Florida vs Oklahoma State (Saturday, 8 pm)

UF last faced Oklahoma State in the 2000 NCAA Tournament's Elite Eight.

Florida vs Oklahoma State (Saturday, 8 pm)

Friday, December 18, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

The Gators are back in the Orange Bowl Classic for the 10th straight year.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

UF vs OKLAHOMA STATE
ORANGE BOWL CLASSIC

When: Saturday, 8:05 p.m. (ET)
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla.
Records: UF (6-3); Oklahoma State (7-3)
TV: Fox Sports 1 (with Justin Kutcher, Bob Wenzel and Jessica Blaylock)
Radio: Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Mark Wise). Check for availability here.

STAKES, STARS AND STATS

>>> The Gators are back in the Orange Bowl Classic for the 10th straight year and 17th time in the last 19 seasons. UF is 14-2 in the event, with five straight wins and victories in 15 of the previous 16. Florida's lone defeats in the OBC came in 2009 against Richmond and 1997 against Alabama-Birmingham. ... UF defeated Wake Forest 63-50 in the 2014 Classic behind 16 points and six rebounds from forward Dorian Finney-Smith and 12 points from Michael Frazier II. ... Florida and Oklahoma State are playing for just the third time, with each of the previous meetings preceding a run by the Gators to the Final Four. UF defeat Bryant "Big Country" Reeves the Cowboys 74-60 in Hawaii on Dec. 28, 1993 en route to Lon Kruger's '94 Final Four, and won 77-65 on March 26, 2000 in the NCAA Tournament Elite at Syracuse to put Billy Donovan's team in the Final Four in just his fourth season. In the latter, the fifth-seeded Gators were led by Mike Miller (14 points, 6 rebounds) and reserve Donnell Harvey (10 points, 6 rebounds). OSU's starting point guard that night was CBS color analyst Doug Gottlieb (0 points, 7 assists). ... The UF-OSU game is the back end of a double-header, with Florida State and Florida Atlantic facing off in the first game at 5 p.m.

>>> By game time, the Gators will have been idle for a week, as the team had a scatter-shot schedule of practices, individual instruction sessions and meetings during final exams. UF's last outing was a 58-52 loss at top-ranked Michigan State, where Florida played well enough to win -- holding the Spartans 24 points before their season average of 82 per game -- but continued its shooting woes by making just 33.3 percent from the floor, 22.2 percent from the 3-point line and 55.6 from the free-throw line. ... Finney-Smith, the fifth-year senior, continues to lead the team in scoring (13.9 ppg) and rebounding (8.3 pg), but sophomore forward Devin Robinson (11 ppg, 7.9 rpg) has been as consistent as anyone on the team. He was one rebound shy at MSU of carding a fourth double-double of the season. ... Center John Egbunu (11.4 ppg, 7.2 rpg) looks to bounce back from a foul-plagued outing against the Spartans when he fouled out in seven scoreless minutes and with just two rebounds. ... Look for sophomore guard Chris Chiozza (6.0 ppg, 2.9 apg) to get a second straight start after he played well -- and shot well (3-for-5 from deep) -- in his first start of the season. Kasey Hill (8.3 ppg) was solid, scoring 13 points, in his first game off the bench since the 2014 Final Four. ... Fifth-year senior forward Alex Murphy, sidelined since tearing the plantar fascia in his right foot in the exhibition game Nov. 5, against Palm Beach Atlantic could be cleared to make his season debut.

>>> Oklahoma State's numbers look pretty similar to Florida's. The Cowboys aren't a great shooting team from the floor (.444) or 3-point line (.318), but do get after it on defense, holding opponents to just 38.5 percent overall and 31.8 from distance. Four of their 10 opponents have failed to hit 60 points. ... OSU is coached by Travis Ford, the former Kentucky star now in his eighth season. Ford is 149-94 with the Cowboys and 328-246 in all four of his head-coaching stops (Campbellsville, Eastern Kentucky, Massachusetts, Oklahoma State). ... Since losing hot-handed shooting guard Phil Forte (already with more than 1,300 career points and averaging 14.4 points) to an elbow injury in the season's third game, the Cowboys have gone 3-3, with losses to George Mason on a neutral site and Tulsa and Missouri State at home. OSU snapped a two-game losing streak Saturday with a 62-60 win over Minnesota at Sioux Falls, S.D. and beat Longwood 73-55 Tuesday. ... In Forte's absence, guard Chris Oliver (11.2 ppg, 3.7 rpg) has paced the Cowboys, but done so off the bench. He's one of three OSU players who average double figures, along with 6-7 forward Leyton Hammonds (11.0 ppg) and 6-2 guard Jeff Newbery (10.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg), who doubles as the team's best rebounder. ... Cowboys point guard is freshman Jawun Evans (9.4 ppg, 4.5 apg).

SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE

* .966 - Current winning percentages of the three teams that have defeated the Gators, based on their aggregate 29-1 record. Purdue is 11-0 and ranked ninth; Miami is 8-1 and ranked 15th; Michigan State is 11-0 and ranked No. 1.

* .976 - UF coach Mike White's winning percentage, based on a 42-1 record, in games when his teams hold opponents under 60 points. The loss at Michigan State, where the Spartans scored 58, was the first. Before that, White was 38-0 in four seasons at Louisiana Tech and 4-0 at Florida in those circumstances.

* 2 - Games when Florida has turned the ball over more than its opponent this season. The Gators did so against Navy (19/13) and Richmond (10/9), but still managed to win those games going away.

* 3 - Players in the nation averaging at least 13.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists with at least 15 made 3-point shots this season. Finney-Smith is one of those players, along with Michigan State's Denzel Valentine and Eastern Kentucky's Jarrelle Reischel.

* 46.2 - Chiozza's shooting percentage from 3-point range this season, based on his 12-for-26 marksmanship. Among teammates with at least two attempts, no one else is within nine percentage points.

WATCH FOR IT

Whether it's KeVaughn Allen or Brandone Francis-Ramirez who gets the start at the two-guard spot against Oklahoma State, it's time for one these guys to take the next step of their young (and developing careers) and make some shots. Combined, the two have hit 26.7 percent from the floor (31 of 116) and just 18.5 percent from the 3-point line (10-for-54). Both of these freshmen are better -- way better -- than that. Their teammates know it. Their coaches know it. Most importantly, they know it. It's a matter of believing it.