No. 5 Florida ends regular season at Kentucky
· Yahoo Sports
Kentucky will have a formidable challenge to taking some momentum into the postseason Saturday afternoon.
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The Wildcats host No. 5 Florida to finish the regular season. UK is in the middle of a jumble in the SEC standings to see when it will start play in the SEC Tournament next week in Nashville, Tenn.
A strong performance against the Gators, or even a win in what should be a raucous atmosphere at Rupp, could give a lift to a UK team that is 19-11, 10-7 in the SEC. Florida is 24-6, 15-2 in the league, and in serious consideration for a top seed in one of the four regions in the NCAA Tournament.
UK had a relative close 92-83 loss at Florida back on Feb. 14.
Over the last few weeks, players’ minutes have come into more of a fan focus, especially with the short bench Mark Pope has had to work with. Three key injuries have been a large factor in UK’s up and down season. But the players on the floor now are going to be navigating March for the Wildcats.
“We’re in winning time. March is winning time,” Pope said Thursday. “I don’t think anybody’s gonna hold back anything right now. It’s winning time right now. We’ll get a little deeper in rotational minutes and do the best we can there and just piece it together.”
Kentucky is down to nine available players at this point in the season. Otega Oweh and Denzel Aberdeen are playing 35 minutes a game recently. over the Collin Chandler is playing 32 minutes per game.
Oweh and Aberdeen will be prominent in UK’s Senior Day celebration, even though Oweh is a two-year Wildcat and this is Aberdeen’s only season at UK.
Walker Horn and Zach Tow are the other seniors that UK will honor Saturday.
Oweh has scored over 1,000 points and has been the leading scorer on consecutive Kentucky teams.
“Otega’s interesting because you just keep asking more from him,” Pope said. “His career here, with what he’s contributed to the two teams he’s been a part of is just remarkable.”
Aberdeen joined Kentucky this season after winning a national championship at Florida last year.
“His fingerprints are all over everything about this year,” Pope said of Aberdeen. “In terms of the real challenges about playing out of position and assuming a role he didn’t expect. He’s just grown so much over the course of the season.”
Horn will be completing his fourth year in a UK uniform and Pope had nothing but praise for him.
“Walker’s been awesome,” Pope said. “He’s born to coach. If that’s the direction he goes, he’s going to be a big-time coach.”
Tow is unique in that he had to earn his walk-on spot on the team. However, Pope knows there are big things ahead for the Madisonville native.
“He’s been going through the law school application process and last week, he got the news that he’s been accepted to UK law school,” Pope said. “The guys were in tears.”