'Pre-Game Stuff' - Florida vs. UConn (Saturday, 2 p.m.)
Saturday, January 3, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
FLORIDA vs. CONNECTICUT
When: Saturday, 2 p.m. (ET)
Where: O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: UF 7-5, UConn 6-5
TV: CBS (w/Ian Eagle and Bill Raftery)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (w/Larry Vettel and Bill Koss). See outlets here.
STAKES, STARS & STATS
> The return game from a home-and-home series that began last year at Storrs, Conn., doubles as a rematch of a 2014 NCAA semifinal in Arlington, Texas, where the Huskies blitzed the Gators in the first half and ran away with a 63-53 win en 
route to the program's fourth national championship. ... The game clearly has lost some of its national luster, with the two teams having combined to lose 10 games before the first of the new year. When they met in the Final Four, the Gators and Huskies were a combined 66-9. ... UF is 1-2 all-time against UConn, a mark that also includes the regular-season matchup at Gampel Pavillon on Dec. 2, 2013 when guard Shabazz Napier daggered the Gators with a 15-foot jumper at the buzzer (photo right) to give his team a 65-64 win. ... Florida's lone victory in the series came in the 1994 NCAA Tournament, a 69-60 overtime victory in the Sweet 16 on the way to UF's first Final Four.
> Florida is coming off a crushing 65-63 loss Tuesday at rival Florida State, where a desperation shot by the Seminoles, with the game tied, grazed off the front of the rim only to bounce off the out-reached hands of UF forward Jake Kurtz and roll into the basket as time expired. The defeat stopped a four-game win streak for the 
Gators and also left them without a victory in any of the games against any of their five so-called “name” non-conference opponents. This game, albeit against a struggling UConn team, marks the last chance before opening Southeastern Conference play Wednesday night at South Carolina. ... The Gators used their eighth different starting lineup against the Seminoles and may even toy with a ninth against the Huskies, depending on how Donovan and his staff opt to structure their post alignment after getting very little from the rotation of centers Jon Horford and Chris Walker and forward Alex Murphy. The three combined to go 5-for-17 from the floor and grab just nine rebounds. A front-court bright spot, though, was the continuing upward trend for forward Dorian Finney-Smith (12.8 ppg, 5.4 rpg), who is averaging 16 points on 56 percent shooting, plus 6.2 rebounds over the previous five games. ... The best player on the floor at Tallahassee -- for either team -- was Gators point guard Kasey Hill (7.8 ppg, 4.9 rpg), who attacked the paint with abandon to go 7-for-9 from the floor and 3-for-3 from the free-throw line to finish with 17 points. Hill (pictured left) looked to run and push the ball on every defensive rebound, which is exactly the mentality a team that struggles to score (67.6 points per game, 33.3 percent from 3-point range) -- and thus needs to manufacture offense -- needs to take. ... Freshman forward Devin Robinson (6.0 ppg, 3.2 rpg) was just 1-for-7 from the floor at FSU (and missed all five of his 3-balls), but his energy on both ends, fighting and tipping at rebounds and using his length to defend, was a plus and kept him on the floor down the stretch. ... The status of junior guard Eli Carter (6.7 ppg) likely will be determined at game time. Carter played just 30 seconds at FSU after he aggravated a sprain in his left foot . > Like UF, this UConn team is far from the one that played in North Texas last year. Two of the starters off that squad, Napier and forward DeAndre Daniels, were NBA draft picks last June. The Huskies have had similar struggles as the Gators, relative to a rebuilding a team that lost so much. At one point, UConn dropped three of four (including a buzzer-beating home defeat against a Yale squad the Gators beat by 38 three days later) and Tuesday fell in overtime at home to Temple. The Huskies' best collective efforts came in a pair of losses: 55-54 at home against Texas and 66-56 in a neutral-site date against still-unbeaten Duke. ... The heart of these Huskies is senior guard and defensive dog Ryan Boatright (17.6 ppg, 5.2 rpg), who like Napier absolutely gave the Gators guards fits last year. He'll be up in Hill's jersey all game without any regard for the Florida playmaker's quickness. ... Seven-foot sophomore center Amida Brimah (12.2 ppg, 4.5 rpg) is a far more polished player than a year ago. Brimah is making nearly 70 percent of his field goal attempts (54 of 78 for .692) and is a good free-throw shooter as well (70.3 percent). ... Forward Daniel Hamilton (11.1 ppg, 6.6 rpg) is an outstanding freshman and was the highest ranked prep prospect (No. 16 by ESPN) not chosen for the McDonald's All-America Game last spring.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE 
* 10 - UF's 3-point shooting percentage (1-for-10) in the Final Four loss to UConn. The team's lone make came from Michael Frazier just 11 seconds into the game. The Gators, who hit only 38.8 percent overall from the floor that night, went on to finish with just three assists and 11 turnovers in a display unlike any they rolled out during that 36-3 season.
* 10.8 - Average free throws per game for the Gators, which currently ranks as the lowest in the SEC and speaks to the team's lack of an offensive presence in the post.
* 18 - Years since the Gators last lost a fifth game before Jan. 1. That was Billy Donovan's first UF team and the losses were to Creighton, Delaware, Texas, FSU and Pennsylvania. The five defeats this year: Miami, Georgetown, North Carolina, Kansas and FSU.
* 34 - Consecutive games Frazier (right) has hit a 3-point field goal. That's tied with Kenny Boynton (2010-13) for the second-longest run in program history behind Lee Humphrey (2004-07), who made a trey in 39 straight games.
* 398 - Days since that UF visit to UConn in December '13. It's unusual for any team to play a non-conference foe -- especially two marquee programs like these -- in that short a span.
WATCH FOR IT
Gators fans who are conflicted about the Birmingham Bowl, where the UF football team is set to face East Carolina at noon Saturday, can watch that game on the O'Dome video boards in the run-up to the basketball game. The sound, though, will be turned off during pre-game warm-ups.
