Pregame Stuff: Florida vs. East Tennessee State (Thursday, 3:10 pm)

Wednesday, March 15, 2017 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

A nuts and bolts look at the Gators' NCAA Tournament opener in Orlando.

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

NCAA TOURNAMENT EAST REGION
FLORIDA vs EAST TENNESSEE STATE

When: Thursday, 3:10 p.m. (ET)
Where: Amway Center, Orlando
Records: No. 4-seed Florida 24-8; No. 13-seed East Tennessee State 27-7
TV: truTV (Ian Eagle, Steve Lavin and Evan Washburn)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)

STAKES (The Setup)

Amway Center, with its capacity of 20,000 for the NCAA Tournament, is home to the NBA's Orlando Magic.

Florida is making its 18th appearance in the NCAA Tournament (two other appearances were vacated due to NCAA sanctions) and for the ninth time will be among the field's top 16 seeds. The Gators were rewarded with a No. 4 seed in Orlando based on a top-10 Ratings Percentage Index number, plus a schedule that was statistically one of the toughest in the nation and included just 10 home games due to the renovation of the Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center. ... East Tennessee State, regular-season and postseason tournament champion of the Southern Conference, is making its 10th NCAA appearance and first since 2010. ... The two teams are meeting for just the fifth time, but have not played since Dec. 30, 1980, when the Gators defeated the Buccaneers 72-52 at old Alligator Alley. UF is 4-0 in the all-time series. ... The Florida-ETSU winner will advance to face the winner of the early East Region first-rounder between No. 5 seed Virginia (22-10) and No. 12-seed UNC-Wilmington (29-5). That game tips off Thursday at 12:40 p.m.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Devin Robinson	F	6-8	200	Junior	10.9 pts / 6.1 reb
Justin Leon	F	6-8	206	Senior	7.0 pts / 3.7 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	C	6-9	220	Sophomore	6.0 pts / 4.3 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	183	Sophomore	13.9 pts / 2.7 reb
Kasey Hill	PG	6-1	175	Senior	9.8 pts / 2.9 reb / 4.6 asts

East Tennessee State	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Hanner Mosquera-Perea	F	6-9	230	Senior	8.4 pts / 4.6 reb
Tevin Glass	F	6-8	220	Senior	8.9 pts / 6.2 reb / 4.0 asts
T.J. Cromer	G	6-3	195	Senior	19.1 pts / 3.2 asts
Desonta Bradford	G	6-4	190	Junior	10.6 pts / 4.5 reb
A.J. Merriweather	G	6-2	205	Senior	8.6 pts / 3.6 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

One of the most explosive scoring guards among the nation's mid-majors, **T.J. Cromer** finished second in the Southern Conference in scoring and 38th nationally at 40.4 from 3-point range. He bang in 103 treys for the season -- or 32 more than UF's most prolific long-range shooter (**KeVaughn Allen** with 71). Cromer, out of Albany, Ga., two games ago erupted for a career-high 41 points in the tournament semifinals against Samford, going 11-for-18 from the floor, 9-for-12 from arc and hitting 10 of 11 from the free-throw line. If he's open, the ball is going up. And because he's 6-3, and not some mad-bombing mid-major little man, he'll have a size advantage on all three of UF's top guards.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

