mike White and John Calipari, along with Rick Barnes and Bruce Pearl, are the four active SEC coaches whose winning percentage in conference games rates in the SEC’s top 20 all-time. Calipari sits in third (.770), Barnes 16th (.597), White 18th (.585) and Pearl 19th (.577). 3 In addition to making the game-winning shot, Phlandrous Fleming Jr. stuffed the stat sheet at Vandy with 16 points, six assists, four rebounds, three steals, and two blocked shots. He’s the first Gator since 1996 to reach all those numbers in a single SEC game and the third to do so in any game, joined by Joakim Noah (3/16/06 vs. South Alabama) and Matt Walsh (11/21/02 vs. Eastern Illinois). Florida (19-11/9-8 SEC) vs. #7/6 Kentucky (24-6/13-4 SEC) Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) Gainesville, Fla. | Game 31 | March 5, 2022 | 2 p.m.
2021-22 AT A GLANCE • Florida hosts Kentucky in the regular-season finale and Senior Day for seven Gators. UF is coming off a pair of road wins at Georgia and Vanderbilt and has an opportunity to finish its regular season with a quality win against the seventh-ranked Wildcats. The Gators are also battling for SEC Tournament seeding and will land anywhere from #5 to #9 based on Saturday’s outcomes. • Phlandrous Fleming Jr. has been huge in the Gators’ past two wins. He posted 27 points in his hometown of Athens, Ga., last Saturday, shooting 11-for-18 from the field and 4-for-9 from 3-point range in the win at Georgia. • Fleming’s encore at Vanderbilt helped Florida to a dramatic comeback win after UF trailed by nine with 8:58 to play and by five with 44 seconds left. Fleming’s chase-down block with 29 seconds kept the door cracked for the Gators and his 3-pointer with 6.3 seconds left put the Gators on top. • Tyree Appleby has also had a hot hand for the Gators over the last four games, averaging 19.5 points per game going 16-for-33 from 3-point range (.485) in that span. • The Gators are one of six teams with a win in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments, joined by Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Villanova and Florida State. UF is also one of 12 teams nationally and the only Southeastern Conference team to reach every NCAA Tournament in that span (since 2017). • UF ranks among SEC leaders in blocked shots (second, 5.4), scoring defense (third, 65.4), free throw percentage (third, .737), and 3-point field goals made (fourth, 8.3). • Tyree Appleby played Superman in UF’s win against #2 Auburn, which was the Gators’ highest-ranked home win in program history and matched UF’s highest-ranked regular season victory. Appleby scored 20 of his 26 points in the second half, hitting four of his six 3-point attempts after the break. • It was a familiar role for Appleby, who also sparked a trio of Florida comebacks in three consecutive games against Oklahoma State, Missouri, and Ole Miss and had an early-season game-winning buzzer-beater against Ohio State. The point guard posted 21 points to help UF come back from 16 down against Oklahoma State. Appleby scored 17 points at Mizzou, all in the second half, including a pair of game-winning free throws with 7.9 seconds left. Against Ole Miss, Appleby recorded a double-double with 10 points and 10 assists. • Colin Castleton has been productive since his Feb. 5 return to the lineup after missing six games with a shoulder injury, averaging 17.5 points and 9.0 rebounds in the eight games since. He posted 19 points and eight rebounds in the win vs. Auburn and went for a career-high 29 vs. Arkansas. Castleton also has 114 career blocked shots at UF, one away from joining the Gators’ career top 10 (Alex Tyus, 115). • The Gators stifled Vanderbilt in the teams’ first meeting, limiting the Commodores to 14 second-half points. Vandy’s 42 total points marked the second-fewest UF has allowed vs. an SEC opponent under Mike White (41 at SC, 2/10/18). No Commodore scored more than seven points against the UF defense. • Florida battled back from a double-digit deficit to knock off Ohio State on Tyree Appleby’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Phlandrous Fleming led the Florida attack with 19 points and four steals, supported by Colin Castleton’s double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT • Oscar Tshiebwe leads