Pregame Stuff: No. 15 Florida at Mississippi State (Saturday, 2 pm)

Friday, February 17, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

A nuts and bolts look at the Gators' road date at Starkville.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

No. 15 FLORIDA at MISSISSIPPI STATE

When: Saturday, 2 p.m. (ET)
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss.
Records: Florida 21-5 (11-2); Mississippi State 14-11 (5-8)
TV: ESPN (Beth Mowins and Dalen Cuff)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

The Gators have not played at Humphrey Coliseum (capacity 10,575) since 2014 and don't have a very good history there, either.

Florida has won seven straight, yet in many ways the 15th-ranked Gators must now start over after losing fourth-year junior center John Egbunu to a season-ending knee injury. How UF coach Mike White remakes the rotation and style of play is something that will play out over the final five Southeastern Conference games. ... The Gators enter the weekend tied with No. 14 Kentucky atop the league standings and are seeking the program's first SEC title since 2014. ... UF lost Egbunu in its 114-95 crushing of Auburn Tuesday night, a game when the Gators set a record for most points ever scored against a league opponent, thanks to seven players in double figures. Mississippi State has lost three straight, most recently Tuesday's 79-72 setback at Georgia. That followed a close home loss to South Caorlina and close road loss at Auburn. ... Florida leads the all-time series 63-49, including six straight wins dating to the 2012 season. The Gators beat the Bulldogs 81-78 on Jan. 19, 2016 at the O'Connell Center behind 20 points and 13 rebounds from senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith. In that one, UF came from 11 points down in the second half to take the lead, but needed four straight free throws from Egbunu with less than a minute to play, plus two from KeVaughn Allen with one second left, to hold on for the victory.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Devin Robinson	F	6-8	200	Junior	11.5 pts / 5.6 reb
Justin Leon	F	6-8	206	Senior	7.1 pts / 3.9 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	C	6-9	220	Sophomore	6.2 pts / 3.8 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	183	Sophomore	13.2 pts / 2.4 reb
Kasey Hill	PG	6-1	175	Senior	9.7 pts / 2.9 reb / 5.1 asts

Mississippi State	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Aric Holman	F	6-10	222	Sophomore	8.6 pts / 6.2 reb
Schnider Herard	C	6-10	250	Freshman	5.3 pts / 5.4 reb
Mario Kegler	G	6-7	220	Freshman	10.5 pts / 5.6 reb
Quinndary Weatherspoon	G	6-4	205	Sophomore	16.7 pts / 5.0 reb
Lamar Peters	G	6-0	188	Freshman	12.0 pts / 3.5 ast

