GAINESVILLE, Fla.-- Florida basketball is riding on a high.

The Gators did not let the game slip away on Wednesday. Mike White's men are coming off a 90-86 win over Ole Miss in overtime, and the win has done much in helping the team's mental game.

“It boosted our confidence a lot," Florida freshman Keyontae Johnson said."We’ve been trying to pull out a win and for that to happen before this big game, I feel like everybody has a great attitude coming toward this next game.”

“It’s nice. Nice to win, it beats the alternative," White told reporters on Friday. "It feels a lot better than it had, coming up short in a few of those this year. I don’t know if that has a lot to do with the game tomorrow. Hopefully other than just feeling a little bit better about ourselves in the locker room. Maybe gaining a little bit of confidence, as we talked about post-game the other night.”

The Gators will not want to focus on that win too much, since they will welcome a very talented Kentucky team on Saturday. According to White, Florida has faced several teams that could very well make it to the Final Four this year,like Tennessee and Michigan State, and No. 7 Kentucky is another team that will provide a challenge.

"I think that they have improved throughout this year defensively, drastically," said White about UF's next opponent. "They’ve improved in a lot of areas, but they’ve made a huge jump in that regard. Obviously execute well and played hard, they’ve got some toughness, they’ve got depth of course. Size, length."

"Every possession is going to count this game," said Johnson. “They play well together. At first, I didn’t think they were going to play as good because they have a lot of top ranked guys and they weren’t going to get along. But they came along well, so I feel like they have great talent and we’re just going to have to work against them.”

"They’re definitely not a veteran team, but they’ve got a little bit more experience," added White. "We’re familiar with Reid Travis, we had to play against him last year. He’s terrific and compliments their other guys. They’re a really good team. They’re terrific. So great opportunity. Obviously we’re going to have to play really well to be competitive.”

A win over the Wildcats will certainly make a statement.

“I think they know that," said White. "Our guys will be ready to play, and geeked up. Kentucky demands that from anyone they play, of course. And our guys for the most part have been ready to play. It’s just closing games, and in this one it’s a matter of whether or not you have an opportunity to be able to close a game. If you don’t play awfully well against a team like this, then it’s not about your finish. So we hope we’re competitive enough to have a chance late.”

A big key to Kentucky's success is their quality depth. Florida will need to find ways to have their bench players contribute more on Saturday if they want to have a chance to succeed against the talented visitors.

"I think somebody’s got to give us something," said White. "My biggest concern, you got a lot of concerns playing a team of this caliber, but with us and our deficiencies at times and their defensive efficiency, especially as of late, just how terrific they’ve become defensively, you wonder how you can score enough to have a chance.

"We’ve gotten very little offensive production off the bench as of late and you hope a guy would come in and make a play in that regard, while defending at the same level," added White. "We’ve got capable guys on the bench, not that we’re getting great production right now. But at certain times a couple of these guys young careers they’ve stepped up and made shots for us and made a winning play. We need it to happen again. We need it to happen more often. It’d be nice if it happened tomorrow.”

Although the Gators are welcoming a top ten program with a storied history, White says he does not need to prepare his freshmen for the environment. Andrew Nembhard, Noah Locke and Johnson have already witnessed a big game environment several times this season.

However, White is just eager to have the backing of the Gainesville home crowd.

" Any time you’re playing a top-10 team, any time you’re playing an SEC game … they’re all exciting," said White about the expected environment for this weekend's matchup. "Environment was great the other day. And you know when Kentucky comes in of course, I think it increases the level of intensity in the arena. We have had a couple of those this year: Tennessee at home, Michigan State at home.

"Hopefully we give our people, Gator Nation, something to cheer about so they can help us throughout the game."

“I’m excited because it’s like a dream playing against a great school," added Johnson. "But I feel like it’s still like a regular game and just take one game at a time.”