Florida basketball gets set to play the Kansas State Wildcats on Saturday evening inside Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas, as former Gator [autotag]Keyontae Johnson[/autotag] leads his top-five squad into the fray against his former team. While there is still plenty of love between the erstwhile preseason SEC Player of the Year and the Orange and Blue, it is all business once the jump ball toss is in the air.
Ahead of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge matchup — which in this case features a pair of programs who have split their two prior meetings — CBS Sports writer Kyle Boone published his takes on each game played during the challenge, including UF-KSU. Here is what he had to offer while picking the Wildcats to win by five.
Kansas State has yet to lose at home all season under first-year coach Jerome Tang and that streak won’t end this weekend with Florida rolling into the Octagon of Doom. The Wildcats are 8-3 ATS at home this season, too, so I like laying the number with them in this spot.
The Gators enter the matchup with no votes in either the Coaches or AP polls while sitting at No. 50 in the NET rankings, No. 35 in ESPN’s Basketball Power Index and No. 43 in KenPom. The Wildcats, on the other hand, are No. 5 in both polls and rank No. 9, No. 34 and No. 25, respectively.
Tipoff is scheduled for 6 p.m. EST with the game broadcast on ESPN2 as well as the Gators IMG Sports Network.
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