Florida Gators

GREENVILLE, S.C. – The Gators earned the No. 11 seed in the 2017 Southeastern Conference Tournament that gets underway Wednesday, March 1 at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C.
 
The Gators will play 14-seed Arkansas on the opening day at approximately 1:30 p.m. ET. That game is the second of the 11 a.m. ET session that features Alabama and Vanderbilt.
 
The winner of the game between the Gators and Razorbacks will play 6-seed Texas A&M (19-10, 9-7 SEC) on Thursday at 8:30 p.m. ET
 
SEC Network will broadcast every game in the first three rounds (the first 10 games) of the tournament, with Pam Ward & Gail Goestenkors calling the action on Florida's side of the bracket, with Gator great Steffi Sorensen serving as the sideline analyst throughout.
 
SEC Tournament Skinny

• This is the second time the SEC Tournament will be held in Greenville, S.C. The 2005 event was also played there; the Gators were the 8-seed and fell to 9-seed Alabama, 62-58.
• This is the third time the Gators are the No. 11 seed in the SEC Tournament. They sport a 1-2 record with that seed.
• Florida is 19-36 all-time record in SEC Tournament games.
• In SEC Tournament games, Florida is 4-1 against Arkansas and has never played Texas A&M.

 
Florida at the SEC Tournament

• Florida holds a 19-36 all-time record in the SEC Tournament.

• Florida has played in the SEC Tournament quarterfinal round in five of the last six years, as well as in nine of the last 11 tournaments. If the Gators are to reach that round in 2017, they will have to win two games to do that – something Florida has accomplished just twice (1996, 1997) in its previous 36 appearances.
• The Gator's best finish was reaching the championship game in 1997, the team's lone appearance in the final.
• Current UF head coach Amanda Butler was an assistant coach on the 1997 Gator staff that year and current UF assistant coach Murriel Page was the starting forward and earned a spot on the All-Tournament Team.

 
Butler at the SEC Tournament

• The Gators are 5-9 at the SEC Tournament under Head Coach Amanda Butler.
• During her two seasons as an assistant coach at Florida, Amanda Butler helped the Gators reach the SEC Tournament semifinal round in 1996 and the championship game in 1997.
• During her four-year career as a starting point guard for the Gators (1990-94), Butler played in and started five SEC Tournament games, averaging 29.4 minutes, while contributing 4.2 points, 3.0 assists and 2.6 steals.

 
Player Page at the SEC Tournament

• Current assistant coach Murriel Page was named to the 1996 and 1997 SEC All-Tournament Teams.
• She appeared in 10 SEC Tournament games from 1995-98, totaling 145 points (14.5 ppg) and 109 rebounds (10.9 rpg), while helping the Gators reach semifinals in 1996 and the championship game in 1997 – in what remains UF's lone appearance in the title game.

 
Senior Day Success

• Florida's two seniors - Tyshara Fleming and Ronni Williams - enjoyed a great win in the final home game of their careers, helping the Gators defeat SEC rival Georgia, 65-58, on Sun., February 26.
• Fleming was the game's leading rebounder with nine.
• Williams was the game's leading scorer with 31.

 
Home-Sweet-Neutral Site

• Due to the $64.5 million renovations to Florida's home arena to start the season, the Gators played their first 12 games on the road.
• The team posted an impressive 6-1 record on neutral site courts, with the only loss coming against Indiana played in Winter Park, Fla. The Hoosiers have gone on to a successful regular season and have earned the No. 4 seed in the Big Ten Tournament.
• Florida finished 3-6 at home and 5-8 on away courts.

 
Florida vs. Arkansas: The Series

• 35-Game Series: UF leads 26-9 (UF Home: 12-3; Away: 10-5; Neutral: 4-1)
• The Gators won the regular season meeting against the Razorbacks, 57-53, on February 9 in Gainesville.
• Florida is 4-1 against Arkansas in the SEC Tournament, with the meeting a 64-59 Gator victory in the first round of the 2013 event played in Duluth, Ga.
• Streak: Florida has won the last three games in the series, as well as six of the last seven.
• Trend: Nine of the last 12 games in the series have been decided by single digits.

 
What Just Happened

• Florida snapped a three-game skid with a 65-58 victory over Georgia on Sunday in Gainesville.
• Arkansas dropped a 70-64 home decision to Auburn on Sunday for its 10th consecutive setback.

