Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Florida Gulf Coast (Saturday, 5 pm)

Metro PCS Orange Bowl Classic
FLORIDA vs FLORIDA GULF COAST

When: Saturday, 5 p.m. (EST)
Where: BT&T Center, Sunrise, Fla.
Records: Florida (6-4); Florida Gulf Coast (5-8)
TV: Fox Sports 2/Florida in state and Fox Sports Go streaming (Dave O'Brien, Bob Wenzel and Kelly Sacco)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)

STAKES (The Setup)

The BB&T Center (capacity 20,737) in Sunrise, Fla., is home to the NHL Florida Panthers, but has hosted the Orange Bowl Classic every year since 1998.

For Florida, the last outing wasn't one for the DVR. The Gators defeated Mercer 71-63, but only after letting a 16-point lead with just over five minutes remaining twice get reduced twice to six and twice more to five because of missed shots and turnovers. UF survived, however, and will try to build some momentum in the first of the two non-league contests

before the Southeastern Conference season opens Jan. 6. ... Florida Gulf Coast, out of the Atlantic Sun Conference, barely outlasted NAIA Keiser with an 87-85 win Wednesday night. Make that three straight for the Eagles, who before that defeated Oral Roberts by 20 and 2018 NCAA Tournament darling Maryland-Baltimore by 23. ... UF will be playing in the Orange Bowl event for the 13th straight year and 20th time in the past 22 seasons. The Gators are 16-3 in the Classic after having a seven-game winning streak snapped last year in a loss against Clemson. The UF-FGCU game will be the second of an afternoon double-header preceded by Florida State taking on St. Louis. ... Florida leads the all-time series with Florida Gulf Coast 4-0, a mark that includes a 62-50 victory in the Sweet 16 of the 2013 NCAA South Region at Arlington, Texas. The Gators and Eagles last faced off on Nov. 11, 2016 at Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Jacksonville, as part of UF's barn-storming tour to different venues across the state while the renovation of the O'Connell Center was being completed. UF won 80-59 behind 14 points and six rebounds from junior forward Devin Robinson and 13 points and eight rebounds from junior center John Egbunu. It was a five-point lead, 40-35 at intermission, but the Gators forced 12 second-half turnovers and shot 48 percent to the Eagles' 32 on the way to the win. ... UF coach Mike White is 7-0 versus A-Sun teams in his four seasons at Florida.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keith Stone	F	6-8	253	R-Junior	7.1 pts / 5.0 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	F	6-9	227	Senior	7.3 pts / 6.7 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	205	Freshman	8.6 pts / 1.8 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Senior	10.8 pts / 2.5 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Freshman	8.1 pts / 2.9 reb / 6.2 ast

Florida Gulf Coast	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
RaySean Scott Jr.	F	6-10	225	Junior	9.3 pts / 9.0 reb
Brady Ernst	F	6-10	230	R-Junior	5.1 pts / 5.2 reb
Christian Carlyle	G	6-6	210	Junior	9.3 pts / 4.2 reb
Zach Scott	G	6-4	180	Freshman	7.5 pts / 2.7 reb
Schadrac Casimir	G	5-10	170	R-Senior	12.3 pts / 1.7 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Going into Wednesday's game against Keiser, freshman guard Zach Scott, the two-time South Florida player of the year out of Miami Westminster Academy, was averaging 6.0 points per game. Scott enjoyed his breakout moment the last time out, hitting nine of his 12 shots, including six of eight from deep, on his way to a career-high 25 points. In the run-up to to that game, Scott had reached double figures just once in his first 12 games. A springboard to bigger things? We'll see, as he's now shooting at a 50.7-percent overall clip to go with 54.3 percent from the arc (19 of 35). Scott certainly arrived in Fort Myers with some acclaim after finishing his prep career with 2,740 points, making him the No. 3 scorer in Broward County history behind only **Brandon Knight** (Kentucky) and **Kenny Boynton** (Florida).

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

As the Gators tried to close out a win Tuesday night against Mercer, they had three freshmen -- Noah Locke (10), Andrew Nembhard (2) and Keyontae Johnson (11) -- on the floor, along with senior KeVaughn Allen and Kevarrius Hayes for the bulk of the final five minutes.

