Pregame Stuff: Florida at Missouri (Saturday, 1 pm)
Friday, January 5, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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A nuts and bolts look at UF's upcoming SEC road game at Mizzou.
By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA at MISSOURI
When: Saturday, 1 p.m. (EST) Where: Mizzou Arena, Columbia, Mo. Records: Florida (10-4, 2-0); Missouri (11-3, 1-0) TV: CBS (Spero Dedes and Clark Kellog) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
The Gators will play at Mizzou Arena (capacity 15,061) for the fourth time since the Tigers joined the Southeastern Conference for the 2012-13 season.
After mostly slogging through December, Florida exited the month with an 81-74 win over Vanderbilt in the Southeastern Conference opener last weekend, then followed Tuesday night with an 83-66 road upset of Texas A&M to join Kentucky as the only teams to start league play at 2-0 thus far. Missouri, meanwhile, had its SEC debut Wednesday with a thorough lashing of South Carolina on the road. The Tigers, one of the dregs of the league the last three seasons, figure to be the SEC's most improved program in 2017-18. ... UF leads the all-time series 5-2, with all the games played since the conference expanded for the 2012-13 athletic year. ... The Gators are 1-2 when playing in Columbia, Mo., with that lone victory coming in the final regular-season game of '15-16, which was the program's first under Coach Mike White. ... The two teams last met Feb. 2, 2016 in Gainesville, where UF pummeled Mizzou 93-54, with the 39-point margin of victory the Gators' largest against an SEC foe since beating South Carolina by the same amount in 2014. In that game, junior point guard Chris Chiozzatallied the first triple-double by a UF player in eight years, finishing with 12 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists. Florida held Missouri to just one field goal through the first six-plus minutes to take an 18-3 lead, and 10 minutes later led 38-9. Reserve forward Canyon Barry topped the Gators with 17 points. UF finished the game with a plus-24 advantage on the glass, as six Gators grabbed at least five rebounds. STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
One of several high-impact graduate transfers in the SEC, Kassius Robertson came to Missouri by way of Canisius, where he was a 1,000-point scorer and second-team All-Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference selection last season after averaging 16.1 points and 41 percent from the 3-point line. Robertson has picked up where he left off with the Golden Griffins. He leads the Tigers in scoring at 15.6 points per game -- and he's right at that 41-percent mark from distance -- and has helped transform the Tigers into a high-volume, 3-point-shooting team, with nearly three-quarters of his field-goal attempts coming from beyond the arc. He was 4-for-8 from deep in the win at South Carolina on his way to 23 points. Ball-handling and distributing are not really his strengths (34 assists vs 31 turnovers), but when given a lane, he will drive the ball and has the ability to finish. Defensively, Robertson aggressively plays the passing lanes and looks for steals (team-high 14).