Coach Mike White and point guard Kasey Hill

ABOUT THE GATORS: They're back in the NCAA Tournament for the first time since 2014 and for the sixth time the Gators will be playing NCAA games in the state of Florida, having done so in Miami (1994), Tampa (2003, '11), Jacksonville (2007) and now a second time in Orlando (2014, '17). ... UF has lost three of its previous four games, all away from home, with the last two coming in the regular-season finale at Vanderbilt, followed by a quarterfinal loss in the SEC Tournament to the Commodores in their hometown of Nashville. ... The game will mark the first NCAA Tournament game -- as head coach or assistant -- for Coach Mike White, who went tournament-less for his seven seasons as an assistant at Ole Miss and four seasons as head coach at Louisiana Tech. ... Florida will go into the game averaging 78.3 points per game, which ranked fourth in the league, but the Gators have averaged just 69.1 per outing in the six games since losing starting center John Egbunu to a season-ending knee injury. That's not because Egbunu was a dominant offensive force, but he demanded attention and often was doubled with the ball. Sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes is a different player and is guarded as such, with defenses able to extend more on the UF perimeter. ... First-team All-SEC shooting guard KeVaughn Allen (45.9 percent from the floor, 39.9 from 3-point line) cooled off in the back-to-back Vandy losses, going 9-for-26 overall and making just six of 17 shots from the arc. Against a high-scoring opponent like ETSU, Allen's scoring mentality needs to show up -- and that means going to the basket and taking on contact. ... Reserve forward and SEC Sixth Man of the Year Canyon Barry (12.5 ppg, 3.0 rpg) was held scoreless in the Vandy tournament loss. He didn't even get to the free-throw line, where he's 87.8 percent for the season. Against efficient offensive teams with the Bucs, Barry needs to get in the scoring column. ... Because of ETSU's scoring punch in the backcourt, the Gators may go heavy on their three-guard lineup of Allen, along with Kasey Hill and Chris Chiozza (6.9 ppg, 3.2 rpg) sharing ball-handing duties. ... Forward Justin Leon has failed to hit his scoring average of 7.0 points in each of the last three games, hitting just one 3-pointer along the way. ... Forward Devin Robinson is defending and rebounding better than he has at any time in his career. ... ABOUT THE BUCCANEERS: They're in the second season under coach Steve Forbes, who is 51-19 to date. ETSU went 11-3 in Southern Conference play and won the postseason tournament with a 79-74 defeat of UNC-Greensboro, which made the NIT. ... The Bucs' strength-of-schedule ranks 209th and includes a couple dates against the SEC: a 67-65 victory at Mississippi State and 72-68 home loss to Tennessee. According to RPI, their best win was over Furman (96th) and worse loss at Wofford (193). ... ETSU's rotation of 10 players includes five seniors (four starters) and five juniors, making the Bucs one of the most veteran teams in the country. Two of the starters are transfers from top-flight programs in forward Hanner Mosquera-Perea, who shoots nearly 60 percent from the floor, and forward Tevin Glass, by way of Wichita State. He leads the team in rebounds as well as assists from the frontcourt and also shoots better than 54 percent. ... ETSU ranked 44th in the nation in 3-point field-goal percentage (.383), which is better than Vanderbilt, by the way. The Bucs were also 14th in the nation in steals per game (8.4), which they like to turn into transition 3-point opporunities. They also play aggressively and gamble on defense, forcing 15.6 turnovers a game.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* .705 — Florida's all-time winning percentage in first-round NCAA Tournament games, based on a 12-5 record. UF's last one-and-done tourney came in 2010 when the Gators were ousted as a 10-seed by 7-seed Brigham Young 99-92 in double-overtime at Oklahoma City, courtesy of 37 points from Jimmer Fredette.

* .900 — Florida's all-time winning percentage in NCAA Tournament games played in the state of Florida, based on a 9-1 record. The Gators' lone loss came as a No. 2-seed against 7-seed Michigan State, a 68-46 wipeout in second-round play at Tampa in 2003.

* 1 — Times the Gators have hit at least 80 points since the injury to Egbunu (beating South Carolina 81-66). In the five other games, UF has averaged 66.8 points.

* 4 — UF head coaches to lead the program to the NCAA Tournament. With his first, White joins, of course, Billy Donovan (14 times), Lon Kruger (2) and Norm Sloan (1, plus 2 vacated by NCAA sanctions).

* 9 — Arenas in the state the Gators will have played in this season (after Thursday), thanks to the O'Dome renovations displacing the team during the first six weeks. The Gators played at two venues in Jacksonville, one in Lakeland, one in Tampa, at Disney World, Tallahassee, Sunrise and Gainesville.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

For this bunch, it's all about how they respond to a sour ending to the regular season. That's over. The Gators can do something about it and make amends when it matters most ... and in front of their fans.