Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Clemson (Saturday, 4:30 pm)

Metro PCS Orange Bowl Classic
No. 22 FLORIDA vs CLEMSON

When: Saturday, 4:30 p.m. (ET)
Where: BB&T Center, Sunrise, Fla.
Records: Florida 6-3, Clemson 8-1
TV: FS2 and Fox Sports Florida (Justin Kutcher, Bob Wenzel and Jessica Blaylock)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

BB&T Center in Sunrise, Fla., is home to the NHL Florida Panthers.

After a week off for exams, the Gators get a sixth game in the last seven against a high-major opponent. They snapped a hideous three-game losing streak last Saturday by defeating No. 17 Cincinnati 66-60 in the Never Forget Tribute Classic at Newark, N.J., outplaying the tough-as-nails Bearcats in the final 90 seconds for a big victory and confidence boost following ugly back-to-back home defeats against Florida State and Loyola Chicago. ... UF is making its 19th appearance at the Orange Bowl Classic over the last 21 seasons. The Gators are 16-2 in the event, including six straight wins. ... Florida and Clemson will be playing for the 19th time, with the series locked at 9-9, although the last time they squared off -- get this -- was Dec. 30, 1957 at Jacksonville, with the Gators winning 76-64 in the Gator Bowl Tournament. ... UF is 147-133 all-time against opponents from the Atlantic Coast Conference, with a 2-5 mark under Coach Mike White, a record that includes the Nov. 30 loss to No. 1 Duke in the bracket championship game of the PK80 Invitational, plus the blowout defeat against FSU. ... Florida will go with its all-black uniforms.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Egor Koulechov	F	6-5	205	G-Transfer	16.1 pts / 6.9 reb
Keith Stone	C	6-8	245	R-Sophomore	5.9 pts / 2.8 reb
Jalen Hudson	G/F	6-6	192	R-Junior	19.1 pts / 4.2 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Junior	11.8 pts / 2.8 reb
Chris Chiozza	PG	6-0	180	Senior	11.8 pts / 5.4 reb / 6.1 ast

CLEMSON	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Donte Grantham	F	6-8	215	Senior	16.0 pts / 6.2 reb
Elijah Thomas	F	6-9	237	Junior	12.1 pts / 8.8 reb
Marcquise Reed	G	6-3	189	R-Junior	13.8 pts / 5.0 reb
Gabe DeVoe	G	6-3	207	Senior	10.9 pts / 4.2 reb
Shelton Mitchell	PG	6-3	194	R-Junior	12.9 pts / 2.1 reb / 5.0 ast

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

**Elijah Thomas** is Clemson's fourth-leading scorer, but he's also a 6-foot-9, 237-pound power forward, and exactly the kind of player who has tortured the Gators down low all season. Once the No. 2-ranked prospect from the state of Texas (and a top-50 overall), Thomas originally signed with Texas A&M and averaged 3.8 points and 2.5 rebounds in eight games before transferring after the first semester of his 2015-16 freshman season. After sitting out the ensuing spring and fall, Thomas debuted for the Tigers in midseason last January, and averaged 7.5 points and 4.5 rebounds in just 16 minutes per. This season, Thomas has become a force in the paint -- nearly a quarter of his rebounds come on the offensive end -- and is hitting a ridiculous 71.2 percent from the floor. Look for UF, which is limited in size and girth in the low post, to slap similar double-team and "firing" defensive tactics on Thomas to try and force him to pass out of the block. If Thomas gets the ball in a spot he likes, with his length against UF's bigs, it may not matter what the Gators do on defense.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: They get a chance at a second Top 50 RPI victory, having inched their way from 12th in the Southeastern Conference in overall RPI to 49th, as of Friday, with Clemson checking in at 45th. ... UF averaged 99.5 points per game in the month of November, shot 49 percent from the floor and nearly 47 from the 3-point line. Since the calendar flipped to December, the Gators are averaging just 63.7 points, 38.4 percent overall and 23.7 from deep. Those numbers had White and his staff tweaking with the offense during the week. ... Florida's offense has been geared around senior point guard Chris Chiozza, who's taken his game on that end up another two levels. But UF also has relied on the perimeter firepower of forward Egor Koulechov, combo wing Jalen Hudson and shooting guard KeVaughn Allen, with all three of them going stone-cold during the two-game home skid. Koulechov and Hudson provided some big buckets in the win over Cincinnati, but Allen went MIA the last two games -- he totaled 10 points and hit just four of his 16 field-goal tries -- while he searches for the chip of aggression he needs in order to play free and attack the defense hard. Case in point: Allen, the team's best free-throw shooter (88.2 percent) has just three attempts from the line the last two games, despite playing 60 minutes. ... During his first two seasons, center Kevarrius Hayes combined to convert 63.3 percent of his field-goal attempts. As a junior, with far less friendly height and length around him and thus the focus of most opposing defenses inside, Hayes is at just 42.9 percent. ... Third-year sophomore forward Keith Stone had five points and three rebounds against Cincinnati, but probably played his most physical and best all-around defensive game. Stone, whose motor is up and down (as the coaching staff likes to remind him), needs to show that level of intensity on a more consistent