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Guard **Quinndary Weatherspoon** was a decorated prep star at Jackson (Miss.) Velma, which he led to three straight state championships. As a rookie at Mississippi State, he made the SEC All-Freshman Team in 2016 and along the way had a 14-point, six-rebound game against the Gators. In December of this season, Weatherspoon suffered a wrist injury and the school announced he would undergo season-ending surgery, only to backtrack from that procedure. Instead, Weatherspoon got a second opinion saying he could play through the injury and have surgery after the season. He missed two games and is leading the team in scoring. Six times he's gone for at least 25 points, including a career-high 29 against Missouri. He's hitting 45.5 percent from the floor, nearly 40 percent from the 3-point line and when he hard-drives to the basket makes 77.8 percent from the free-throw line.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: At seven games, they've equaled their longest winning streak of the season and done so by an average margin of 24 points and mostly with sensational team defense. UF's most recent outing, however, was something of an outlier on that front. Auburn's 95 points were the most scored against the Gators this season, but the wide-open pace and multitude of fouls lent itself to a different kind of game. Florida still won easily and held the Tigers below their season's shooting percentages from the floor and 3-point arc. UF got got 52 points from its bench, including a season-high 30 by reserved forward Canyon Barry (13.4 ppg). The Gators' bench has now scored at least 50 points twice this season (51 in double-overtime vs. Georgia on Jan. 14). ... With Egbunu done for the year, the center position now falls to Kevarrius Hayes, who is two inches shorter, 30 pounds lighter and prone to getting pushed around by bigger post men. Hayes is a tremendous athlete, whose energy and ability to run the floor seem boundless. He started seven games earlier this season while Egbunu dealt with a hamstring strain and the Gators won all seven. UF was 4-2 in games Hayes started last season. ... After Hayes, 6-10 senior walk-on Schuyler Rimmer (1.5 ppg, 0.9 rpg) is next in line. Rimmer is physically limited on both ends, but the Gators need to play the bodies they have. That also means redshirt freshman forward Keith Stone (3.8 ppg, 2.2 rpg) will get some possessions in the post as well. Stone, though, has scored just one point and missed all 11 of his field-goal attempts over UF's last nine games while dealing with a nagging viral illness that leads to dizzy spells. ... Point guard Kasey Hill is coming off his second double-double of the season after tallying 11 points and a career-high 12 assists against the Tigers. With 502 for his career, Hill needs just two more assists to move past Ronnie Montgomery (1984-88) and into second place in school history. Only Erving Walker (2008-12), with 547, has more. ... Forward Devin Robinson is now shooting 49 percent from the floor and 39 percent from the 3-point line. ... After a relatively quiet few weeks from their shooting guard and former leading scorer, Allen scored 17 points at Auburn, with all his points coming in the second half. It's been eight games since Allen led the team in scoring, with Barry topping that category. ... ABOUT THE THE BULLDOGS: They're 28-28 in two seasons under Coach Ben Howland, who went 399-288 in 21 seasons at Northern Arizona, Pittsburgh and UCLA before being fired by the Bruins following the 2013 season. After a year out of coaching, he landed at MSU, where he was hired by Scott Stricklin, now athletic director at UF. ... Mississippi State began 3-1 in SEC play, but has dropped five of the previous six league games. ... The Bulldogs, who start three freshmen, have a couple decent wins in SEC play (vs Tennessee and at Arkansas), but they're tied with Auburn for 11th place in the standings and want to avoid a spot as a bottom 4-seed and the accompanying place in Wednesday night's opening round of the league tournament next month. ... MSU ranks eighth in the SEC in scoring (74.4 ppg), but fifth in field-goal percentage (.453) and third in 3-point percentage (.369). The Bulldogs are not great in defending around the basket, with opponents hitting 43.4 percent (that's 12th in the SEC), but are good against the 3-point line (just .323, which is fourth). ... MSU struggles on the glass. The Bulldogs are 13th in rebounding (35.0 pg) and offensive rebounding (9.4). ... They have four players who have made at least 33 3-point shots and all four shoot at least 36 percent, led by guard Lamar Peters at 40 percent. ... Center Schnider Herard is a big, bulky post player who figures to go after a much leaner Hayes inside. Herard had double-doubles in both games this season against Tennessee, one of the most physical and hard-playing teams in the league. ... MSU can be turnover prone, with 30 more giveaways than assists on the season. ... Junior point guard I.J. Ready (8.4 ppg, 4.5 apg) is a solid veteran backup who has started a bunch of games during his career. He had 20 points and four rebounds against UF last season.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

1.000 — Florida's winning percentage vs. Howland in NCAA Tournament play, all during his time at UCLA, based on a 3-0 record. The Gators defeated Howland's Bruins in the 2006 NCAA title game, the 2007 national semifinals and round of 32 in 2011.

* 4 — Rimmer's season highs for points (vs Kentucky) and rebounds (vs Charlotte).

* 8 — Minutes Hayes played against Mississippi State last season, when he finished with no points, one rebound, three fouls, a turnover and went 0-for-4 from the free-throw line. His circumstances have changed

* 9 — Points needed by Hill to become the 52nd player in UF history to reach the 1,000-point milestone. The last to get there was Finney-Smith last season, who went on to finish with 1,220 career points as a Gator, which currently puts him at No. 36th.

* 2014 — The last time the Gators played at "The Hump," a venue that has helped take down some very good UF teams. Florida is 22-34 all-time in Starkville, but won the last visit 62-51, led by 16 points and seven rebounds from forward Casey Prather.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

This isn't about one guy stepping up for the Gators. This is about every guy, collectively, pitching in to offset the loss of a very important player.