Kenny Boynton will once again be face-to-face with an old friend and bitter rival Saturday.
After two years of amateur national championships and high school grudge matches, Boynton and Brandon Knight went their separate ways.
But the duo will share a court when Florida (17-5, 6-2 Southeastern Conference) plays host to Knight and No. 10 Kentucky (16-5 4-3 SEC) at 9 p.m. with bragging rights and conference supremacy on the line.
“We try to make each other better,” Boynton said. “We compete on the court, and then when it’s over, it’s over. Pretty much our focus coming into the game is to win and try to not think about the matchup.”
Although Boynton is trying to keep his personal history with Knight on the backburner, the reunion has been a popular topic leading up to the game.
When the two played together on Team Breakdown, they took home back-to-back 17U AAU National Championships.
Once the summer season ended, the duo returned to the high school hardwood, with Boynton at Plantation American Heritage and Knight at Fort Lauderdale Pine Crest.
The two teams faced off seven times in a two-year span, with Knight’s squad coming out on top on four occasions.
The most notable of those was the last, a 61-59 win for Pine Crest in the Class 3A regional semifinals. Knight scored 26 points, and Boynton notched 20 but missed a game-tying free throw in the closing moments.
While their relationship has grown stale as the gap between the two has widened, Boynton and Knight are still friends who once spoke on an almost daily basis.
That close connection made a number of waves a season ago, when Boynton was outspoken in his desire to bring UF the class of 2010’s No. 6 overall player, according to Rivals.com.
Florida coach Billy Donovan also expressed interest in recruiting Knight, calling him a terrific player with a great work ethic. However, Donovan admits he did not think Knight was truly considering Florida after his official visit early in UF’s season.
Donovan’s suspicions turned out to be accurate, as Knight eventually committed to the Wildcats on April 14.
“I tried to get him to come here,” Boynton said. “He liked it, but Kentucky, he felt that was a better situation, so he chose to go there.”
Knight has put together a stellar freshman season to this point, averaging 17.2 points, 4.1 rebounds and 3.8 assists per game.
“He’s always been a smart player,” Boynton said. “When he’s on the court, he makes the right plays. When he’s open, he takes the shot or tries to get to the rim, and when he sees the open man, he’s a great passer.”
Boynton has played down the matchup from an individual perspective, but he and the rest of the team know any game against Kentucky is a big one, especially a nationally televised game with GameDay in town.
The personal ties between Boynton and Knight only add to the frenzy.
“Every time we play Kentucky, everybody is excited,” senior forward Chandler Parsons said. “Him growing up with him, playing together on Team Breakdown, I’m sure he’s got some real excitement going through his mind and I’m sure he’s going to come ready to play.”
