Pre-Game 'Stuff' -- Florida vs Tennessee (Saturday, 6 pm)
Friday, February 27, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
FLORIDA vs. TENNESSEE
When: Saturday, 6 p.m. (ET)
Where: O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida 13-15 (7-9), Tennessee 14-13 (6-9)
TV: ESPN2 (with Mark Jones and Kara Lawson)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Bill Koss), check for local outlets here.
STAKES, STARS & STATS
>>> Florida and Tennessee play for the first time this season. The Volunteers lead the all-time series 72-55, but the Gators are 19-18 under Coach Billy Donovan. ... UF and UT last met on March 15, 2014 in semifinal-round play of the Southeastern Conference Tournament at Atlanta. In that game, the Gators trailed by 10 points before putting up a defensive wall in the second half and holding the Vols to just 14 points after the break in a 56-49 victory on the way to the tournament title. The game was tied at 49 with just under three minutes left when Florida scored the final seven points, led by Patric Young's 16 points and eight rebounds. ... The Gators will wear a special edition Nike Hyper Elite uniform for the game, after the sports apparel magnate chose UF as one of eight teams to don the new line for a late-season rivalry game. 
>>> For the third straight game, Florida will try to hand Donovan his 500th career victory and make him -- at age 48 -- the second-youngest Division I coach (behind Bob Knight) ever to get there. Donovan has been sitting on 499 since defeating Vanderbilt on Feb. 18. ... UF has lost six of seven, with Tuesday night's 64-52 debacle at last-place Missouri the low point of the season. For the Gators it was a third straight game playing without their leading scorer, guard Michael Frazier II (ankle injury), plus their second-leading scorer and top rebounder, forward Dorian Finney-Smith (suspended for violating team rules). On Friday, Donovan reinstated Finney-Smith and anything remotely close to his 12.9 points and 5.8 rebounds per game will go a long way toward aiding an offense that averaged just 55 points and shot just 35.9 percent from the floor and 25.7 from the 3-point the previous three games. ... Frazier (13.2 ppg, 4.6 rpg), worked some halfcourt at practice Friday, but is expected to miss his seventh straight game since rolling his ankle in the loss at top-ranked Kentucky. ... The Gators need sophomore point guard Kasey Hill (7.1 ppg, 4.5 apg) to bounce back from his difficult night at Mizzou, where he went 2-for-7 from the floor and just 1-for-8 from the free-throw line. Hill is now shooting 55.4 percent from the line for the season and 44.4 during SEC play. ... Freshman forward Devin Robinson (6.4 ppg, 2.4 rpg) has hit double-figures in four of his last five games, including three straight. In those four, his numbers show 13 points and 6.5 rebounds; in that fifth game he had zero points, one rebound. The UF coaches are emphasizing consistency with him. 
>>> The Vols, a lot like the Gators, are in a free fall. They've lost four straight (the latest being Thursday night's 73-65 defeat at Vanderbilt), six of the last seven, and eight of the previous 10. Also like UF, Tennessee has had its troubles scoring, failing to hit 60 points in three of its last six (with just 48 points in a home loss to Kentucky). ... UT is in its first season under Coach Donnie Tyndall, who averaged more than 21 wins during eight seasons at Southern Mississippi -- with a 56-17 mark the previous two years -- before jumping to Knoxville. ... Most of the Vols that gave the Gators such a tough time in recent years are gone, but 6-6 senior guard Josh Richardson (15.9 ppg, 4.2 rpg, right) is still around. Richardson is hitting 37 percent of his 3-point shots, but also uses his height and length for hard drives over smaller guards -- he'll have a big edge on UF”s backcourt -- and gets to the line, where he has made nearly 80 percent of his 110 attempts. ... Tennessee's other two guards, 6-4 Kevin Punter (10.6 ppg) and 6-6 Robert Hubbs III (6.6 ppg, 3.3 rpg), will have a distinct size advantage on the Florida backcourt. Backup guard Devon Baulkman shoots better than 40 percent from the 3-point line off the bench. ... Forward Armani Moore (10.5 ppg, 6.9 rpg) is UT's most productive player in the front court at just 6-5. ... Collectively, the Vols are absolute bulldogs on the glass, so boxing out and aggressively chasing rebounds, especially on the offensive end, will be paramount.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE
* 1 -- Points needed by UF junior guard Eli Carter to hit the 1,000 mark for his career. Carter scored 799 during his two seasons at Rutgers before transferring to Florida in 2013. Carter went into last game needing three points to hit the 4-digit milestone, but scored only two, including two missed free throws in the second half. His status for this game is questionable after sitting out practice Thursday due to his second bout with strep throat in two months. 
* 4.0 -- Rebounds per game averaged by UF senior walk-on Jake Kurtz (right), who grabbed a career-high eight at LSU last weekend. Kurtz trails only Finney-Smith and center Jon Horford (5.0 pg) in that category.
* 5 -- UF players who are hitting below 61 percent from the free-throw line in SEC play: Alex Murphy (60.9), Robinson (59.1), Hill (44.4), Chris Chiozza (54.5) and Chris Walker (33.3).
* 7.7 -- Steals per game by the Volunteers. That's second in the league. Tennessee will be aggressive and extend its defense, bascially daring the officials to make all the calls.
* 14th -- Florida's SEC ranking (last, not surprisingly) in both free-throw percentage and (not so coincidentally) free throws made per game (10.6 pg).
WATCH FOR IT
Tennessee plays a lot of zone and with its tendency to gamble, the Vols don't play it with a lot of discipline. Hence their high steal numbers, but also their dead-last ranking when it comes to defensive 3-point percentage (.379) and 3-pointers allowed per game (7.9). There will be shots available ... but can the Gators hit them?