ABOUT THE GATORS: The Southeastern Conference season still is a couple weeks away, but Florida tops the league's 14 teams in scoring defense, allowing just 61.9 points per game. Unfortunately, the Gators are last in the SEC in scoring at 69.8 a game. So, yes, it's defense this team has to hang its hat on, and a big part of that is UF's ability to force turnovers (16.2 per game). ... Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen figures to be back in the starting lineup for this one after being relegated to coming off the bench against Mercer. Allen responded with a solid 15 points, including 3-for-6 from deep, three rebounds and three assists in 31 minutes. In the last three games that Allen has not started (dating back to last season), he's averaged 19.3 points. ... Reserve sophomore guard Deaundrae Ballard (9.3 ppg, 51.6 percent from floor, 41.4 from 3) missed the Mercer game in concussion protocol, but was cleared for contact Thursday and returned to practice. ... Center Kevarrius Hayes is coming off his finest game of the season after scoring eight points (4-for-5 from the floor), grabbing a career-high 11 rebounds and equaling his career best of five blocked shots. ... .... Backup forward Keyontae Johnson (6.7 ppg, 4.1 rpg) is shooting 52.7 percent from the floor. ... In addition to running the team and leading the Gators in minutes (31.2 pg), freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard remains the Gators' best 3-point shooter (44.4 percent). ... Since being inserted in the starting lineup in the second game of the Battle 4 Atlantis, freshman guard Noah Locke has averaged 10.3 points over the six games, shot 43 percent overall and 40.7 from the 3-point line. ... Fifth-year senior and 2017-18 leading scorer Jalen Hudson, out of the starting lineup the last five games, was on the floor to start against Mercer, with White awarding his swingman for the work put in during practice over the previous week. Hudson, who replaced Allen, hit just one of his seven shots and missed all four of his 3-pointers in 14 minutes. For the season, he's now shooting 28.5 percent from the floor, is 6-for-34 from the arc (17.6 percent) and at 5.4 points per game. Since first being taken from the first unit, Hudson has totaled 18 points over six games. ... Third-year sophomore forward Dontay Bassett (2.6 ppg, 2.1 rpg) was a DNP/Coaches Decision against Mercer, though he'd been slowed in the days leading up to the game with a sore knee. He figures to play against FGCU. ... Redshirt freshman forward Chase Johnson (illness) did not make the trip. ... ABOUT THE EAGLES: They're in the first season under Michael Fly, who stepped into the position last spring when Joe Dooley left for East Carolina. Dooley was 114-

58 in five seasons, with three conference championships, two NCAA Tournament berths and one trip to the NIT. ... FGCU and UF have one common opponent, as the Eagles also played Michigan State this season. Where the Gators lost to the Spartans at home by six, the Eagles lost at East Lansing by 24. Among their other defeats: Illinois State, Colorado State, Toledo, Texas-San Antonio, Florida Atlantic and Colgate. ... The roster is a patchwork job of transfer players from eight different schools: Iona, Iowa State, Kansas, Marquette, Michigan, Nevada-Las Vegas, Southern Utah and South Florida. ... FGCU scores 75.2 points per game, shoots 45.7 percent overall and 37.1 from the 3-point line, but last week lost its leading scorer, guard and Marquette transfer Haanif Cheatham (13.2 ppg, 4.8 rpg), for the season with a shoulder injury. ... Defensively, opponents are scoring 78.8 per game, making 46.8 percent from the floor and 36.1 from deep. ... Eagles have more turnovers (178) than assists (160), which is a discrepancy to watch, given the Gators are pretty solid with ball security and force nearly five more turnovers per game than they commit. ... Guard Schadrac Casimir is the only active Eagle scoring in double figures, but he has quite a collegiate resume. In four seasons at Iona, Casimir scored 1,112 points, buried 42 percent of his 3s and helped guide the Gaels to three straight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference championships and accompanying NCAA Tournament berths. He's carried over those excellent shooting numbers (48.4 floor, 48.4 arc, 81.8 free-throw line), so he's not a guy that can be allowed to get comfortable with his stroke. ... RaySean Scott Jr., a tough forward out of Compton, Calif., replaced Cheatham in the starting lineup and has averaged 10.2 points and 9.3 rebounds since. Scott Jr. joins the other Scott (Zach) are rare Eagles who did not transfer to FGCU. ... Backup guard Dinerio Mercurious (9.8 ppg, 2.8 rpg) came from USF and is third on the team in scoring.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

**Jalen Hudson** (3) had 23 points, four rebounds and hit four of his eight 3-point attempts at the Orange Bowl Classic last season.

* 3 — Charges drawn by UF in the last game against Mercer. The Gators had drawn five charges in the previous nine games to open the season.

* 9 — That's how much the Gators led Clemson with just under five minutes left in last year's Orange Bowl Classic, only to miss nine of their last 10 field-goal attempts and lose 71-69. The Tigers shot 56 percent in the second half and destroyed UF with straight-line drives that either led to baskets or fouls, as Clemson was in the bonus with nearly 15 minutes left in the game.

* 11 — Offensive rebounds by Johnson, which ranks third on the team, despite averaging just 17.4 minutes per game off the bench.

* 1,405 — Career points for Allen, who against Mercer became just the 21st player in program history to eclipse the 1,400-point milestone. If Allen scores 15 points he'll pass both Brett Nelson (1999-03) and Craig Brown (1990-94), the next names on the list, and move to No. 19.

* 1997 — The first year UF played in the Orange Bowl Classic. The Gators lost 80-73 to Alabama-Birmingham on Dec. 27 of that year, then won nine straight over the next 10 years.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

Merry Christmas and happy holidays, folks.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Florida Gulf Coast (Saturday, 5 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Deaundrae Ballard

Dontay Bassett

John Egbunu

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Keyontae Johnson

Noah Locke

Andrew Nembhard

Keith Stone

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Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Florida Gulf Coast (Saturday, 5 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Deaundrae Ballard

Dontay Bassett

John Egbunu

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Keyontae Johnson

Noah Locke

Andrew Nembhard

Keith Stone

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