Pregame Stuff: Missouri at No. 24 Florida (Thursday, 7 pm)

Wednesday, February 1, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

A nuts and bolts look at UF's home date against the Tigers.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

No. 24 FLORIDA vs MISSOURI

When: Friday, 7 p.m. (ET)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida 16-5 (6-2), Missouri 5-15 (0-8)
TV: ESPN2 (Jason Benetti, Sean Farnham and Seth Greenberg)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

Two teams having very different seasons. Florida has won two straight and sits just one game behind Southeastern Conference co-leaders Kentucky and South Carolina in the league standings and in a tie with Alabama for third place. Missouri sits winless and dead-last in the SEC, with 12 straight losses overall and 30 in a row on the road. ... The Gators are coming off a two-game road swing that produced a pair of dominating victories -- 106-71 at LSU, followed by an 82-58 wax job at Oklahoma in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge -- that marked the first time in school history UF won back-to-back road games by 30-plus points. ... UF holds a 4-2 edge over Mizzou in the all-time series, with a 2-0 mark at home. The two last met March 5, 2016, in the last game of the regular season, with the Gators winning 82-72 at Columbia, Mo. UF snapped a four-game losing skid in that one behind 20 points from senior Dorian Finney-Smith and 17 from point guard Chris Chiozza. The Gators took a commanding 46-28 halftime lead led by as many as 21 in the second half on the way to their first win in three trips to Mizzou.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Devin Robinson	F	6-8	200	Junior	12.0 pts / 5.5 reb
Justin Leon	F	6-8	206	Senior	6.7 pts / 3.5 reb
John Egbunu	C	6-11	250	R-Junior	7.7 pts / 6.7 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	183	Sophomore	13.6 pts / 2.2 reb
Kasey Hill	PG	6-1	175	Senior	9.3 pts / 2.8 reb / 4.9 asts

Missouri	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Kevin Puryear	F	6-7	243	Sophomore	11.6 pts / 6.7 reb
Russell Woods	F	6-8	236	Senior	8.2 pts / 5.4 reb
Jordan Barnett	F	6-7	215	Junior	8.2 pts / 5.4 reb
K.J. Walton	G	6-3	200	Sophomore	6.8 pts / 3.1 reb
Jordan Geist	G	6-2	180	Sophomore	7.0 pts / 3.1 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

**Kevin Puryear** was the Kansas City Star's 2014 All-Metro Player of the Year, choosing to play in his home state and at his so-called "dream school" over the likes of Arkansas, Ole Miss, Nebraska, Oklahoma State and Creighton, as well. His 355 points last season were the sixth-most ever scored by a Tigers freshman and most since the 1993-94 season. He'll be an unconventional guard because he's lefty. Most of his offensive productivity comes around the basket -- Puryear shoots 43.4 percent overall, but is just 8-for-32 from the 3-point line -- but he's crafty in the paint and good at drawing fouls, where he converts from the line at 74 percent. Missouri's strength is its front court, so a decent game from Puryear won't be so bad, as long as one of the Tigers' guards doesn't sneak into the act.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: UF had won seven straight before dropping one on the road at South Carolina followed by a dismal home loss to Vanderbilt, shooting a combined 8-for-43 from the 3-point line in those two games (18.6 percent). But then Florida went on the road and hit a staggering 27-for-54 from deep (50 percent) in two wins, but even more encouraging to Coach Mike White and his staff was seeing the Gators amass a plus-19 rebound edge in the two games. That's an area where the team must improve to reach the next level. Same goes for defense, where the Gators were very good at LSU and Oklahoma, but have been downright awful in five games at the new O'Dome, allowing visitors to make 49 percent from the floor. ... After sub-standard performances across the board, the Gators basically came alive en masse on their two-game roadie. Leading scorer KeVaughn Allen combined for only 19 points in the two games, but UF got big efforts from forward Devin Robinson (24 points at LSU, 8-for-12 from 3 for the week) and backup center Kevarrius Hayes (career highs of 20 points and 9 rebounds at OU), Chiozza (career-high 10 assists at LSU), reserve forward Canyon Barry (15 points at OU after missing LSU game with a sprained ankle) and forward Justin Leon (career-best 8 rebounds vs. the Sooners). In both games, point guard Kasey Hill played excellent defense, excuted the offense by attacking in transition and was especially sound in working pick-and-roll with his bigs at Oklahoma. ... The status of freshman forward Keith Stone is in question as he continues to battle vertigo due to an inner ear infection. ... ABOUT THE TIGERS: They're 24-59 in three seasons under Kim Anderson, a mark that includes just six wins in 44 SEC games, including a gut-punch to the Gators in Columbia, Mo.. ... The Tigers have finished last in the league each of the last two seasons and appear headed there again. They were home Saturday against South Carolina. That one was a three-point game inside three minutes, until the Gamecocks put it away late for a 63-53 win. The Tigers had close calls in defeats of five points or less at Georgia, plus home against Auburn and Ole Miss. ... Mizzou has no wins against teams in the RPI Top 150 and some really bad losses against teams in the RPI Bottom 150: North Carolina Central (228), Eastern Illinois (302) and Lipscomb (201), all at home. ... As a team, the Tigers shoot 39.5 percent from the floor and 27.9 from the 3-point line, both last in the SEC. They're the No. 2 defensive rebounding team in the league at 27.4 per game, which makes them much better than the Gators, who at 24.1 are the SEC's worst defensive rebounding team. ... Forward Jordan Barnett has been Mizzou's scoring leader since he turned eligible at the start of the SEC season after transferring from Texas midway through the 2015-16 campaign to be closer to his hometown of St. Louis. ... Backup guard Terrence Phillips (9.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) is only 5-11, but he'll be heard from around the basket and averages a team-best 4.7 assists per game off the bench.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* 7 — UF players who have led the team in scoring in at least one game this season, a testament to the club's balance (Allen and Barry 6, including one tie; Robinson 4, Hill 2, Leon, Chiozza, Hayes and Stone 1).

* 20 — Florida has had two players -- Barry (three times) and Hayes -- come off the bench and score at least 20 points this season, making for just the third time that's happened in the last 20 years. The others? Matt Bonner (twice) and Brett Nelson in 2000-01; Casey Prather and Michael Frazier II in 2013-14.

* 31 — Minutes logged the last two games by freshman backup guard Eric Hester. In the seven games prior, Hester combined for four minutes.

* 57 — Days since Mizzou last won a game. The Tigers defeated Miami (Ohio) 81-55 on Dec. 6, but has since dropped a dozen straight. One of their wins came against Alabama A&M, which checks in dead-last in Division I RPI at 351.

* 217 — Western Kentucky's RPI (out of 351), which represents the best win on the Tigers' schedule to date.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

No references above to a certain game Saturday night. That was intentional. As big as that one is, this one is bigger right now. If that sounds like coachspeak, so be it. But it's true.