Florida Gators

GEORGIA at FLORIDA

When: Wednesday, 9 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.   
Records: Florida (17-8, 8-4); Georgia (13-11, 4-8) 
TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan and Pat Bradley) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss) 



STAKES (The Setup) 
 
After a depressing run of three straight losses in Southeastern Conference play (two of them not close), Florida has bounced back to win its last two league games, beating LSU at home and following that with the team's most complete performance of the season in Saturday's 65-41 road victory at South Carolina. In both outings, the Gators displayed the kind of effort and unselfishness that has been missing too often in games this season. Whether they can maintain those traits will determine where this team stands come March. Georgia, meanwhile, is in a nasty nosedive, having lost six of seven, with the one victory -- you guessed it -- coming against Florida at home two weeks ago. The Bulldogs have been beaten by double digits in each of their previous three losses, most recently Saturday, 78-61, on the road at SEC leader Auburn. ... When UF and UGA met Jan. 30 at Athens, the Bulldogs got 20 points and seven rebounds from forward Yante Maten, but it was a combination of the Georgia defense and hustle, plus stone-cold second-half Florida shooting that determined the outcome. The Gators made just 31 percent of their field-goal attempts after halftime, including a stretch when they missed 20 of 21 shots. The game was tied at 48 with just under 11 minutes remaining, but UF scored just two field goals the rest of the night. ... Florida leads the all-time series 113-101 and had won eight of nine until the last meeting, which was Coach Mike White's first loss in five cracks against the Bulldogs.
  STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Egor Koulechov	F	6-5	205	G-Transfer	14.0 pts / 6.9 reb
Keith Stone	F	6-8	245	R-Sophomore	8.2 pts / 3.9 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	C	6-9	225	Junior	5.3 pts / 5.1 reb
Jalen Hudson	G	6-6	192	R-Junior	15.7 pts / 4.1 reb
Chris Chiozza	PG	6-0	180	Senior	11.9 pts / 4.3 reb / 5.9 ast

Georgia	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Yante Maten	F	6-8	240	Senior	19.4 pts / 8.7 reb
Rayshaun Hammonds	F	6-8	227	Freshman	6.1 pts / 4.9 reb
Derek Ogbeide	F	6-8	245	Junior	7.1 pts / 5.3 reb
William "Turtle" Jackson II	PG	6-4	185	Junior	9.1 pts / 2.4 reb
Juwan Parker	G	6-4	205	Senior	8.7 pts / 3.4 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch) 
 


STUFF (Need-to-Know Info) 
 
 

ABOUT THE GATORS: The two-game winning streak has been all about the effort. Will it carryover? ... This is the second of three straight rematches for the Gators, and the second against an opponent that beat them earlier in the season. Florida is 6-7 in rematch games during White's three seasons. ... UF ranks second against league opponents in scoring defense (67.2 ppg) and turnover margin (plus-2.8), as well as third in assist-to-turnover ratio (plus-1.3) and 3-pointers per game (8.4). ... Last time against UGA, scoring leader Jalen Hudson missed his first six shots and finished just 3-for-14 from the floor. ... Point guard Chris Chiozza was great at South Carolina, bouncing back from a couple some-par offensive games. Though he only had three assists, his engineering of the UF offense was on point, as was the team's overall ball movement that, of course, starts with him. ... Forward Egor Koulechov has converted at least 50 percent of his field-goal attempts in five of the previous six games, with the odd one out when he went 4-for-10 in the loss at Georgia. He's also 9-for-20 from the 3-point line during that stretch (.450). ... Junior shooting guard KeVaughn Allen (11.0 ppg) has come off the bench the last two games and hit just four of his 13 shots and averaged 5.5 points, with six assists and three turnovers. Since going 6-for-7 from the arc in his season-high 28-point eruption against Arkansas, Allen is just 10-for-36 (.277) from deep over the last seven games. ... Center Kevarrius Hayes, in four games against Georgia (and usually matched against Maten), has averaged just 3 points and 1.7 rebounds. ... Forward Keith Stone had a really nice defensive effort at South Carolina,

finishing with a career-high three blocks, mostly coming from the help side. They all came in the first half when UF set the tone for the day. ... ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: The heat has been turned up on Coach Mark Fox, who with just two NCAA Tournament appearances in the previous eight seasons figured to need a third this season to solidify his future standing with the program. The Bulldogs are 158-129 on Fox's watch, with three straight losses since the win over Florida. ... When it comes to SEC statistics, Georgia ranks second in the league in field-goal percentage defense (.407) and is one of the top four or five teams in virtually every rebounding category. The backcourt-thin Bulldogs, though, rank last in SEC play in scoring (64.1 ppg), steals (3.5 pg) and turnover margin (minus-4.2). ... During UGA's three-game losing streak, opponents have averaged 77.3 points and shot a combined 52.2 percent from the floor. ... Maten has been the lone productive and consistent constant for the Bulldogs. He currently ranks third in both scoring (19.1 ppg) and rebounding (8.4) in SEC play. When fouled, Maten hits 82.4 percent of his free throws in league play. ... In the front court, Maten is flanked by Derek Ogbeide, who leads the team in field-goal percentage (.613) and is second to Maten in rebounds, along with Rayshawn Hammonds, an SEC rookie who has distinguished himself at time. So has freshman backup forward Nicolas Claxton, the 6-11, 215-pounder who riddled the Gators with eight rebounds last time, half on the offensive end. ... Of the guards, Parker (41 percent from the floor, 37.5 from 3) is a more efficient shooting threat than Jackson (36.6 and 33.1, respectively), but Jackson is the one with the ball of the time. His 89 assists lead the team, but he also has 48 turnovers.



STATS (Some Numbers of Note)  
 
* .000 —Chiozza's 3-point shooting percentage over the last three games, based on 0-for-6 against South Carolina (0-1), LSU (0-2) and Alabama (0-3).

* 6 — Free throws attempted by Florida in the first game (versus 22 for Georgia), a tell-tale sign of the Gators' unwillingness to attack the basket against the more physical Bulldogs.

* 15 — Offensive rebounds for Georgia in the first meeting. Too many.

* 39 — Florida bench points the last two games after scoring just one in the loss to Alabama on Feb. 3.

* 1997 — The last year Georgia swept its season's series against Florida. It was the first season under Coach Billy Donovan and the Bulldogs, coached by Tubby Smith, and led by forward Michael Chadwick and guard Ray Harrison, won 77-70 at home on Jan. 22 and 88-76 at Gainesville on Feb. 26.



STATEMENT (Random thought) 

Three home games remain. The Gators have some atoning to do for their fans (especially the Rowdy Reptiles), else risk equaling (or surpassing) the most O'Dome defeats by a UF team in more than two decades.