TV info, story lines for UK-Florida

FLORIDA (16-16)

VS. NO. 1 KENTUCKY (31-0)

Game time : 1 p.m. ET

Site: Bridgestone Arena (20,000), Nashville, Tenn.

Favorite: Kentucky by 13.5

Series: UK leads 96-37. Last meeting: Kentucky won 67-50 on March 7 in Lexington, Ky.

Television: SEC Network (Brad Nessler, Sean Farnham, Shannon Spake)

Radio: WHAS-AM 840 (Tom Leach, Mike Pratt)

FLORIDA

G-Kasey Hill 6-1 So. 4.6* 7.3

G-Eli Carter 6-2 Jr. 2.0 8.7

G-Chris Chiozza 6-0 Fr. 2.1 4.0

F-Dorian Finney-Smith 6-8 Jr. 6.0 13.1

C-Jon Horford 6-10 Sr. 5.0 6.3

* assists per game

Key reserves – Michael Frazier II, G, 6-4, Jr., 12.8 ppg, 4.4 rpg; Jacob Kurtz, F, 6-6, Sr., 4.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg; Chris Walker, F, 6-10, So., 4.9 ppg, 3.5 rpg; Devin Robinson, F, 6-8, Fr., 6.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg; Alex Murphy, F, 6-8, Jr., 5.1 ppg, 1.9 rpg.

KENTUCKY

Pos.Player Ht. Cl. Rb. Pts.

G-Andrew Harrison 6-6 So. 3.8* 8.8

G-Aaron Harrison 6-6 So. 2.5 11.2

F-Trey Lyles 6-10 Fr. 5.0 8.3

F-Karl-Anthony Towns 6-11 Fr. 6.6 9.7

C-Willie Cauley-Stein 7-0 Jr. 6.4 8.9

* assists per game

Key reserves – Devin Booker, G, 6-5, Fr., 10.9 ppg, 1.8 rpg, 1.3 apg; Dakari Johnson, C, 7-0, So., 6.9 ppg, 5.2 rpg, 0.9 bpg; Tyler Ulis, G, 5-9, Fr., 5.4 ppg, 3.6 apg; Marcus Lee, F, 6-9, So., 2.7 ppg, 2.9 rpg, 0.9 bpg.

STORY LINES

1. Can the Cats peak at the right time? As the regular season wound down, Kentucky coach John Calipari's mission became getting each of his many talented players to be at their best come tournament time. So how close are they to that lofty goal? "I think that some guys are right mentally and some guys aren't right mentally and gotta get right the next couple days and going into the NCAA (Tournament)," junior 7-footer Willie Cauley-Stein said Tuesday. "I don't think everybody's been playing on the same level at once, and that's what we gotta get to, everybody playing at the top of their game."

Cauley-Stein wasn't pointing fingers, except at himself. Asked if he was at his best lately, he admitted plainly: "I'm not. I think the last five games showed it." Over the last four, in fact, he's averaged just 5.8 points and shot just 43.4 percent from the field after hitting 70 percent over the previous nine games.

"I've been playing real tentative, not at the best of my game," Cauley-Stein said. "But I plan on getting right."

So if they haven't done it yet, during a 31-0 regular season, just what might it look like if the Cats all click at the same time?

"I'm sure y'all could imagine," Cauley-Stein said. "Um, it's scary."

2. Florida assistant John Pelphrey vs. his alma mater. A Wildcat from 1989-92, the Paintsville native now has a chance to help ding the legacy of one of UK's all-time great teams. "You know, my job has really hurt my relationship with my alma mater," said a grinning Pelphrey. "I guess there will come a certain point in time where I'll have a chance to enjoy that relationship more than I get to because of having been in this league for so long. It's not just another game, but it's not what most people might think because I think all of us are very, very competitive. I've had so many opportunities, it's not what people might think or what it was in the beginning."

He's twice been an assistant at Florida (1996-2002 and 2011-present) and head coach at Arkansas (2007-11). So just how impressive a feat is it that the Cats finished the regular season unblemished?

"I have a lot of respect for that. I think to me, that carries a lot more weight with me (than) the NCAA Tournament," Pelphrey said. "There's a lot of people that would argue that. That's fine. March Madness gets everybody excited. It's a unique animal, it's one-and-done, it's really all about matchups and the wrong couple calls here and there, one guy tweaks an ankle – everything changes so much. But when you do something from the start of the season to the end of the season, I mean, that's persistence, that's resilience, that's handling success.

"Success can make you better than you are and not make you want to go back and practice. If complacency sets in, that's a deadly evil, that's a bad sin. So, yeah, what they've done this regular season is, to me, awesome."

– Kyle Tucker