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| UF COACH AMANDA BUTLER |
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. - After a successful regular-season when Florida earned the No. 4 seed in the 2016 Southeastern Conference Tournament to earn a double-round bye.
The Gators return to the court and play 13th-ranked and No. 5 seed Kentucky in the quarterfinals on Friday at approximately 2:30 p.m. ET at Jacksonville's Veterans Memorial Arena.
"We've focused 100 percent on ourselves and trying to continue to improve. That's been our mission all year long, how can we continue to improve, to grow as a unit and also pushing them as individuals," said UF coach Amanda Butler. " We've gotten a lot of shots up and had a lot of time together and we've had some really brief, but intense practices and I think it's moved us forward."
Picked in the preseason to finish 12th in the 14-team league by the conference coaches and media, Florida marched its way to a 10-6 SEC record which was good to tie for fourth (with Kentucky) in the final standings, win the tiebreaker and earn a double-round bye.
SEC Network will broadcast the quarterfinal games, with Cara Capuano & Gail Goestenkors calling the action for the Gator game
Kentucky defeated LSU, 79-71, in its second-round game played Thursday afternoon.
The Gators and Wildcats tip-off 25 minutes following the conclusion of the South Carolina-Auburn game that is scheduled to begin the session at 12 noon.
TOURNAMENT NOTEBOOK: This is the first time since the SEC Tournament expanded to 14 teams in 2013 that UF has earned a double-round bye...This is the first time since 2009 that Florida has earned a bye(s) into the quarterfinal round....This is the eighth time in 36 SEC Tournament appearances that Florida is seeded No. 4 or higher, most recently in 2009 when the Gators were seeded fourth...Florida sports a 4-17 all-time record in SEC Tournament quarterfinal games...The last trip to the semifinals was in 1998 in Columbus, Ga. Current Gator assistant coach Murriel Page and UF's 2016 SEC Legend Dana Smith were seniors on that second-seeded Gator team that dropped a 74-61 decision to 3-seed Alabama....This is the first time the SEC Tournament is being played in the state of Florida.