Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Belmont (Monday, 7 pm)

FLORIDA vs BELMONT

When: Monday, 7 p.m. (ET)
Where: Amalie Arena, Tampa
Records: Florida 3-0, Opponent 1-1
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal and Jon Sunvold)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)

STAKES (The Setup)

After a couple 20-plus-point wins in Jacksonville last weekend, Florida squeezed to a 73-66 victory against St. Bonaventure, a very good team out of the Atlantic 10 Conference, Thursday night in Lakeland. Now comes plays a third site in four games with a date at the gorgeous Amalie Arena (capacity 19,000 and home to the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning) against the 3-point bombadiers from Belmont, out of the Ohio Valley Conference. The Bruins return four starters from a squad that went 22-12 last season and reached the NIT before losing at Georgia in the first round. ... The two programs have met just once, with the Gators defeating the Bruins 107-55 on Dec. 30, 2001. In that one, guard Brett Nelson led four UF teammates into double figures with 19 points. Udonis Haslem had 18, Matt Bonner 16 and backup center David Lee grabbed eight rebounds off the bench. ... Florida is 8-1 all-time against teams currently in the OVC, with the last defeat by an 82-73 count against Morehead State on Dec. 1, 1969. ... For the Gators, this will be the last of the "temporary home" games -- which actually are neutral-site games, by RPI definition -- while the renovation to Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center winds down. Their next seven games either will be in the AdvoCare Invitational at Orlando (3 games, starting Thursday), true neutral-site games in a pair of events (vs Duke in the Coaches vs Cancer in New York City, then vs Charlotte in Orange Bowl Classic at Sunrise) or true road games (at North Florida and Florida State). ... This will mark Florida's first game in Tampa since defeating Middle Tennessee 66-45 on Nov. 18, 2012, also at Amalie, but then known as Tampa Bay Times Forum.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Devin Robinson	F	6-8	200	Junior	13.3 pts / 7.3 reb
Justin Leon	F	6-8	206	Senior	12.0 pts / 5.0 reb
John Egbunu	C	6-11	255	R-Junior	9.0 pts / 8.7 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	183	Sophomore	11.7 pts / 2.7 reb
Kasey Hill	PG	6-1	175	Senior	7.0 pts / 3.3 asts

Belmont	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Evan Bradds	F	6-7	205	Senior	22.3 pts / 11.0 reb
Amanze Egekeze	F	6-8	220	Junior	12.5 pts / 3.5 reb
Dylan Windler	F/G	6-7	190	R-Senior	6.5 pts / 6.0 reb
Austin Luke	G	6-3	200	R-Junior	10.5 pts / 3.5 reb / 7.5 asts
Taylor Barnette	G	6-3	185	Senior	7.5 pts / 3.5 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

Bruins senior forward Evans Bradd is the reigning Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year and for the last two seasons has led the nation in field-goal percentage; 68.8 percent as a sophomore in 2014-15 and a staggering 71.4 as a junior. He had 28 points on 11-for-17 shooting against Western Kentucky over the weekend, plus 14 rebounds. He is the grandson of the late Ohio State legend Gary Bradds, who was the 1964 National Player of the Year and a teammate of Jerry Lucas, John Havilcek and Bobby Knight. The elder Bradds averaged 30.6 points and 13.4 rebounds in '64 and once scored at least 40 points in six straight games, including a still-standing Buckeyes school-record 49 against Illinois.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

The box score of the UF-St. Bonaventure game shows the Gators held the Bonnies to 38-percent shooting from the floor and just 33 percent from the 3-point line, but it hardly tells the story of what happened. Basically, SBU hit its biggest shots of the game at the most pivotal moments -- and nearly every one of them were 3-point bombs. That should be of great concern against a team like Belmont, which lives and dies by long ball. ... Florida got superb play Thursday from forward Devin Robinson, who despite early foul trouble finished with 14 points on 6-for-6 shooting from the floor to go with seven rebounds. His backup, swingman Canyon Barry, came off the bench to score 16 points -- during one stretch he hit three straight 3-pointers -- and grab five rebounds, including a huge board late in a tie game. Barry was fouled on the play, made two free throws with 58.8 seconds left and the Gators never trailed again. ... After an ice-cold first two games, guard KeVaughn Allen did some heating up against the Bonnies. Though he missed four of his first five field-goal tries, he went 7-for-14 from the floor for 16 points, including back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half. ... Center John Egbunu had eight points and 10 rebounds against the Bonnies, but was just 2-for-10 from the field and had five turnovers. Until his ball security improves he will continue to see furious double teams in the post. ... Point guard Kasey Hill's play has been up-and-down thus far. He was terrific in the opener against Florida Gulf Coast, but tried to force too much action against SBU on his way to hitting just one of five shots, carding four assists and turning it over five times. ABOUT BELMONT: The team is coached by Rick Byrd, now in his 31st season and with 641-324 mark there. The Bruins will be locked, loaded and ready to fire from anywhere on the floor. In two games, they've already taken 75 shots from beyond the 3-point arc. They went 9-for-41 (bad) in a season-opening 80-68 loss at crosstown foe Vanderbilt, then nailed 16 of 34 (ridiculously good) in smashing Western Kentucky 90-69 on Saturday. That's 33 percent for the season, but the Gators will be zeroed in on that Saturday sample size -- 47.1 percent -- when more than half the team's 68 field-goal attempts were from long distance. ... Bradds (profiled above) does most of his damage around the basket, with a variety of ways to score. He's made 18 of his 32 shots and only three of them were 3s (and he hit two). ... The Bruins have four players already with double-figure attempts from deep and their deadliest shooter thus far doesn't even start. Nick Smith is a 6-8, 220-pound backup center who had 18 off the bench in just 15 minutes by hitting six of his eight long balls.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

* minus-2 — Assist-to-turnover ratio for the Gators through three games, obviously an unsustainable number. UF was a minus-7 in the win over Bonaventure (10 assists, 17 turnovers) and at one point gave the ball away on five of seven possessions to help the Bonnies erase a 15-point deficit.

* .741 — UF's free-throw percentage to date, even after going just 16-for-25 (65.5 percent) against the Bonnies. Allen, Robinson and sophomore center Kevarrius Hayes have each attempted at least seven and sit at better than 80 percent.

* 4 — Free throws Belmont shot Saturday night, which was 30 less attempts than the Bruins took from the 3-point line. They've been to the free-throw line just 17 through their two games.

* 31 — Days until the renovated O'Dome's debut game, when the Gators face Arkansas-Little Rock on Dec. 21.

* 53.8 — Florida forward Justin Leon from the 3-point line, based on his 7-for-13 marksmanship.

* 2013 — The year Belmont shocked North Carolina 83-80 at the "Dean Dome" by virtue of -- take a wild guess -- 3-point with 15 seconds to play.

RANDOM THOUGHT

Love Tampa. Miss Tampa. It was my home for 12 years, mostly covering the NFL for The Orlando Sentinel, before this gig came along, and for another 12 years (before even my first UF gig in the '90s) while a student at USF and then young newspaper reporter at the now defunct Tampa Tribune. Good to be back, Tampa.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Belmont (Monday, 7 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Canyon Barry

John Egbunu

Kevarrius Hayes

Kasey Hill

Justin Leon

Devin Robinson

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Pregame Stuff: Florida vs Belmont (Monday, 7 pm)

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Canyon Barry

John Egbunu

Kevarrius Hayes

Kasey Hill

Justin Leon

Devin Robinson

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