Despite having lost three games in a row, Kentucky can jump into a first-place tie in the SEC East by beating Florida on Tuesday night in Lexington.
The Wildcats are 4.5-point home favorites on WagerWeb.com.
Frankly, no one wants to take charge in the entire SEC, which remains without a ranked team. UK looked like it might be that team before losses to Mississippi, South Carolina and Mississippi State – not exactly the best teams in the conference. Florida, meanwhile, has played just twice since Jan. 31.
The Gators (+165 on the WagerWeb.com money line) have won seven of the past eight meetings between the two schools but lost the last meeting 75-70 last March in Lexington. The home team has covered in the past four.
As long as UF is defensively strong on two players tonight, it should win. Kentucky guard Jodie Meeks (28.4) and forward Patrick Patterson (16.1) are scoring 44.5 points per league game. The rest of the team is only adding an averaging of 27.5 points per outing. Meeks broke the Kentucky single game record by scoring 54 points against Tennessee on Jan. 13.
In last Tuesday’s 66-57 home loss to Mississippi State, Meeks and Patterson combined for 52.6 percent of the scoring, tallying 15 points each. The rest of the team hit just 9 of 32 shots. In last week’s 78-77 home defeat to South Carolina, the duo combined for 62.3 percent of the scoring.
“If they sag off me or sag off some other guys, we still have to find a way to help Jodie and Patrick,” point guard Michael Porter said.
A loss tonight would be crushing for Kentucky. Frankly, it would put the nation’s all-time winningest program in serious jeopardy of missing the NCAA tournament for the first time since 1991.
Perhaps most significantly, a loss would be Kentucky’s fourth straight in conference play, matching the second-longest slide in the team’s decorated history. Three of those losses would have come at Rupp Arena, where Kentucky was unbeaten during league play last season.
“We’ve got to understand, we’re going to get Kentucky’s best effort,” UF coach Billy Donovan said. “They’re going to play their best game of the year. That’s how we’ve got to approach it.”
Florida has been a one-man show in many games, with sophomore point guard Nick Calathes running the offense and leading the team with 18.1 points and 6.4 rebounds per game. Thus UK will focus on him.
“To be honest, I think our backs are against the wall, too,” Calathes said. “We need this win more than them because this would put us first in the SEC.”
WagerWeb.com Game Trends
* Gators are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 Tuesday games.
* Gators are 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games after allowing more than 90 points in their previous game.
* Wildcats are 9-3 ATS in their last 12 games following a ATS loss.
* Wildcats are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games vs. a team with a winning S.U. record.
* Wildcats are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games following a S.U. loss.
* Wildcats are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall.
* Wildcats are 1-4 ATS in their last 5 vs. Southeastern.
* Wildcats are 1-5 ATS in their last 6 Tuesday games.
* Home team is 4-0 ATS in the last 4 meetings.
* Under is 4-1 in the last 5 meetings in Kentucky.
* Gators are 5-2 ATS in the last 7 meetings.
NCAA Basketball Betting at WagerWeb.com
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