No.1 Kentucky Wildcats Set As Nine-Point Favorites Over No.7 Florida Gators

The No.7 Florida Gators travel to Lexington to take on the top-ranked Kentucky Wildcats on Tuesday night.

The Wildcats have won 15-straight games, and 45 in a row on their home floor.

Florida has been perfect at home, but struggled some on the road. Still the Gators believe that the pressure is on Kentucky.

“There’s no pressure on us, going into Rupp, just playing our game,” said Gators’ guard Kenny Boynton. “We’ve just got to go there with a winning mind-set. Everything else will take care of itself.”

The Gators have won seven-straight games though, including over Mississippi State and Vanderbilt who were both ranked at the time, to jump back into the top-10.

On the other side of the court, the Wildcats remained the No.1 team in the country for a third week in a row, getting all of the first-place voes in the coaches poll, and all but three in the AP.

“They’re playing very, very well,” said Gators’ head coach Billy Donovan. “I think one of the things for them is their team continues to get better. Whether they’re ranked No. 1 or No. 5, clearly they’re one of the best teams in the country, there’s no doubt about that. So, there’s really nothing with their team when you look at it that appears like a real glaring weakness.”

When Kentucky has been in close games, it’s because they have given up some three pointers.

In the one loss on the season on the road to Indiana by one point and a one-point win over North Carolina, the Wildcats gave up 20 3-point field goals.

Oddsmakers have set Kentucky as nine-point favorites over Florida on College Basketball Betting Odds on Bovada Sportsbook.

The Gators have fared well against the spread on the road at Kentucky, going 5-2-1 ATS in their last eight.

“A victory would get us a lot of respect,” Boynton remarked. “But at the end of the day, they’re just another SEC team to us. They’re no different from Tennessee or South Carolina. If we go out there and play the way we’ve been playing lately, we’ve got a great chance of winning.”

Coverage of the Gators and Wildcats kicks off at 7:30pm ET on ESPN.