Pregame Shootaround: Florida vs Saint Joseph's, 2:30 p.m. on Saturday
Saturday, November 21, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
HALL OF FAME TIPOFF
FLORIDA vs. SAINT JOSEPH'S
When: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. (ET)
Where: Mohegan Sun Arena, Uncasville, Conn.
Records: UF (2-0), Saint Joseph's (3-0)
TV: Streaming / ESPN3 (with Bob Picozzi and Mo Cassera)
Radio: Broadcast will be available on 97.3 FM in Gainesville ONLY, due to the football game being aired on the Gator Radio Network. Stream the station here.
STAKES, STARS AND STATS
>>> After winning his first two games at Florida by a combined 68 points, Coach Mike White will have a much better feel for his team after dipping into the competitive field at the Hall of Fame tourney. The four teams -- the bracket also includes No. 21 Purdue (3-0) and Old Dominion (3-0), who face off Saturday at noon -- head into the event with a combined 11-0 record. Of the four teams, Florida is the only one to play a road game thus far, winning 59-41 at Navy to open the season. ... The Gators have played St. Joe's twice in program history, but not in 52 years. UF lost 89-69 -- despite 32 points from Neal Walk -- in the Gator Bowl Tournament in Jacksonville in 1967 and beat the Hawks 86-72 way back in 1956 in the same tournament. ... Florida is 13-11 all-time against teams currently in the Atlantic 10 Conference, with the the most recent meeting a 10-point defeat of Dayton in the NCAA Southeast Regional final at Memphis to send the Gators to the 2014 Final Four. ... The Mohegan Sun Arena, attached to the luxury and hotel casino (above) on property, opened in 2001 and seats just under 9,518 for basketball. It will host a Toby Keith concert Friday night.
>>> Florida hopes to maintain a hot hand from the 3-point line after going 15-for-29 in Monday's 104-54 bombing of North Carolina A&T. That performance -- with eight different UF players hitting a 3 -- was a wicked contrast to the 3-for-19 display (15.7 percent) at Annapolis. Long-range shooting was not supposed to be a strength for this team, so consider that another category that will be measured against two good clubs this weekend. ... UF's carelessness with the basketball has progressively decreased since the Palm Beach Atlantic exhibition: 23 turnovers, then 19, then 13. That trend bears watching. ... The Gators are shooting 50.8 percent from the floor, 37.5 from the 3-point arc and 59.5 from the free-throw line thus far. Defensively, they're holding opponents to 30.6 overall and 22.9 from deep -- and remarkably out-shooting them from the line, also (47.5). ... Senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (9 ppg, 11 rpg) bounced back nicely from his mistake-prone opener against the Midshipmen when he scored just four points, turned the ball over five times, but did grab 12 rebounds. He had a sixth career double-double against North Carolina A&T. ... Kudos to sophomore forward Devin Robinson (12 ppg, 8.5 rpg) for the way he's responded to his coaches' challenge to play with more passion and more assertiveness. Despite coming off the bench, he's led the team in scoring each of its first two games and thus far tops the club in minutes. ... Sophomore 6-11, 255-pound center John Egbunu (right) has made eight of his nine field-goal attempts and is averaging 6.5 rebounds, but he also has five turnovers and three goal-tending calls. ... Junior point guard Kasey Hill (7.5 ppg, 2 rpg, 6.5 apg) has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 13/5, while backup Chris Chiozza (9 ppg) is at 6/1. Chiozza is the team's leading 3-point shooter, having made four of six (66.6 percent). He shot 32.2 from deep last season.
>>> For St. Joe's, Phil Martelli is back for his 21st season and carries a career record of 378-265. ... The Hawks have of good, experienced upperclassmen, headlined by 6-6, 210-pound junior wing DeAndre' Bembry (15 ppg, 4.7 rpg), who led the Atlantic 10 in scoring last season and figures to be on some NBA Draft boards next summer. Bembry (right) already has amassed more than 1,000 points, 400 rebounds, 200 assists and needs just two steals to reach 100 for his career. Oh, and he's he's blocked 51 shots. He also led the nation in minutes played last season at 38.6, so he'll be on the floor all day. Bembry has career-highs of 33 points and 17 rebounds. ... 6-7 forward Isaiah Miles (17 ppg, 9.3 rpg) is actually the team's leading scorer, one of four Hawks averaging in double figures, along with 6-8 forward Pierfranceso Oliva (10.3 ppg, 5.7 rpg) and 6-5 guard Aaron Brown (12.7 ppg, 4.0 rpg). ... Bembry has yet to make a 3-pointer in three games (0-for-5), but the Gators can't sleep on Miles or Oliva when they float around the perimeter in “stretch-4” roles. Combined, they're 10 of 26 from deep (compared to the rest of the Hawks at 6-for-34), so UF's post defenders will need to be on alert and in position to close around the arc.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE
* .813 -- Percentage of UF turnovers by players not named Hill or Chiozza so far. The points guards only have six, the rest of the team has 26, led by six from freshman guard KeVaughn Allen and five each from Finney-Smith and Egbunu. White's teams at Louisiana Tech took care of the ball, so talk about possessions being precious is constant with White (right) and will remain that way until the Gators clean some things up.
* 1 -- Single-digit games (out of 11) played thus far by the four teams in the tourney field. St. Joe's defeated Drexel 82-81 in its opener, but the other 10 games were decided by an average of 27 points.
* 47.5 -- Points per game being surrendered by UF, which ranks fifth in the nation in scoring defense. Yes, it's early.
* 73.6 -- Free-throw percentage from St. Joseph's. UF doesn't need to get into a charity-stripe battle down the stretch against these guys.
* 2001 -- The last year the Gators played three of their first four games outside of Gainesville to open a season. That year, UF played Temple and Arizona in the Coaches vs. Cancer Tournament in New Jersey, were back at the O'Connell Center for a home game, then played New Hampshire on the road as a perk for then senior forward Matt Bonner.
WATCH FOR IT
Playing hard, constantly, has been a mantra for this team. The Gators figure to do so in Saturday's date against the Hawks -- their first game in five days -- but how will their energy translate with no day of rest in between the two? Especially, if that second game in back-to-back days is against a really good Purdue squad.
