Monday, January 1, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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A nuts and bolts look at the Gators' road date against the Aggies.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA at No. 11 Texas A&M
When: Tuesday, 9 p.m. (EST) Where: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas Records: Florida (9-4, 1-0); Texas A&M (11-2, 0-1) TV: ESPN2 (with Tom Hart and Jay Bilas) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)
STAKES (The Setup)
Reed Arena, with its capacity of 12,989, opened in 1998. Florida has played there just three times, all coming since the Aggies joined the SEC for the 2011-12 season. The Gators are 1-2 at the site, with losses in each of the last two trips.
Florida got the Southeastern Conference season off to a good start Saturday, defeating Vanderbilt 81-74 at home in the league opener for both teams. The win snapped a five-game losing streak against the Commodores, who came into the game with a conference-worst 5-7 record. Texas A&M, ranked fifth in the country last week, also opened league play Saturday, but did so on the road and got smashed 79-57 at Alabama. The Aggies have some roster issues (see below), but have enough good players -- and a homecourt advantage -- to give the Gators fits on the road. ... UF holds a 6-4 edge in the all-time series, but is 1-3 when playing at College Station. ... The Gators are 1-2 against the Aggies under Coach Mike White, with that lone victory by a 71-62 count last Feb. 11 in Gainesville. In that one, senior forward Justin Leon scored 18 points, hitting a career-best four 3-pointers, while senior centerJohn Egbunuhad his finest game of the season, with 11 points and 10 rebounds (three days before suffering a season-ending knee injury). UF got a huge lift from its bench, led by forward Canyon Barry's 12 points in a reserve role, as the Florida subs outscored A&M's 27-6. STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
STANDING OUT (One to Watch) A&M did not list reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year Robert Williams, its 6-foot-9, 240-pound power forward, as a probable starter for the game. That's because he's only started four games this season, and Saturday injured his knee in the first half against Alabama and logged just 21 minutes. In limited time, though, Williams still had 14 points and eight rebounds. He's averaging 8.0 points and a league-best 9.9 rebounds per outing, but how much he can be counted (and how much the Aggies want to push him so early in the league season) looms as a game-time decision. The fact Williams is back at A&M this season is something of a surprise. He would have been a slam-dunk, one-and-done NBA lottery pick, had he opted to leave after a 2016-17 freshman season when he averaged 11.8 points, 8.2 rebounds, shot 55 percent from the floor and topped the league with 77 blocked shots. He got off to a slow start, scoring in single digits six straight games before Saturday. He was more aggressive versus 'Bama, sore knee and all. The Gators will have problems dealing with the Aggies' enormous size, whether Williams plays or not. If he does ... well ... you get the idea.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Keith StoneABOUT THE GATORS: They've won three straight. If they can go on the road and make it four, regardless of A&M's circumstances, it would be a big deal and jolt of confidence for this team. ... After going four straight games failing to reach 70 points, the Gators have hit that mark in each game during their winning streak, including 81 against Vandy, which marked the first game since the loss to Duke in the PK80 Invitational Thanksgiving week the team scored at least 80. ... A&M will be the fourth ranked opponent UF has faced this season. ... Point guard Chris Chiozzahasaveraged 17.7 points during the win streak and handed out 14 assists and committed only one turnover. ... After a stone-cold run of eight games, forward Egor Koulechovhad one of his best all-around efforts of the season against the Commodores, when he went for 22 points, eight rebounds and sank all 10 of his free throws. Koulechov, who had been 7-for-37 from the 3-point line during that spell, hit two of his five from deep. ... Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen is coming off a 16-point game, despite going without a field goal in the second half. Allen, though, did make four of five from the floor in the first half, and played with more aggression as the Gators opened a 20-point halftime lead. ... Guard and leading scorer Jalen Hudson (17.2 ppg) played just 14 minutes against Vandy due to an illness, but was back at practice Monday. So was sophomore backup center Gorjok Gak (3.5 ppg, 2.8 pg), who missed the last game with a sore knee. ... CenterKevarrius Hayesis coming off one of his most active games of the season: seven points, five rebounds and four blocked shots. Most of those stats were compiled in the first half, however, but they definitely keyed UF's best defensive performance of any 20-minute period this season. ... Forward Keith Stone averaged 6.3 points and 4.6 rebounds the last three games, both above his season's numbers. Stone needs to stay out of early foul trouble and focus on his defense, as the Gators look to piece
Tyler Davis
together and get more production from their ravaged front court. ... ABOUT THE AGGIES: They're in the seventh season under Coach Billy Kennedy, with a record of 126-87 and one NCAA Tournament appearance, that one coming in 2016 when they shared the SEC regular-season title with Kentucky. ... Last week, after a four-game winning streak, A&M climbed to No. 5 to match the highest ranking in program history. The Aggies, though, have hit a nasty run of adversity that began when starting shooting guard and No. 3 scorer Admon Gilder (12.7 ppg, 49 percent from floor) injured his knee in a win over Savannah State. Gilder has missed the three games since, but could be back for this one. On Dec. 21, the team announced that guard/forward and leading scorer D.J. Hogg (14.6 ppg, 50 percent from 3-point range) had been suspended for three games for violating team rules. The UF game will be his third. Williams hurt himself in the first half of the Alabama game and was limited the rest of the way, but he's expected to play. Such may not be the case for starting point guard Duane Wilson, the transfer from Marquette. He went down with what was feared to be a knee injury with seven minutes left in the Alabama loss and did not return. ... A&M is averaging 79.7 points per game and has some ridiculously stingy defensive digits: 36.8 percent overall (4th nationally) and 27.1 percent from allowed. Those numbers are with mostly a whole Aggies team, which they did not have in Tuscaloosa, Ala., and won't again Tuesday night. ... Alabama, a very good team, hit nearly 46 percent in its win. At the other end, A&M hit just 30 percent overall and went 2-for-19 from distance. ... Regardless whether Williams is at full strength, center Tyler Davis and forward Tonny Trocha-Morelos will give the Gators' undermanned front court all it can possibly handle. With Williams, they may be the best front line in the nation.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Egor Koulechov is hitting 97.6 percent from the free-throw line, tops in the SEC.
* 0 — True road games played by Florida to date. This will be the first.
* 3 — UF players ranked in the Top 5 of the SEC statistics for free-throw shooting: Koulechov (.976), Allen (.898) and Chiozza (.896).
* 31 — Consecutive games with at least one blocked shot by Williams last season, the same number of games the Aggies played. He was the only player in the nation to block at least one shot in every one of his team's games.
* 42 — Days since Koulechov missed a free throw in a game (Nov. 19 against New Hampshire).
* 2013 — The last year the Gators won in College Station. That UF team, which went on to claim the SEC title, smashed the Aggies 68-47, holding A&M to 18 first-half points and leading by as many as 30 in the second half. Senior guard Mike Rosario had 19 to lead the Gators.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
It would appear to be a good time to get the Aggies, but the Gators aren't exactly a team that can take anything for granted. White won't let them, either.
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