Gators try to extend rare winning streak against Kentucky to 7 games

GAINESVILLE, FLORIDA - No current Florida player knows what it's like to lose to Kentucky.

The Gators have won six consecutive games in the series, the longest winning streak ever against the Wildcats by a Southeastern Conference opponent.

Florida (15-3, 2-1 SEC) will try to make it seven straight Saturday night. If so, the Gators would join Notre Dame as the only team to win seven in a row against Kentucky (7-8, 1-1).

``It would be huge, but we didn't do that,'' freshman Nick Calathes said.

Calathes and his teammates realize the streak mostly belongs to Corey Brewer, Taurean Green, Al Horford, Lee Humphrey and Joakim Noah the five starters who led the Gators to consecutive national championships and several big wins against Big Blue.

The Gators had lost eight in a row and 10 of 11 against Kentucky before the streak started in Gainesville in March 2005. Florida upset the third-ranked Wildcats 53-52, then beat them again a week later in the SEC tournament.

The two teams have been moving in opposite directions since.

The Gators are two-time defending national champions and three-time defending SEC tournament champs. Kentucky, meanwhile, is no longer the league's dominant program and enduring some growing pains under first-year coach Billy Gillispie.

But Florida coach Billy Donovan, who turned down an offer to leave Gainesville for Lexington last year, was quick to point out that perception and the winning streak mean little.

``To me, what's happened in the past is in the past; it's over and done with,'' Donovan said. ``But if they think I've got this magic wand that I'm going to wave over them and just because they step foot here on the University of Florida campus we're going to win because that's what happens.

``It takes a lot of hard work and sacrifice and being together as a team.''

To some of his current players, though, it might seem easier.

Freshman Chandler Parsons couldn't even recall Florida losing to Kentucky.

How about one of those close games between 2001 and 2005? Nope.

How about that February 2003 meeting in Lexington, a 70-55 drubbing that came a day after the Gators earned their first No. 1 ranking in school history? Not a chance.

``I've just been watching the (recent) years, when Florida usually gets the best of them,'' Parsons said.

Several opponents have gotten the best of Kentucky this season, with Gardner-Webb, UAB, Houston and San Diego all picking up wins against the SEC's most storied program.

The Wildcats rebounded from the rough start with a double-overtime victory against Vanderbilt in their conference opener.

But they followed with a 69-64 loss at Mississippi State, continuing a trend of inconsistency and losing for the seventh time in 10 games.

So if Florida extends its streak Saturday night, it might not surprise anyone. Donovan, though, doesn't expect Kentucky to stay down for long.

``For a long time there, everybody was saying we couldn't beat Kentucky,'' Donovan said. ``Then we've had a chance to beat them, but it's just cycles things go through.

``Kentucky, not too long ago, went to three national championship games and won two out of three national championships. All this stuff goes up and down. ... That's the thing to me that's been the biggest challenge here: nothing has been sustained here for a long period of time. Kentucky's program has been sustained and has proven the test of time.''