Just six days after falling to Florida in the regular-season finale, Kentucky gets another shot at the Gators on Friday in the quarterfinals of the 2026 Southeastern Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament in Nashville.
Florida used an 11-0 run at the beginning of the March 7 contest to top the Cats, who rallied in the second half but could get no closer than five points. Otega Oweh led UK with 28 points in that game while former Gator Denzel Aberdeen added 15.
The Cats and the Gators also met on Valentine’s Day in Gainesville, with Florida claiming a 92-83 win over Kentucky. Aberdeen paced the Cats with 19 points in that game, while Collin Chandler had 18 and Oweh 13.
Kentucky head coach Mark Pope was asked about Florida following Thursday’s win over Missouri. Pope had high praise for the Gators.
“Yeah, we know Florida well. We haven’t had the success we wanted to so far,” Pope said. “They’re a team that you have to manage in transition first and foremost. You have to manage them on the glass. If you don’t do those two things, you don’t have a chance.”
However, it’s not just managing transition and rebounding against Florida.
“Then there’s a bunch of other things on the list,” Pope said. “There’s no secret about how the way they play. Just really good at it. Really in our league, nobody’s really found an answer to that yet. We’re hoping we’ll have some success tomorrow.”
Kentucky advanced to the quarterfinals by beating LSU 87-82 on Wednesday, then beating Missouri 78-72 on Thursday. Oweh has led the Cats in scoring in both games in the tournament, scoring 23 against LSU and 21 against Missouri.
UK has won two games in the SEC Tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Winning a third game will mean getting over the hump against the league’s regular-season champion on Friday.