Pregame Stuff: Florida at Tennessee (Wednesday, 9 pm)

FLORIDA at TENNESSEE

When: Wednesday, 9 p.m. (EST)
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.
Records: Florida (17-10, 8-6); Tennessee (19-7, 9-5)
TV: ESPN2 (Karl Ravech, Sean Farnham and Seth Greenberg)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

Florida has won more games at Rupp Arena the last 15 years than it has at Thompson-Boling Arena (capacity 21,678), what with four wins in Lexington versus just three at Knoxville since 2003,

Florida has lost two straight, as well as five of the previous seven, and finds itself in a precarious situation relative to postseason aspirations. The Gators have a handful of so-called "quality" wins, but have undermined their resume with a slew of losses to teams at the bottom of the Southeastern Conference standings, most recently Saturday's 71-68 loss at last-place Vanderbilt. UF has no fewer than five games remaining (four in the regular season, all against top-tier league opponents), plus at least one in the SEC Tournament. The Gators probably need two wins to secure an NCAA at-large berth. They're currently in a four-way tie for third place in the conference standings (with Alabama, Arkansas and Missouri), but just a game behind second-place Tennessee, meaning a win at Knoxville will pull the Gators into no worse than a second-place tie with the Volunteers. Easier said than done, of course. The Vols, one of the most aggressive, physical and hardest-playing teams in the league, are coming off a 73-62 loss at Georgia and will be loaded for bear heading into this one. After winning six straight (five in league play, plus a road win at Iowa State in SEC/Big 12 Challenge), UT has dropped two of the last three. ... Tennessee leads the all-time series 73-57, including a 45-17 advantage in Knoxville. Florida has won just three of its last 11 trips to Thompson-Boling. ... The two team's last met Jan. 7, 2017 at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, with Florida winning 83-70 behind 23 points from guard KeVaughn Allen, plus 19 points and six rebounds from senior forward Justin Leon. Allen went 4-for-4 from the 3-point line in the second half. Backup forward Canyon Barry had 15 points off the bench and senior point guard Kasey Hill had seven assists. ... UF is 1-1 vs. UT under Coach Mike White.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Egor Koulechov	F	6-5	205	G-Transfer	14.2 pts / 6.9 reb
Keith Stone	F	6-8	245	R-Sophomore	8.6 pts / 4.1 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	C	6-9	225	Junior	5.2 pts / 5.2 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Junior	11.1 pts / 2.1 ast
Chris Chiozza	G	6-0	180	Senior	11.7 pts / 4.3 reb / 5.9 ast

Tennessee	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Grant Williams	F	6-7	241	Sophomore	15.7 pts / 5.9 reb
Admiral Schofield	F	6-5	238	Junior	12.2 pts / 6.1 reb
Kyle Alexander	F	6-11	220	Junior	5.9 pts / 5.7 reb
Jordan Bone	G	6-3	176	Sophomore	6.8 pts / 3.6 ast
Jordan Bowden	G	6-5	185	Sophomore	10.0 pts / 3.6 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Tennessee sophomore forward **Grant Williams** gets blue-collar work done in the middle for the Volunteers and, in doing so at such a high level is smack in the middle of the conversation for 2018 SEC Player of the Year. He's just 6-foot-7, but at 241 pounds Williams will demand the attention of Florida's post defenders, and thus looms as a significant mismatch given the Gators' struggles to defend opposing "bigs" this season. Williams has started 54 consecutive games for the Volunteers, most on the team. His 15.7 points a game rank seventh in the league. He's taken a team-high 299 shots and converted at 47.5 percent (that's eighth in the league), with virtually all of them in the 2-point range (just 22 attempts from beyond the arc). He also has a team-high 163 free-throw attempts at nearly 75-percent conversion. Williams is capable of erupting for a big night. Example: career-high 37 points in a win at Vanderbilt early in the season. In so many ways he personifies what the Vols do, in that he overachieves for a player who should be limited by his size. More than a third of his rebounds (55 of 153) have come on the offensive end, which speaks to his tenacity.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: They held double-digit leads over Georgia and Vanderbilt midway through the second half of their games last week, only to lose both. Nine of UF's 10 losses this season have come after the Gators led in the second half, including four blown double-digit leads. ... Once one of the highest-scoring teams in the SEC, Florida has hit 70 points just once over the previous six games. Once one of the most feared 3-point shooting teams in the country, the Gators have hit just 29.7 from the arc over their previous eight SEC games. ... Swingman Jalen Hudson, who came off the bench at Vandy, still leads Florida in scoring at 14.9 per game, but he converted just four of his 15 shots last week, including a scoreless night in the three-point loss to Georgia. Meanwhile, point guard Chris Chiozza went 5-for-25 from the floor in the two games. Together that's 9-for-40, which is 22.5 percent. Their struggles actually go back beyond last week, as Chiozza has hit just one of his last 11 3-pointers and Hudson three of his last 19. Combined, that's 13.3 percent from two of the team's four best offensive threats. Chiozza is still performing at a high level as far as running the offense, with a 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio (84/21), but his assists are down because teammates' field goals are down. So are his. Chiozza is at 36.2 shooting percent against SEC opponents and just 26.5 from the 3-point line (13 of 49) for the season. ... Forward Egor Koulechov, who had 14 points in the loss Saturday, now leads the SEC in 3-point field-goal percentage at 47.0 and is second in free-throw percentage at 89.7. ... Guard KeVaughn Allen is UF's best free-throw shooter both overall and in league play (91.7 and 96.3, respectively), but he doesn't have enough attempts to qualify for NCAA or SEC stats. That speaks to his unwillingness to attack the basket, something he is very good at in the rare instances he gets aggressive. ... Backup guard Mike Okauru has averaged 8.7 points over the previous five games. ... ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS: After two difficult seasons to start off the Rick