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Kevarrius HayesABOUT THE GATORS: They've claimed four straight, but there wasn't much to get excited about after the first two, which were wins over James Madison and Incarnate Word just before the team broke for Christmas. The two SEC victories since, however, appear to have given the players a jolt of confidence. Shooting well will do that (especially with this team). After shooting in the high-30 percent in those two non-conference wins, UF is at 47.4 percent in conference play, including 53.2 from the 3-point line. Those numbers ballooned greatly after the sicko shooting exhibition the Gators put on at A&M, where they hit nearly 52 percent overall and bombed in 17 3-pointers (on 28 attempts) to the tune of 60.7 percent. Obviously, those percentages are unsustainable, but Florida almost certainly will need a good night from distance against a Missouri team that's shown its capable of big nights from deep. ... After averaging 99.5 points its first six games, UF went four straight without hitting 70 points, but got there against both JMU and UIW, and went for more than 80 in both SEC contests. Good trend. ... Defensively, Florida played its best all-around game against the Aggies, but the Tigers have healthy guards who can score. A&M did not. ... Forward Egor Koulechov, after going 7-for-37 in eight games leading up to SEC play, hit seven of his first 10 shots from 3-point land to start league play. ... Junior center Kevarrius Hayes totaled 15 points, 12 rebounds, nine blocked shots and six assists in the two league games. Hayes was was active and energetic against the Aggies' powerful front court in what was his best game of the season. And he's worked his way back to being the No. 2 rebounder on the team. ... Senior point guard Chris Chiozza continued his dazzling run at College Station. He's now hit double-figure scoring in six straight games and is third on the team in scoring (13.1 ppg). During that span, he had 32 assists and just nine turnovers. ... What will forward Keith Stonedo as a follow-up to his career-best game (18 points)? In three games leading up to that one, Stone was 5-for-18 from the floor overall, went two
Cuonzo Martin
straight games without a 3-pointer, then stroked four against the Aggies. Consistency is the goal for Stone. If he gets there, what a difference-maker he could be. ... ABOUT TIGERS: They're in the first season under Coach Cuonzo Martin, who is in his second go-around in the SEC. Martin spent three seasons at Tennessee (2011-14), which he led to the NCAA Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 his final year, only to tire of criticism from Volunteers fans. So Martin bolted for California, where he stayed three seasons and reached one NCAA tourney. Last spring, he went to Missouri (the former Purdue standout is actually from East St. Louis, Ill.) and landed the 2017 No. 1-ranked prep prospect in the nation in forward Michael Porter, who suffered a back injury. Porter, projected as the likely first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, is not expected to play this season. To the Tigers' credit, they've played on nicely, with a mix of a few returning players, a key grad transfer in Robertson (above) and some nice-looking freshmen. ... The Tigers are averaging 78.9 points per game, shooting 48.3 percent overall, 39.4 from 3, and own a fat plus-8.6 rebounding margin. In the win at South Carolina, Mizzou shot 14-for-24 from distance (58.3 percent). ... Forward Jordan Barnett has vastly improved his numbers from a season ago, probably because he has much better players around him. He's a physical wing and he's upped his 3-point percentage from 30 percent to nearly 41. ... Burly forward Kevin Puryear endured some brutal losing seasons his first two years, but was the Tigers' best player along the way. He's scoring at 48 percent on the season and gets to the free-throw line a ton, where he's making 81 percent. ... Freshman Jeremiah Tilmon, the team's No. 4 scorer, is shooting 64 percent from the field. ... Freshman Jontay Porter (8.3 ppg, 6.8 rpg) is the brother of Michael and was a top-flight prospect, as well. He's the backup center, goes 6-11, 240 pounds, but also can step out and bomb 3s. He's 36 percent on the season after dropping in five on seven attempts against the Gamecocks.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Deundrae Ballard* 0 — Times Missouri has started 2-0 in SEC play since joining the league for the 2012-13 season. A win over Florida would make a first for the Tigers.
* 3 — Double-figure outputs for junior shooting guard KeVaughn Allenover the previous seven games. Against the Aggies, Allen scored just seven points, but had five assists, two steals and no turnovers.
* 3a — Assists by freshman guard DeAundrae Ballard against A&M, another statistic underscoring how well the Gators played on the road Tuesday. Ballard came into the game with four assists for the season. Usually armed and ready to gun, he was measured on the offensive end and played with significantly more maturity; on the road, no less.
* 14 — Missouri's spot in the Ratings Percentage Index, as of Friday morning, one of six SEC teams in the Top 21. After beating A&M (21st) on the road, the Gators could get another big RPI boost with a road win Saturday.
* 2013 — The first year Florida and Missouri played in basketball. The date was Jan. 19. The place was the O'Connell Center. The Gators were ranked 10th, the Tigers 17th. UF absolutely manhandled Mizzou that day, winning 83-52 behind 15 points from Erik Murphy, 13 points and 10 assists from Scottie Wilbekin, and a defense that forced 21 turnovers, including 10 by star point guard Phil Pressey.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
My iPhone weather app says 6 degrees Friday in Columbia? Six! Really?
