Pregame Stuff: Vanderbilt at Florida (Saturday, 4 pm EST)

FLORIDA vs VANDERBILT

When: Saturday, 4 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida 8-4, Vanderbilt 5-7
TV: ESPN2 (Rich Hollenberg and Dick Vitale)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

It's the Southeastern Conference opener for both teams, so the Gators and Commodores will be looking to get off to a good start. ... Though UF, the school, remains in holiday break, the game was within 700 of a sellout, as of early Friday and the tip-off time should be an advantageous one, as far as walk-up crowd potential. ... Florida has won two straight, and three of the previous four, but has looked unimpressive along the way. In fact, the Gators have looked so since the last 10 minutes of their PK80 Invitational bracket title game in Portland, Ore. They needed a couple second-half runs to put distance between themselves and a couple low-majors. First, it was a struggle with Incarnate Word, before eventually winning 75-60. Two nights earlier, James Madison gave UF a tussle. Again, it was some key late buckets and defensive stops needed to put away a 72-63 victory. ... Florida has won five consecutive SEC openers, but has lost five straight in its series against Vanderbilt, all coming in the first two seasons under Coach Mike White. ... The Commodores lead the all-time series 70-63, but the Gators are 40-20 at home. ... Last season, Vandy handed UF its only O'Dome loss, defeated the Gators at Memorial Gym in Nashville, then eliminated second-seeded Florida in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, also in Nashville. The first two were decided by two points; the third went to overtime. In that one, a 72-62 Vandy victory, point guard Riley LaChance scored 18 points, while forward Jeff Roberson had 16 points and eight rebounds. Florida got a double-double from Devin Robinson (11 points, 10 rebounds), as well as 16 points from point guard Kasey HIll, but went 1-for-6 from the floor in OT, while Vanderbilt hit all five of its field-goal attempts, including two 3-pointers, in the extra period.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Egor Koulechov	F	6-5	205	G-Transfer	14.1 pts / 6.7 reb
Keith Stone	F	6-8	245	R-Sophomore	5.8 pts / 3.0 reb
Jalen Hudson	G	6-6	192	R-Junior	18.2 pts / 4.1 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Junior	11.8 pts / 2.7 reb
Chris Chiozza	PG	6-0	180	Senior	12.9 pts / 4.8 reb / 5.8 ast

Vanderbilt	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Joe Toye	F	6-7	206	Junior	5.9 pts / 2.3 reb
Jeff Roberson	F	6-6	220	Senior	14.4 pts / 8.3 reb
Saben Lee	G	6-2	174	Freshman	8.8 pts / 3.6 ast
Matthew Fisher-Davis	G	6-5	186	Senior	12.0 pts / 5.5 reb
Riley LaChance	G	6-2	185	Senior	11.7 pts / 2.8 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Senior guard **Riley LaChance** basically has been a Gator-killer his entire career, what with a 6-1 all-time mark and tons of box score-stuffing games along the way -- especially last season. As much of a matchup problem as 7-foot "stretch-5" monster **Luke Kornet** was for UF, LaChance has been a mostly constant playmaking thorn in the Gators' collective sides. Last season, he hit 14 of his 29 shots from the floor (48.3 percent), including eight of 14 from deep (57.2 percent), was 6-for-7 from the free-throw line (85.7 percent), and averaged 4.0 rebounds and 4.0 assists. Though just 6-2, he's deceptively crafty when it comes to driving the lane and seldomly makes mistakes. In this, his final season, LaChance has moved off the ball some in favor of a talented freshman point guard (see below), but he hasn't forgotten how to play the position. The numbers (especially against the Gators) speak for themselves.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: They came back from Christmas break Tuesday night and immediately were dealing with injuries and illnesses, beyond the usual suspects (John Egbunu, Isaiah Stokes, Chase Johnson). The team's leading scorer, guard Jalen Hudson, was sidelined with a virus for two practices before returning on a limited basis Friday. Sophomore backup center Gorjok Gak came back with a swollen knee and also did not practice. So, UF had eight players and a couple walk-ons to get ready for the start of SEC play against an opponent that had UF's number the last two seasons. ... After failing to reach 70 points in four straight games, Florida hit the 70 mark in each of the last two, but the offense has been far from fluid. In wins over JMU and Incarnate Word, the Gators combined to make just 37.9 percent of their field goals and 28.3 from the 3-point line. ... One of the best things that could happen for the Gators on offense is to get forward Egor Koulechov back on track. He remains second on the team in scoring, but has turned ice-cold from the 3-point line: just seven for 37 over the last eight games (18.9 percent), with body language to match. ... Junior shooting guard KeVaughn Allen has hit his career average of 12.7 per game just six games this season and is coming off a 1-for-9 display in the win over UIW. ... Point guard Chris Chiozza was a primary offensive option the last two games, averaging 17.5 points and going 12-for-12 from the free-throw line. ... With a front court racked with maladies, UF continues to struggle for production from its only true and healthy bigs. Center Kevarrius Hayes and forward Keith Stone are combining to average 10.1 points (on 42.8 percent from the floor) and 8.2 rebounds. ... ABOUT THE