Barnes era (50-42 in his third year), the Vols have basically booked their ticket to the 2018 NCAA Tournament and need just one more victory to tally the first 20-win season since 2014. That year, the program advanced to the Sweet 16 before an alumni coup forced out then-Coach Cuonzo Martin. Enter Barnes, who was fired after 17 seasons at Texas. UT went a combined 31-35 (including 14-22 in SEC play) in the first two seasons under Barnes, who is now in line for SEC Coach-of-the-Year honors (maybe even some national consideration. ... The calling cards of Barnes-coached teams, from his times at Providence, Clemson, Texas and now Tennessee (31 seasons; career record of 654-356) have always been effort. This one definitely fits the blueprint, with the Gators needing to go in the game with a clear understanding of what's about to hit them (especially with the Vols coming off a loss) ... UT ranks second in the league in free-throw percentage (.749) and assists (16.1 pg), as well as third in scoring margin (plus-7.8), field-goal percentage (.380) and assist-to-turnover ratio (plus-1.3). ... The Vols had tough non-conference defeats to heavyweights Villanova (lost 85-76) on a neutral floor and at North Carolina (78-73), then started the SEC season 0-2 in league play, but have gone 9-3 since, including the program's first sweep of Kentucky since 1999. ... Alongside Williams, UT will roll out 6-11 rookie Kyle Alexander, who's hitting 72.4 percent from the floor with just one 3-point attempt this season (made it) and battle-tested warrior Admiral Schofield, who's at 39.8 percent from the 3-point line. ... Jordan Bowden and Jordan Bone are both really good 3-point threats (.431 and .362, respectively), as are backup guards Lamonte Turner, the team's No. 3 scorer at 10.7 points a game and 38.6 percent from deep, and James Daniel (6.4 ppg), a grad-transfer from Howard who was a a first-team All Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference selection when he averaged 21.5 points per game. Turner leads the league in free-throw shooting in SEC play at 93.2 percent.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* .231 — UF's winning percentage when playing in Knoxville over the last 15 seasons, based on a 3-10 record that includes an 83-69 loss two seasons ago in White's first SEC road game as Florida's coach. Interestingly, in the same 15-year span, the Gators actually have won more times at Kentucky, where they're 4-11 since 2003.

* .800 —UF's winning percentage this season against ranked opponents, based on a 4-1 record. The four wins match the combined total of victories against ranked teams during White's first two seasons.

* 13 — Where the Vols were picked to finish in the league standings (out of 14 teams, of course) in the preseason poll at SEC Media Days in October.

* 2014 — Last time the Gators won at Thompson-Boling Arena. They got a career-high 21 points from senior guard Scottie Wilbekin, plus six assists, four steals and zero turnovers, as UF won a 16th straight, then four nights later went to Kentucky and won in one of the greatest road weeks in program history. The win over UT was defined by one of the plays of the season, as center Patric Young launched himself through a couple Vols defenders (see above video) to corral a 50-50 ball and secure a possession in the final two minutes.

* 2,096 — Career points scored by Hunter, the Vols reserve guard, a figure that places him fourth in scoring among active NCAA players. He amassed 1,930 points during his time at Howard.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

Two years ago, the Gators trailed in the second half against the Vols by 30, their largest deficit in any game since White's been here. It was a textbook example of one team showing up ready for a street fight and the other wanting no part of it. What will happen this time?

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida at Tennessee (Wednesday, 9 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Egor Koulechov

Mike Okauru

Keith Stone

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Pregame Stuff: Florida at Tennessee (Wednesday, 9 pm)

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Egor Koulechov

Mike Okauru

Keith Stone

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