Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Finally! After 8,799 round-trip miles traveled via 13 bus trips, seven airplane flights, 11 different hotels and 12 games over a 48-day span, the Gators will finally play a home game!
 
Florida plays host to Southeastern Louisiana on Wed., December 28, with tip off set for 7 p.m., after patiently waiting for the $64.5 million renovations to be completed on the newly renamed Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.
 
VIDEO PREVIEWS

• UF Head Coach Amanda Butler [direct link]
• Senior Ronni Williams and junior Dyandria Anderson [direct link]

• Grand Opening – It's the first Florida Women's Basketball home game in the brand new Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center!
• Post-Holiday Party – Extend your holiday break with the Gators in the new O'Dome! Enjoy hot chocolate and other candies for National Chocolate Candy Day!
• Wear Orange – Make sure to wear your orange Gator gear to the game!
• Orange T-shirt Giveaway – The first 500 fans in attendance will receive a special Florida WBK orange t-shirt!
• Home Opener Ticket Redemption – Fans who attended neutral site games can redeem their ticket voucher for this game!
• Kids Club – Kids Club members and their families receive free admission.
• Enter to Win - $200 Nike Gift Card

• The last time Florida played a home game was on February 28, when the Gators topped Auburn, 56-49.
• The game was 305 days ago.

• UF is 33-9 all-time in home-opening games.
• The Gators have won four straight home-openers, as well as 10 of their last 11.

• To celebrate their first home game of the year, as well as their 12-game season-opening road trip, the Gators will be wearing special orange uniforms for Wednesday's home opener.
• The last time the Gators wore orange uniforms was during the 2007-08 season, when the team logged a 5-1 record (4-0 at home, 1-0 away, 0-1 neutral site).
• The last home game the Gators wore orange uniforms was back on December 28, 2007, when Florida defeated Holy Cross, 66-52.
• Fans are encouraged to wear the color orange to the game!

• There are five teams on UF's schedule that the Gators will play for the first time and Southeastern Louisiana is one of those schools.
• The other first-time foes: Chattanooga, Northwestern, Wofford and North Carolina A&T.
• The Gators have gone 3-1 against those teams this year.

• FIRST MEETING

• Points Per Game: 74.2
• Scoring Defense: 63.7
• Scoring Margin: +10.5
• Rebounding Margin: +6.3
• FG%: 47.3%
• 3FG%: 26.9%
• FT%: 63.4%

• Scoring:  Ronni Williams, 16.6
• Rebounding: Williams, 8.0
• Assists: Dyandria Anderson, 4.5

• Points Per Game: 59.0
• Scoring Defense: 83.3
• Scoring Margin: -24.3
• Rebounding Margin: -15.3
• FG%: 36.8%
• 3FG%: 28.9%
• FT%: 66.5%

• Scoring: Taylin Underwood, 16.3
• Rebounding: Tyler Morrison, 6.3
• Assists: Underwood, 2.5

• Florida enters Wednesday's game against the Lions having earned a 78-65 win against Florida A&M on Wed., December 21 at the Florida Sunshine Classic in Winter Park. The Gators are looking to string consecutive wins together for the first time since downing Wofford on Nov. 30 in Ocala, Fla., and Long Beach State on Dec. 3 in Tempe, Ariz.
• SLU dropped an 87-71 home decision to Grambling on Wed., Dec. 21. The game was the Lion's fifth straight setback. SLU is 0-7 on the road this season.

• Ronni Williams' 25 points marked her fourth 20-point game of the year, as well as her 60th career double-figure scoring game. Williams also collected a game-high-tying eight rebounds.
• Haley Lorenzen scored 16 points (7-13 FG) with seven rebounds and a career-best five steals.
• Tyshara Fleming scored 15 points (6-10 FG) with eight rebounds.
• Dyandria Anderson tied her career high of 13 points for her first double-figure scoring game of the year; dished a game-high seven assists.

• Florida committed a season-high 29 turnovers and forced FAMU into 36 miscues, the most by an opponent this season
• The Gators tied their season-best of 20 steals (also vs. South Alabama)
• It was the first time the Gators have been outrebounded in a victory this year
• There were five lead changes and one tied score

• Ronni Williams - the lone four-year senior on the roster - led UF in scoring as a sophomore and junior and is doing so again this season.
• Williams became the 24th Gator to score 1,000 career points, doing so on Dec. 3 vs. Long Beach State.
• In addition to scoring (16.8 ppg), Williams also leads the Gators in rebounding (8.0 pg) and is second for assists (34) this year.

• While Ronni Williams leads the Gators overall in scoring at 16.8 per game, over the last TWO games, the senior is contributing 23.5 per game, hitting 65.5 percent (19-29) from the floor and has dished a team-best 10 assists.
• Tyshara Fleming has corralled a team-best 8.5 rebounds over the last two games

• The Gators opened the season with a 12-player roster, however just nine suited up for the first four games of the 2016-17 campaign.
• During the fifth game (at Northwestern, Nov. 25), freshman Sydney Morang suited up and played three minutes. Morang had not played prior to this due to concussion symptoms. After undergoing months of testing and observation, she was cleared by physicians to finally play in a game.
• Testing showed that freshman Elif Portakal broke a bone in her foot and has been ruled out of game action since the Dec. 8 game at Florida State.
• In the days following the FSU game, then-leading scorer Eleanna Christinaki parted ways with the team, leaving the Gators with eight players for their Dec. 11 game against N.C. A&T.
• Senior Simone Westbrook, a member of the 2016 SEC All-Defensive Team, tore her ACL in August and will miss the season.
• Junior Funda Nakkasoglu joined the Gators from Utah State and must sit out the year per NCAA rules for transfers.

• Florida played its first 12 games on the road due to the $64.5 million renovation of Exactech Arena, which was completed in mid-December.
• During the season-opening road swing, the Gators will have traveled a total of 8,799 miles without leaving the contiguous United States or playing in the Pacific Time Zone before playing host to Southeastern Louisiana in their home opener.

• Who: Florida (8-4, 0-0 SEC) hosts Southeastern Louisiana (2-8)
• Where: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center (10,133) * Gainesville, Florida
• When: Wed., December 28 * 7 pm ET

• Florida [direct link]
• Southeastern Louisiana [direct link]

• Radio: LIVE on ESPN Gainesville 98.1 with   Adam Schick & Brittany Davis
• Internet Audio: LIVE thru FloridaGators.com (FREE) [direct link]
• Television: none
• Streaming Video: SEC Network + link posted on FloridaGators.com [direct link]
• Internet Scoring: LIVE through Statbroadcast [direct link]

• Wednesday's game is Florida's home opener.
• The Gators have won four straight home openers, as well as 10 of their last 11.
• This is the first meeting between Florida and Southeastern Louisiana.
• The Gators played their first 12 games on the road trip due to the $64.5 million renovations to its newly renamed home arena - Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

 
Gator Pronunciations for this Release

• DYANDRIA Anderson: dee-ANN-dree-uh
• TYSHARA Fleming: tie-SHEER-uh
• Sydney MORANG: mur-RANG (like meringue pie)
• FUNDA NAKKASOGLU: FOON-da knock-a-SO-glue
• ELIF PORTAKAL: ee-LEAF POOR-ta-call
• DELICIA Washington: duh-LEE-shuh

 
 
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