Kentucky with 16.9 points per game and leads the nation with 15.3 rebounds per game. He also has a team-high 55 steals and 44 blocked shots. • TyTy Washington (12.4 ppg), Kellan Grady (11.9), Keion Brooks Jr. (11.2) and Sahvir Wheeler (10.0) all average double figures, as well. • Wheeler leads the Wildcats with 182 assists, and Grady is the top 3-point threat with 84 made at a .433 clip. OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES Feb. 15 at Tennessee L 63-76 Feb. 19 Alabama W 90-81 Feb. 23 LSU W 71-66 Feb. 26 at Arkansas L 73-75 March 1 Ole Miss W 83-72 SERIES UNDER WHITE (4-9) Feb. 6, 2016 A L 61-80 March 1, 2016 H L 79-88 Feb. 4, 2017 H W 88-66 Feb. 25, 2017 A L 66-76 Jan. 20, 2018 A W 66-64 March 3, 2018 H W 80-67 Feb. 2, 2019 H L 54-65 March 9, 2019 A L 57-66 Feb. 22, 2020 A L 59-65 March 7, 2020 H L 70-71 Jan. 9, 2021 H L 58-76 Feb. 27, 2021 A W 71-67 Feb. 12, 2022 A L 57-78 TOP-10 WINS UNDER WHITE (6) Jan. 30, 2016 #9 West Virginia W 88-71 Feb. 4, 2017 #8 Kentucky W 88-66 March 15, 2019 vs. #9 LSU W 76-73 Jan. 18, 2020 #4 Auburn W 69-47 Jan. 19, 2021 #6 Tennessee W 75-49 Feb. 19, 2022 #2 Auburn W 63-62
Someway, somehow, we need to get Oscar T in foul trouble. I’d run screen after screen involving him and bump into him when he hedges and see if we get lucky.
Games today that are hopefully relevant because we beat Kentucky! San Francisco vs. BYU (WCC Quarterfinals) at 10:30: USF much safer than BYU. Go Dons. Davidson @ Dayton at 12:30: Tough one because Davidson SHOULD be in and Dayton is fringe bubble. I think we should cheer for Davidson to avoid Dayton sneaking in. Go Wildcats. Miami @ Syracuse at 1: Miami's NET is already down to 58, but has a 4-1 record vs. Q1 teams. Go Cuse. San Diego State @ Nevada at 10:30: Not sure SDSU could fall out at this point, but might as well try. Go Wolfpack. Xavier vs. Georgetown at 7: Now THIS would knock Xavier out. Go Hoyas. Indiana at Purdue at 2: Would be an awesome win for IU. Go Boilermakers. North Carolina @ Duke at 6: Same as IU, this would be an awesome win for UNC. Go Blue Devils. VCU @ Saint Louis at 4: This would be a Q1 win for VCU and it would give them 3. Go Billikens. Loyola-Chicago vs. Northern Iowa (MVC Tournament Semifinals) at 3:30: I think we have to cheer for Loyola and hope they win the tournament now sadly. Go Ramblers. Oregon @ Washington State at 4: Would be Oregon's 4th Q1 win. Go Cougars. Virginia Tech @ Clemson at 2: VT's resume is horrible besides their NET, but this would help to bump them down. Go Tigers. Omaha vs. South Dakota State (Summit Tourney Quarterfinals) at 7: I think SDSU gets in due to their Q1 wins if they don't win the tourney, so that'd be a bad situation. Go Jackrabbits. Morehead State vs. Murray State (OVC Tourney Championship) at 8:30: If the Racers can win then we can stop worrying about the OVC being a two bid league. Go Racers.
UK has a team that can legitimately compete for the national championship so it will be an incredible feat for the Gators to win this game. Gators can’t fall behind by double figures and play catch-up if they want a chance to upset Kentucky. Tshiebwe is gonna get his points and rebounds, the key is to stop the others especially Grady from going off from the 3 point line. Force Wheeler to shoot from the outside as he is most effective when he drives to the basket. Gators can live with whatever baskets Wheeler may make outside of 15 feet. Beat UK and that is worth celebrating. Go Gators!
Thanks Jeff! Enjoy your day my friend. Your Cats have a great chance to go all the way this season. Hoping they don’t play up to their potential today so my Gators have a chance. Anyway, good luck and let’s hope it is a enjoyable game!
Appreciate it! I honestly don’t care about the outcome. I just want to not have any injuries. I think it’s important if not a necessity to get your ass beat before the tourney.
Coach K’s 42-year long career coaching at Duke will come to an end on Saturday versus rival UNC. Hard to remember Duke without him.
Let me go out on a limb here and predict . . . NO WAY the striped shirts allow Duke to lose at home in Coach K's last game. If I'm wrong I'll take a helping of @Bazza crow. LOL!
The 90 former players in attendance would storm the floor before the buzzer and carry the heels out the door.
