Wednesday, December 21
Gainesville, FL
7 PM
Florida Gators
vs
Little Rock
Pregame Stuff: Arkansas-Little Rock at Florida (Wednesday, 7 pm)
Tuesday, December 20, 2016 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
A nuts and bolts look at UF's grand reopening game in the O'Dome.
FLORIDA vs ARKANSAS-LITTLE ROCK When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. (ET)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida 8-3, Arkansas-Little Rock 9-3
TV: SEC Network (Rich Hollenberg, Kyle Macy and Steffi Sorensen)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
Less than 1,000 tickets remain for UF's grand reopening of the $64.5 million renovated O'Dome. The venue hosted winter commencement last weekend, but the basketball court did not go down until Monday and the Gators did not get a chance to see their new home or shoot on the floor until Tuesday. ... Florida is looking to close out the fall semester on a positive note and thus make sending the players home for Christmas a more enjoyable and positive experience, especially with the start to the Southeastern Conference season immediately upon them (Dec. 29 at Arkansas) once back from the holiday break Monday. ... Wtih the student body gone for the holidays, it's worth noting the first game with the full O'Dome atmosphere is set for Jan. 3, the home SEC opener against Ole Miss with the Rowdy Reptiles in the house. ... UF and UALR have met just once before, that one coming in the third game of the '13-14 season. The Gators got 27 points from forward Casey Prather on 10-for-11 shooting from the floor and UF fans got their first look at forward Dorian Finney-Smith, the transfer from Virginia Tech, who went for 17 points and nine rebounds in his debut. Florida scored 59 points in the second half on the way to an 86-56 win on Nov. 16, 2013. ... UF is 14-6 all-time against teams currently in the Sun Belt Conference, but two of the last three are worth noting: The Gators needed overtime to escape Louisiana-Monroe 61-56 in early 2014 and were upset by Jacksonville 67-66 nearly seven years to the day (Dec. 22, 2009) just before Christmas break.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
| Florida | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Class | Per Game |
| Devin Robinson | F | 6-8 | 200 | Junior | 11.6 pts / 5.7 reb |
| Justin Leon | F | 6-8 | 206 | Senior | 7.1 pts / 3.6 reb |
| Kevarrius Hayes | C | 6-9 | 218 | Sophomore | 4.7 pts / 3.4 reb |
| KeVaughn Allen | G | 6-2 | 183 | Sophomore | 13.1 pts / 2.0 reb |
| Kasey Hill | PG | 6-1 | 175 | Senior | 9.6 pts / 3.0 reb / 4.2 asts |
| UALR | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Class | Per Game |
| Jalen Jackson | F | 6-6 | 215 | Senior | 11.6 pts / 4.8 reb |
| Marius Hill | F | 6-5 | 220 | Senior | 10.4 pts / 6.2 reb |
| Lis Shoshi | C/F | 6-11 | 225 | Senior | 9.7 pts / 8.8 reb |
| Marcus Johnson Jr. | G | 5-11 | 175 | Senior | 14.8 pts / 3.2 reb |
| Kerney Osse | G | 6-1 | 208 | R-Senior | 11.1 pts / 4.1 reb |
STANDING OUT (Opponent to Watch)
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
ABOUT THE GATORS: After dropping a pair of games to ranked teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference (vs No. 5 Duke in New York and on the road at No. 21 Florida State), Florida snapped the skid by smashing Charlotte by 41 points Saturday in the Orange Bowl Classic at Sunrise, Fla. The Gators set a record in the event for the most points scored in a regulation game, as well as the largest margin of victory, and did so with a collective defensive effort that an extremely pleased Coach Mike White said lasted for nearly the entire 40 minutes. ... Florida ranks in the top 10 in defensive efficiency, according to the KenPom advance metrics. ... ... UF will be without 6-11, 250-pound center John Egbunu (9.0 ppg, 7.7 rpg) for the second straight game, due to a hamstring injury he suffered during practice last week. In Egbunu's absense, Kevarrius Hayes was extremely sound against UNCC, scoring nine points and grabbing five rebounds. The UF staff has complete confidence in Hayes, given his unselfishness and uncompromising effort on both ends of the floor. ... Point guard Kasey Hill averaged 13.3 points over his previous three games and shot 48.5 percent from the floor. ... Forward Devin Robinson had 15 points and nine rebounds to garner Most Outstanding Player in the Orange Bowl event. ... Backup forward Canyon Barry, who rates third on the team in scoring (11.4 ppg), wiggled out of a four-game scoring slump with a team-high 16 points against Charlotte, including 9-for-10 from the free-throw line. Going into that game, Barry had averaged just six points, hit only 10 of his previous 37 shots and was 1-for-11 over five games from the 3-point line. He made one of three longballs in Sunrise. ... ABOUT THE TROJANS: They're in Year 1 under Wes Flanigan, a starting point guard at Auburn during the '90s, who was promoted from associate head coach after Chris Beard was hired away by UNLV after guiding UALR to a 30-5 season, the Sun Belt Conference title and shocking early round NCAA upset of No. 3-seed Purdue (see video below). ... The Trojans, who had won six straight before losing Monday night at Oral Roberts, return a pair of starters from their '15-16 squad, as well as a trio of players who were major contributors to that championship team and NCAA party-crasher. .... UALR has four starters averaging in double-figure scoring, with its fifth guy, 6-11 'stretch-4' forward Lis Shoshi nearly there as well. Shoshi can do damage inside and out, hitting 44.3 percent from the floor (plus 76.6 from the free-throw line) and is capable of knocking down 3s, despite starting the season just 2-for-12. ... Forward Jalen Jackson is the team's No. 2 scorer, but is awfully efficient shooting the ball (48.1 percent from the floor, 7-for-12 from deep, 80 percent at the line). ... Though Johnson is the team's most willing 3-point shooter (and a good one at 35.8 percent), guard Kemy Osse has a team-best 28 makes from deep, where he's at 41.8 percent.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
* 1 — UF players in the 2015-16 regular 10-man rotation who shot at least 80 percent from the free-throw line. Guard KeVaughn Allen was the only one (84.6).
* 5 — UF players in the 20-16-17 regular nine-man rotation shooting at least 80 percent from the free-throw line. Allen (87.5), Barry (84.4), Keith Stone (83.3), Robinson (80.5) and Chris Chiozza (80.0) are there.
* 295 — Days since the Gators last played a game in the O'Dome (an 88-79 loss to No. 22 Kentucky on March 1, 2016).
* 533 — All-time UF games played in the O'Dome, dating to the building's [first] opening Dec. 30, 1980. Florida is 417-116 all-time there.
* 10,133 — The new official basketball capacity of the O'Dome, down from 11,548. That's a difference of 1,415 seats.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
Enjoy your new home, Gators everywhere. Merry Christmas and happy holidays, as well.
Players Mentioned
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