Kentucky Wildcats face the Florida Gators Tuesday night

February 12, 2013 |

Lexington, KY – The University of Kentucky Wildcats will put their five game win-streak on the line in Gainesville Tuesday night, to face the Florida Gators in a nationally televised basketball game.

Alex Poythress University of Kentucky

Kentucky earned a hard-fought 72-62 win over visiting Auburn on Saturday after another double-double effort from freshman Nerlens Noel who posted 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds.  Sophomore Kyle Wiltjer led five players in double-figures with a team-best 14 points.  Sophomore Ryan Harrow and freshman Willie Cauley-Stein both notched 12 points, with senior Julius Mays pitching in with 10.

The game will feature the SEC’s top two teams among league standings.

Florida head coach Billy Donovan commented on how his team will handle Kentucky’s size.

Nerlens Noel

“It’s something we’re going to have to deal with. They’ve got really good length. Across the front line, they’ve got a lot of different lineups they can play.  They’re getting (Willie) Cauley-Stein back and then you add (Kyle) Wiltjer and add (Alex) Poythress and (Nerlens) Noel.  They have a lot of length up there.  Our hand is what it is, in terms of our front court.  We know we collectively have to do a good job as a group.  I’ve always been a big believer that it’s not one guy’s responsibility to take care of another guy.  We’ve got to do it and have done it this year as a team and we’ll need to continue to do a good job there as a team.”

The Gators had ascended to the No. 2 team in the nation following a 10-game winning streak and a perfect start to conference play before dropping an 80-69 loss to Arkansas last Tuesday. Florida responded with an 83-53 win over Mississippi State on Saturday. Kenny Boynton leads five players scoring in double figures with 13.1 points per game. Patric Young averages 10.8 points and a team-high 6.6 rebounds for the Gators.

Kentucky has won nine of the last 11 meetings after dropping seven straight in a streak that stretched from the 2005 to the 2008 seasons.

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