Kentucky to be without a starter for regular-season finale vs. Florida

The Kentucky Wildcats are in Gainesville on Saturday for their regular-season finale against the Florida Gators.

After losing to Tennessee on Tuesday, the Wildcats will be looking to enter the SEC Tournament with some positive momentum, but that won’t be easy after some news that broke on Saturday morning.

Per Kentucky coach John Calipari, starting PG Ashton Hagans didn’t make the trip to Gainesville and has stepped away from the team for a couple of days for personal reasons:

Ashton did not make the trip with us to Florida. He and I met a couple days ago and he asked to step away for a couple days for personal reasons. I support his decision. We are going to need him at 100% for the postseason.

— John Calipari (@UKCoachCalipari) March 7, 2020

Hagans is averaging 11.5 points, 6.4 assists, 3.9 rebounds and 1.9 steals per game. He’s also one of the best defenders in the conference, so his absence will be noticed on Saturday.

Kentucky’s game against Florida tips off at 1 p.m. Eastern time and can be seen on CBS.