 
Notes from Florida's Last Game: defeated GEORGIA, 65-58 (Feb. 26)

• UF's seniors led the way, as Ronni Williams scored and game-high 31 points and Tyshara Fleming collected a game-high nine rebounds.
• The Gators used a 15-6 run to close the game and secure their first win at home against Georgia since Feb. 19, 2012.
• The victory also marked just the fourth time in the 70-game series between the two teams the Florida has won consecutive games. The last time the Gators earned back-to-back wins against their Southeastern Conference rivals was during the 2003-04 season.
• Florida took the 76-68 decision in Athens on January 22.
• In what has become a classic tight rivalry game where entering Sunday's battle 15 of the last 16 meetings between the two teams have been decided by 11 points or less, this one followed that trend as it featured 11 tied scores and five lead changes.

 
First Time for Everything

• After Sunday's 31-point performance over Georgia, Ronni Williams ended the SEC season with a scoring average of 20.1 per league game and became the first Gator ever to lead the SEC in scoring - in league games or overall!

 
Gator Watch

• In addition to leading the Gators in scoring with 19.1 points per game (20.1 ppg in SEC games), Ronni Williams also leads the squad in rebounding (7.8 pg) and free throw percentage (74.2%) and is second for assists (67) and field goal percentage (54.0%).
• With her 43-point, 14-rebound effort against Vanderbilt (Jan. 29), she became the first SEC player to drop 40 and 10 since in a game since the 2003 season!
• Williams became the 24th Gator to score 1,000 career points, doing so on Dec. 3 vs. Long Beach State.
• She became the 15th Gator to collect 700 career rebounds, eclipsing the mark on January 5 at LSU.
• Scored her 1,400th career point in February 23 game at Tennessee.
• Collected her 800th career rebound in February 26 game vs. Georgia and became the ninth Gator to top the 1,400-point, 800-rebound marks.

 
Who's Hot

• Over the last TWO games, Brooke Copeland has converted 6-of-13 from the three-point arc (46.2%) and is averaging 10.5 points per game.
• In the last TWO games, Tyshara Fleming is averaging 9.0 rebounds per game.
• Over the last TWO games, Ronni Williams is averaging 26.5 points, hitting 55.6 percent from the field and 13-of-16 (81.3%) from the free throw line.

 
Last 2 have been Tight

• Florida's last two games entering the SEC Tournament featured a combined 14 lead changes and 19 tied scores, with the Gators coming away with a four-point road loss at Tennessee and a seven-point home win against Georgia.

 
Gripping Gators

• Over the previous three-plus seasons, the team has played a combined 59 games decided by 10 points or less, with a 31-28 record)
• In 2016-17, the Gators are 5-9 in games decided 10 points or less (4-7 SEC).

 
Game Day at a Glance

• Who: 11-seed Florida (14-15, 5-11 SEC) vs. 14-seed Arkansas (13-16, 2-14 SEC)
• Where: Bon Secours Wellness Arena * Greenville, S.C.
• When: Wed., March 1 * ~ 1:30 pm ET
• What: 2017 SEC Tournament - First Round

 
Game Notes:

• Florida
• Arkansas

 
Game Coverage & More!

• Radio: ESPN Gainesville 98.1 with Adam Schick & Brittany Davis
• Internet Audio: FloridaGators.com (FREE) 
• TV: SEC Network with Pam Ward, Gail Goestenkors and Steffi Sorensen
• Streaming Video: WatchESPN
• Internet Scoring: LIVE through SECsports.com
• Official SEC Tournament Website 

 
Opening Tip

• Florida defeated Arkansas during the regular season game played February 9 in Gainesville.
• Three of the Gators' five SEC wins were on the road.
• Ten of UF's last 12 games have been decided by 10 points or less.
• Florida is 5-9 in games decided by 10 points or less this season, including 4-7 in SEC games.
• UF's Ronni Williams became the first Gator ever to lead the league in scoring (SEC games). Her highlight game was a 43-point, 14-rebound performance against Vanderbilt (Jan. 29).

 
 
Gator Pronunciations for this Release:

• DYANDRIA Anderson: dee-ANN-dree-uh
• TYSHARA Fleming: tie-SHEER-uh
• DELICIA Washington: duh-LEE-shuh

 
 
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