Pregame Shootaround: Florida at Ole Miss, Saturday (ESPN2), 8 pm

The new $96 million Pavilion at Ole Miss

FLORIDA at OLE MISS

When: Saturday, 8 p.m. (ET)
Where: The Pavilion at Ole Miss, Oxford, Miss.
Records: UF (10-6, 2-2), Mississippi (12-4, 2-2)
TV: ESPN2 (with Doug Sherman and Sean Farnham)
Radio: Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Mark Wise). Check for availability here.

STAKES, STARS AND STATS

>>> UF's Mike White returns to his alma mater for the first time as an opposing coach. White was a four-year starter -- and defensive bulldog -- at point guard for the Rebels from 1995-99, helping the program to three straight NCAA Tournaments, including its first victory in the tournament when it defeated Villanova in his '99 senior season. White also got his first high-major assistant coaching job at Ole Miss. He was hired as part of Rod Barnes' staff and upon Barnes' dismissal was retained by the next coach, Andy Kennedy, now in his 10th season leading the Rebels. ... The game is sold out and will be played in the new $96 million Pavilion at Ole Miss (capacity 9,500). ... Florida and Mississippi will meet for 108th time in the series that dates to 1940. The Gators hold a 62-45 advantage against the Rebels, but have lost two straight and three of the previous four. ... Mississippi swept UF last year, winning a pair of one-point games on each other's home floor. The Rebels won 72-71 on Jan. 24, 2015 at Oxford on a pair of free throws from guard Jarvis Summers with 3.5 seconds left to offset a 27-point performance from UF guard Michael Frazier II. Then on Feb. 12 at Gainesville, UM guard Stefan Moody bombed in a 3-pointer from 26 feet out with 2.7 seconds left to stun the O'Connell Center crowd 62-61. Dorian Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson each had 14 points in that game for the Gators.

>>> The Gators are on the road for the second straight game and have lost four straight away from the O'Dome. They lost five straight away from home at one point last season. ... Florida still ranks last in the Southeastern Conference in field-goal percentage (.415), 3-point percentage (.290) and free-throw percentage (.606), but the Gators have quietly hit at least nine 3-point shots over their last four games. The odd game out was a dreadful 3-for-18 display against LSU, but the Gators won that game. UF's 10 makes from deep Tuesday night at No. 21 Texas A&M rated as the second-most this season, but the Gators fell a 3-pointer short of pulling off the upset, falling 71-68. ... Finney-Smith (13.4 ppg, 7.6 rpg), the fifth-year senior, carded his third double-double of the season against the Aggies and still leads the team in scoring and rebounding. ... Junior forward Justin Leon (4.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg) has been the team's best player over its past three games, averaging 13.6 points, 5.0 rebounds and 70 percent from 3-point range (7-for-10). ... Sophomore point guard Chris Chiozza (6.8 ppg, 4 apg) continues to run the offense with a steady hand and few mistakes, with 41 assists and seven turnovers since taking over the starting spot. ... Sophomore center John Egbunu (10.8 ppg, 6.5 rpg), who had just two rebounds in 30 minutes at A&M, and Robinson (10.3 ppg, 6.4 rpg), with just nine points the last two games, need to find some level of consistency. Same for freshman guard KeVaughn Allen (9.9 ppg), who after averaging 18 and hitting double-figures over five games had just eight last Saturday against LSU and went scoreless (0-for-4 from the floor, no free-throw attempts) at A&M.

>>> The Rebels go as the aforementioned Moody goes. The Ole Miss point guard is just 5-foot-11, but he's the most gifted shot-maker the Gators have faced since Connecticut's Shabazz Napier. Out of Kissimmee (Fla.) Poinciana High, by way of Florida Atlantic and Kilgore (Texas) College, Moody is averaging 24.4 points, which ranks second in the country among players from major-conference programs behind Oklahoma wing and national player of the year frontrunner Buddy Hield (26.6 ppg). Moody is shooting 42 percent from the floor, 37 from 3-point range and has scored 20 or more points in 14 of his team's 16 games this season, including a career-high 33 in Wednesday night's loss 90-81 at LSU, the team's first defeat in league play this season. Moody also gets to the line a bunch and usually doesn't miss (85.9 percent). ... As a team, the Rebels aren't an overly high-scoring bunch (75.8 ranks 10th in the league and only the Gators shoot worse from the floor (.428) and 3-point line (.311) as a team. Ole Miss, however, is a very good free-throw shooting team (.716) and defensively ranks fourth in the league in steals (7.8 per game) and sixth in forced turnovers (12.3). ... Forward Sebastian Saiz is averaging a double-double for the Rebels (12.5 ppg, 10.1 rpg) and making 53.2 percent from the floor. ... Aside from the LSU defeat, Ole Miss also was beaten by 22 to open the SEC season and dropped neutral-site games to George Mason and Seton Hall in November.

SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE

* 11.8 -- Average number of points below scoring average the Gators are holding opponents. With the exception of maybe three games (Purdue, Miami and Tennessee), the Gators' defense has been their most consistent trait this season.

* 16.6 -- Average shots taken per game by Moody, with almost half of them (7.6) from beyond the arc. That's nearly seven more than Finney-Smith (10.2), who leads UF in shots per game.

* 41 -- Points once scored in a game by Kennedy, the Rebels coach, while a player at Alabama-Birmingham. Kennedy set the single-game record for points by a UAB player on Jan. 3, 1991 against UNC-Charlotte. Kennedy left the program as the Blazers' No. 2 all-time scorer with 1,787 points (1987-91).

* 357 -- Games White either played Ole Miss or served as an assistant coach for Ole Miss during 11 years there.

* 1966 - The year the Tad Smith Coliseum (capacity 8.500) opened on the campus of Ole Miss at a cost of $1.8 million. The Rebels called the "Tad Pad" home for a half-century before playing a final game there on Dec. 22, 2015, with the home team defeating Troy 83-80 in overtime. It now sits empty a few hundred yards from the Pavilion.

WATCH FOR IT

A nice ovation for White at the beginning, then a relentless bombardment of harassment for the next 40 minutes.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Shootaround: Florida at Ole Miss, Saturday (ESPN2), 8 pm

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

John Egbunu

Dorian Finney-Smith

Michael Frazier II

Justin Leon

Devin Robinson

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Pregame Shootaround: Florida at Ole Miss, Saturday (ESPN2), 8 pm

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Chris Chiozza

John Egbunu

Dorian Finney-Smith

Michael Frazier II

Justin Leon

Devin Robinson

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