basis. The Gators certainly will need it from him this game. ... ABOUT THE TIGERS: They're in their eighth season under Coach Brad Bromwell, with a record of 132-104 over that span and run of six straight seasons without reaching the NCAA Tournament. ... The Tigers haven't played a particularly difficult scheduled (it ranks 198th), with their lone loss coming against Temple on a neutral floor and best win a 79-65 beating of Ohio State on the road in the ACC/Big Ten Challenge. That OSU victory is part of a current four-game winning streak, with Clemson's last outing a 81-59 home defeat of Samford last Saturday. ... The Tigers average 79.8 points per game, shoot 50.1 percent from the floor, 34.8 from the 3-point line and 75 from the free-throw line. They've out-rebounded their opponents at plus-6.4 per game. ... Four of Clemson's five starters average more than 30 minutes per game, so a brisk pace should favor the Gators. ... Forward Donte Grantham has made a huge jump in productivity, more than doubling his points-per-game average from his junior season, and grabbing two more rebounds per game. He's also shooting 66.7 percent from the floor (which should send more flares up for UF's post defense) and 38.7 from the 3-point arc. ... Clemson will play mostly three guards and, depending on the night, the hot hand could belong to Marcquise Reed, a 45-percent shooter who likes to crash the glass, Shelton Mitchell, streaky at 38 percent overall, but crafty in getting to the foul line, or Gabe DeVoe, who tops the Tigers with 17 makes from the arc.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* 2 — Wins for Florida over Associated Press Top 25 opponents, which matches the most of any team in the country this season.

* 2a — Teams that have beaten Florida in the Orange Bowl Classic (Alabama-Birmingham in 1997 and Richmond in 2009).

* 5.3 — Chiozza's rebounding average, which remains second on the team, ahead of both Hayes and Stone.

* 10 — Assists needed by Chiozza to jump from ninth to sixth on UF's all-time list. Chiozza currently has 418 all-time dimes. Ten more will move him past Scottie Wilbekin (419), Greg Williams (423) and Vernon Delancy (427).

* 60 — Years since the last time the Gators and Tigers played, which is fairly surprising given their locations in the South and relative proximity (6 1/2 hours drive time) of the two schools.

* 2011 — The last year Clemson reached the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers' strength coach that year (as well as 2009-10, when they also made the tournament) was Preston Greene, who left his alma mater (Clemson '99) in 2011 to join Billy Donovan as UF's strength and conditioning coordinator. He's still here.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

I know it's early, but I'm starting to think the most consistent trait of the Gators this season will be inconsistency.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Clemson (Saturday, 4:30 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Egor Koulechov

Keith Stone

Footer

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Miami on Nov. 16, 2025 at 8:30 PM

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Merrimack on Nov. 21, 2025 at 7 PM

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus TCU on Nov. 27, 2025 at 3 PM

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball versus Providence/Wisconsin on Nov. 28, 2025 at 3 or 5:30 PM

Upcoming Event: Men's Basketball at Duke on Dec. 2, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Clemson (Saturday, 4:30 pm)

Related News

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Egor Koulechov

Keith Stone

Related Videos

Footer