'Pre-Game Stuff' - Florida at Ole Miss (Saturday, 6 pm)
Friday, January 23, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
FLORIDA at OLE MISS
When: Saturday, 6 p.m. (ET)
Where: C.M. “Tad” Smith Coliseum, Oxford, Miss.
Records: UF 10-8, 3-2; Ole Miss 11-7, 2-3
TV: SEC Network (with Dave Neal and Joe Dean Jr.)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Mark Wise), check for outlets here.
STAKES, STARS & STATS
>>> Florida heads to Oxford for the second straight season. The Gators hold a 62-43 advantage in the series, but are just 22-28 on the road. Those numbers in Coach Billy Donovan's tenure show a 15-7 edge and 6-3 record on the road, with wins in six of the last seven meetings and 12 of the last 14. ... The two teams last met on Feb. 22, 2014, when the Gators won 75-71 on the road behind 18 points from Scottie Wilbekin and 17 from Michael Frazier II. In that game, Rebels guard Marshall Henderson lit up UF for 22 first-half, but was shut out by the Gators defense in the second. Two days later, Florida rose to No. 1 in the nation and stayed there for the rest of the regular season. ... UF and Ole Miss will play in Gainesville on Feb. 12. 
>>> The Gators have lost two straight (and four of the previous seven), with the back-to-back Southeastern Conference defeats as decisive as the program has experienced in some time. UF shot 50 percent in a 73-61 loss at Georgia last week, but played horrendous defense in allowing the Bulldogs to hit 56 percent overall, 53 from the 3-point line and contributed to the debacle with a season-worst 19 turnovers. With a chance to bounce back at home, the Gators were ripped inside and out by LSU in a 79-61 loss Tuesday night that marked the program's most lopsided home defeat since early in the 2010-11 season. UF shot just 38 percent in that game and went 3-for-16 from the arc (18.8 percent). ... Junior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (13.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg) extended his run of double-figure games to 11 against LSU, but barely. He hit a late basket to creep to 10 points, which co-led the team along with backup forward Alex Murphy, who aggressiveness and free-throw shooting (4-for-4) were some of the lone bright spots in the game. ... Frazier (13.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg) is averaging just 10.4 points in SEC play and has yet to attempt 10 field goals in a league game. On Tuesday, he took just six shots in 33 minutes, with much of that having to do with the Tigers' locking the junior up on the perimeter and daring UF to get something from its limited post presence. That's going to be the defensive trend in the SEC when matching up against the Gators this season, so both Frazier and his teammates need to get used to it (if they haven't already); better yet, adjust to it. ... After scoring 38 points in the first three SEC games, junior guard Eli Carter (7.2 ppg), who started against LSU, has combined for just nine points in the two losses. ... Look for senior Jon Horford (7.3 ppg, 5.0 rpg, pictured above) to start his second straight game. 
>>> If UF's penchant for over-fouling continues, Ole Miss will make the Gators pay dearly. The Rebels shoot 79.8 percent from the free-throw line, which ranks No. 1 in the nation. They've made 308 of their 386 attempts, with guard Stefan Moody (15.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg) good on 72 of his 80 tries for 90 percent. ... Moody, a 5-10 junior, makes up a third of the Rebels' explosive three-guard line, along with 6-3 Jarvis Summers (14.1 ppg, 3.9 apg, pictured right) and 6-6 LaDarius White (11.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg), both seniors, the trio of which average 41.3 of the Ole Miss 74.3 points. Moody is a volume 3-point shooter, with 106 attempts, and a proficient one at 37.7 percent. White doesn't take as many (only 70 so far), but converts at 45.7 percent. ... The Rebels don't have any beasts in the paint like so many previous Andy Kennedy-coached teams -- 6-9 forwards M.J. Rhett and Sebastian Saiz are both just over 5 rebounds per game -- but the Rebels will fight and battle and make life miserable for opponents in the paint. The Gators better be ready for the confrontation.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE
* 3 - Margin of defeat in the Rebels' 89-86 overtime loss at No. 1 Kentucky to open the SEC regular season. Ole Miss then won at Arkansas, lost at home by four to LSU, won at Arkansas, then lost at Georgia.
* plus-4 - UF's assist-to-turnover differential in SEC play (69 assists, 65 turnovers) after going for 22 and 32, respectively, the last two games combined.
* 6 - Victory margin in the series in five of the previous six games.
* 9 - SEC teams with league records of 3-2 or 2-3 (UF nad Ole Miss, included) heading into weekend action.
* 76 - Florida's RPI as of Friday, which sits ninth in the conference, behind Kentucky (1), Arkansas (22), Georgia (24), Tennessee (45), LSU (46), Texas A&M (47), Alabama (49) and Ole Miss (52). The game against the Rebels will be the third in a run of six straight against opponents currently in the RPI Top 50. Eventually, the Gators need to win a few of 'em.
WATCH FOR IT
This will be UF's final game in the Smith Coliseum, after the Rebels broke ground last summer on the site of The Pavilion at Ole Miss, an $85 million arena that is projected to open by next December. The “Tad Pad” opened in 1965 (it was called Rebel Coliseum at the time) and eventually took on the name of the three-sport Ole Miss letterman, coach and athletic director.
