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Florida basketball announcing schedule for this week’s games

By Will Thomas

Jan 25, 2023; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden reacts against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 25, 2023; Gainesville, Florida, USA; Florida Gators head coach Todd Golden reacts against the South Carolina Gamecocks during the first half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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Florida basketball is coming off of a tough 50-64 loss at Kansas State, and it doesn’t get much easier from here on out.

They return home to take on the Tennessee Volunteers Wednesday and hit the road to Lexington to play the Kentucky Wildcats on Saturday.

The Gators will be welcoming in a red-hot Vols team on Wednesday. They’re 18-3 and 7-1 in the SEC, with their only loss coming to Kentucky a few weeks ago.

Tennessee is coming off of an 11-point win over Texas at home in the SEC-BIG 12 challenge and feels that they can beat anybody.

Their defense is smothering, as they’re only allowing teams to score 53.7 points per game and swipe 9.7 steals per game. For a Gator team that has struggled to get any offense going in a few games this year, it doesn’t get easier coming home.

One thing that makes Tennessee so hard to beat is that there isn’t just one guy you can slow down to take away their offense. They have four guys who average scoring double-digits, and one more who’s sitting at 9.8.

The Gators will have to play their most complete game of the season, and find some rhythm on the offensive end if they want to pull the upset.

After they battle with the Vols, Florida has to go on the road and play the Kentucky Wildcats in Rupp Arena. The Wildcats are 14-6, and 5-3 in SEC play.

Despite their slow start to the season, Kentucky seems to be turning it around. They just lost to Kansas at home, but the Jayhawks are one of the best teams in the country.

They were able to go on the road and beat Tennessee, and have won their last three SEC games by an average margin of 11.67 points.

The key to beating Kentucky, like last season, is to stop Oscar Tshiebwe. He leads Kentucky in both points per game and rebounds per game and averages a double-double easily.

The Gators have only beaten Kentucky once in their last eight meetings, so going and doing it on the road would mean a lot to Gator fans and the team.

Keep up with Florida basketball at Hail Florida Hail.

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