Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Gardner-Webb
Sunday, November 12, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
A nuts and bolts look at Monday night's 2017-18 regular-season opener.
No. 8 FLORIDA vs GARDNER-WEBB When: Monday, 7 p.m. (ET)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida 0-0, Gardner-Webb 0-1
TV: ESPNU (Roy Philpott and Brooke Weisbrod)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
Year 3 of the Mike White era tips off against Gardner-Webb in the first meeting between the two programs. ... The Gators are coming off a 27-9 season that saw them finish second in the Southeastern Conference, gain a No. 4 seed in the NCAA Tournament and advance to the Elite Eight before falling to South Carolina in the East Region final, one victory shy of the Final Four. UF returns two starters from last year's team, plus another three players who were prominent backups, including senior point guard and Sweet 16 hero Chris Chiozza, whose suffered a shoulder sprain in a Nov. 2 preseason game against Jacksonville, but is expected to play; maybe even start. White and his trainer will make the call Monday night after seeing Chiozza in the afternoon shoot-around and pre-game drills. Chiozza has never missed a game in his UF career. ... Florida has won 26 straight season openers under three different head coaches. ... Gardner-Webb opened its season Friday night, losing 77-45 at No. 13 Miami.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
| Florida | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Class | 2016-17 Per Game Statistics |
| Egor Koulechov | F | 6-5 | 205 | G-Transfer | 18.2 pts / 8.9 reb (at Rice) |
| Keith Stone | F | 6-8 | 245 | R-Sophomore | 3.6 pts / 2.2 reb |
| Kevarrius Hayes | C | 6-9 | 225 | Junior | 6.2 pts / 4.4 reb |
| KeVaughn Allen | G | 6-2 | 193 | Junior | 14.0 pts / 2.4 reb |
| Chris Chiozza | PG | 6-0 | 192 | Senior | 6.2 pts / 2.8 reb / 3.5 ast |
| Gardner-Webb | Pos. | Ht. | Wt. | Class | Per Game |
| D.J. Laster | F | 6-6 | 230 | Junior | 10.0 pts / 8.0 reb |
| L'Hassane Niangane | C | 6-10 | 245 | Senior | 0.0 pts / 6.0 reb |
| Jamaal Robateau | G | 6-5 | 180 | Junior | 3.0 pts / 4.0 reb |
| Christian Turner | PG | 5-10 | 180 | Sophomore | 2.0 pts / 1.0 ast |
| David Efianayi | G | 6-2 | 185 | Junior | 9.0 pts / 4.0 reb |
STANDING OUT (One to Watch)
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
ABOUT THE GATORS: They're 48-24 in the first two seasons under Coach Mike White, and enter 2017-18 with serious expectations, starting with a place in the top 10s of both The Associated Press and Coaches top 25 polls. ... The Gators have a plethora of guys capable of scoring in bunches, but White and his staff know the team has a long way to go to having a defense capable of contending for championships. Defense has been the first, second, third priorities throughout the preseason and will remain as such. ... In their three preseason games, the Gators were led in scoring by fourth-year junior guard Jalen Hudson, the transfer from Virginia Tech, who averaged 16.3 points on 46.9-percent from the floor, 57.1 from the 3-point line (8-14) and 78.6 from the free-throw line. Hudson, like Allen, is supremely talented with the ball, but the UF staff want his aggressiveness on offense to transfer to the other end, as well. Hudson can play either perimeter spot (he started at small forward in UF's exhibition defeat of Tampa), and even take the point in a pinch. ... Combo forward Egor Koulechov, the graduate transfer from Rice, had a productive preseason, as well. He averaged 12.7 points, hit seven of 16 from the arc, made 11 of 12 free throws and averaged 5.3 rebounds per game. ... Forward Keith Stone will start at power forward and get a chance to be a "stretch-4" type, in addition to being asked to crash the glass. This is a big season for Stone, who can help this team immensely if the light comes on. ... Inside, junior Kevarrius Hayes returns at the center spot he took over following the season-ending knee injury to John Egbunu. Hayes, with his athleticism, length and activity on the block, is an ideal compliment to an offense that can really space the floor with scorers. ... Sophomore Gorjok Gak, the 6-foot-11, 245-pound backup center, has a chance to be UF's most improved player, after performing well for Australia in the World University Games. In the three preseason games, Gak averaged 6.3 points and 6.0 rebounds and blocked four shots. ... ABOUT THE RUNNIN' BULLDOGS: They're in their fifth season under Coach Tim Craft, a Tallahassee native who made it to Boiling Springs, N.C., by working his way up the ladder as junior varsity and varsity coach at Quincy (Fla.) Munroe High, then moving on to Pensacola (Fla.) Junior College before taking an assistant's post at Gardner-Webb in 2004. Seven years later, Craft was the head coach and has posted 74 wins – the best total over a four-year span in Gardner-Webb's NCAA Division I
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
* .454 — Combined field-goal percentage of Hudson, Allen and Koulechov in the three preseason games, based on 40-for-88 shooting from the floor.
* .833 — Redshirt freshman center/forward Dontay Bassett's free-throw percentage in the three preseason games, based on 10-for-12 from the line. He also averaged 5.7 rebounds, with nine of his 17 coming on the offensive glass.
* 77 — Points needed by Allen to become the 51st player in UF history to hit 1,000 for his career.
* 1990 — The last year the Gators lost an opener, as UF fell 70-61 on the road at South Florida in the first game under Coach Lon Kruger.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
What this team looks and plays like in the coming weeks will be nothing like what we see in late-January and on into the latter stages of the season. These Gators have a lot of growing up to do, and a big part of their team (and defense) waiting in the wings (See Egbunu, John).
Players Mentioned
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