COMMODORES: They're 24-23 in two seasons under Coach Bryce Drew, but Drew is batting 1.000 against White (and that includes the 1997 miracle buzzer-beater for Valparaiso that knocked White and Ole Miss from the NCAA Tournament). ... Did we mention Luke Kornet is gone? ... The 2017-18 Commodores have yet to beat an opponent from a high-major conference, with wins against Austin Peay, UNC-Ashville, Radford, Houston Baptist and Alcorn State. Three of the seven losses (Virginia, Seton Hall and Arizona State) have come by double-digits, with crosstown mid-major Belmont beating Vandy by 9. ... The Commodores average 71.2 points per game, but allow just 68.2 and 42.3-percent shooting on defense (both better numbers than the Gators). Vandy has been outstanding defending the 3-point line, surrendering only 5.8 per game at 30.4 percent. ... The last two games, wins over Houston Baptist and Alcorn State, they shot a combined 49.2 percent from the floor, with the 32-point margin of victory in the latter the largest victory margin under Drew, and the program's fattest since 2015. ... Forward James Roberson is the scoring leader and has been a handful in the post for the Gators in the past. That means he'll probably be again, given UF's challenged interior defense. He's nearly 45 percent from the floor, but can also step out and shoot 3s (.417) and is practically automatic from the free-throw line (.940). ... Guard Matthew Fisher-Davis is another guy with a track record at making plays against the Gators. His shooting numbers are down this season (36.3 from the floor, 31.6 from distance), but he's still rebounding (second on the team at 5.5 per) and defending (team-leading 17 steals). ... Freshman guard Saben Lee was a top-100 national prospect out of Arizona. Lee has taken most of the point guard duties from LaChance, which certainly says something. He's not a great shooter or scorer (yet), evidenced by his 4-for-25 marksmanship from deep. But Lee is a hard-driver, who embraces contact, ranks second on the team in free-throw attempts (37-for-52) and is a big reason the Commodores rate ninth nationally in getting to the free-throe line. ... Vandy, normally a solid decision-making team, actually has more turnovers (152) than assists (151) this season.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* 0 — Combined turnovers by Chiozza the last two games versus 11 assists.

* 1 — SEC teams the Gators have not beaten since White arrived at Florida for the 2015-16 season. White also went 0-2 against the Kevin Stallings-coached Commodores that year.

* 3 — Consecutive SEC games for the Gators against the Commodores. Yes, that's true. UF ended the SEC regular season against Vandy last season, then five days later played the Commodores in its conference tournament opener, and is now opening a new league season against them. Weird.

* 83 — Florida's place on the Ratings Percentage Index heading into the weekend, a drop of 35 places even after winning the past two games. Only three SEC teams -- LSU (148), Ole MIss (169) and Vandy (176) -- rank lower.

* 2015 — The last year the Gators defeated the Commodores. The date was Feb. 19, the site was the O'Dome. UF won 50-47, thanks to a dunk by Robinson on a feed from Hill with 2.1 seconds left in a game Florida played without forward Dorian Finney-Smith (suspended) and guard Michael Frazier II (ankle injury).

STATEMENT (Random thought)

I know it's just the first game of the SEC season, but this is a very, very important one, as far as tone-setting and confidence-building, given the greatly improved state of the league. Have to protect the home floor.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Vanderbilt at Florida (Saturday, 4 pm EST)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

John Egbunu

Gorjok Gak

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Chase Johnson

Egor Koulechov

Isaiah Stokes

Keith Stone

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Pregame Stuff: Vanderbilt at Florida (Saturday, 4 pm EST)

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

John Egbunu

Gorjok Gak

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Chase Johnson

Egor Koulechov

Isaiah Stokes

Keith Stone

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