Pregame Stuff: Florida vs LaSalle (Wednesday, 7 pm)

FLORIDA vs LaSALLE

When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: Florida (1-1); LaSalle (0-2)
TV: SEC Network+ (T.J. Rives and Mark Wise)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

STAKES (The Setup)

Lionel Simmons after scoring his 3,000 career point

The Gators are back in action and looking to push over .500 for the first time in the early season, after beating Charleston Southern 76-46 for their first win Friday. The Explorers, from Philadelphia and out of the Atlantic 10 Conference, seek their first win of the season, with their latest outing a tough 77-76 against Lafayette before a sold-out home crowd Saturday. ... Florida and LaSalle will play for just the second time, with their only other meeting on Dec. 28, 1989 in the Sugar Bowl Classic at the Superdome in New Orleans. The Gators went into that season as defending Southeastern Conference champions and picked to repeat, but Coach Norm Sloan was fired during the preseason amid an NCAA investigation into rules violations and replaced by Don DeVoe. The program spun out of control from there, with the 76-69 loss to LaSalle coming in the tournament championship game. In that one, forwards Dwayne Davis and Livingston Chatman had 19 and 17 points, respectively, for the Gators, with center Dwayne Schintzius adding 12 points and 12 rebounds. The Explorers got 33 from Lionel "L-Train" Simmons, who four months later was named 1990 NCAA Player of the Year after becoming just the third player in college basketball history to score at least 3,000 points in his career. Simmons went seventh overall in the NBA Draft the following June to the Sacramento Kings. ... UF is 17-12 all-time against teams from the A-10. ... The Gators are 4-1 against the league under Coach Mike White, including last season's defeat of St. Bonaventure in second-round play of the NCAA Tournament. The lone loss came at George Washington in the 2016 National Invitation Tournament.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keith Stone	F	6-8	253	R-Junior	6.0 pts / 5.0 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	F	6-9	227	Senior	4.5 pts / 5.0 reb
Jalen Hudson	G	6-6	195	R-Senior	10.5 pts / 2.5 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Senior	7.0 pts / 2.5 st
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Freshman	9.5 pts / 3.5 reb / 5.0 ast

LaSalle	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Miles Brookins	F	6-10	220	Sophomore	11.5 pts / 4.0 reb
Isiah Deas	G	6-6	195	Junior	19.5 pts / 3.5 reb
Pookie Powell	G	6-0	185	R-Senior	20.0 pts / 3.5 reb
Traci Carter	G	6-1	175	R-Junior	9.0 pts / 4.0 reb
David Beatty	G	6-2	200	Sophomore	1.5 pts / 1.5 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch)

**Pookie Powell** was the Class 8A Florida Hight School Player of the Year in 2013 after averaging 27.8 points and 5.2 assists as a senior at Orlando Dr. Phillips High. Powell signed with Memphis and as a freshman scored 4.3 points and led the team in assists at 2.3 per game. He transferred after just one season, sat out the 2015-16 campaign, and has started all but six games the last three seasons for the Explorers. He's a career 12.6-ppg scorer, 41-percent shooter overall and 33 from the arc. In LaSalle's loss to Lafayette, Powell scored 26 and went 4-for-8 from distance, so his best offensive season is likely to come and he must be accounted for on the defensive end.

STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)

ABOUT THE GATORS: They rebounded from a dismal season-opening blowout loss at Florida State by doing exactly what was expected of them against a low-major opponent at home. That was good, but in the big picture? Big deal. There's still a lot of progress to be made on both ends of the floor and this represents the next opportunity. ... UF is shooting 41.8 percent as a team, but a lowly 26.9 from the 3-point line. The Gators have defended better than they've scored, limiting their two foes to 35.9 percent overall and 31.4 from deep. ...

Point guard Andrew Nembhard has led the team in minutes both games. Last time out, he posted seven points, seven rebounds, six assists and just one turnover. Get used to it. UF is going to ride their prized freshman and get him acclimated as much as possible, what with things about to get way more difficult in the non-league schedule. ... Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen, after going scoreless at Tallahassee in 23 minutes, hit his first three field-goal attempts against Charleston Southern and led the Gators with 14 points and five steals. ... Backup guard Deaundrae Ballard leads UF in scoring at 13.5 points per game and has hit five of nine field-goal tries in both games. That's 55.6 percent. ... Forward Kevarrius Hayes came into his senior season averaging 4.8 points and 5.0 rebounds for his career. Check out his numbers through two so far. He's nothing if not consistent. ... Hayes and forward Keith Stone are tied for the team lead in rebounds, but freshman forward Keyontae Johnson (5.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg), with fewer inches and minutes to work with, is just one behind. ... Backup freshman shooting guard Noah Locke has made three of his eight attempts from the 3-point line. ... ABOUT THE EXPLORERS: They're in the first year under Coach Ashley Howard, who spent the previous four seasons (2013-18) as an assistant for Jay Wright at Villanova, where he was part of two NCAA championship teams (2016 and '18). Before that, Howard was an assistant for one year at Xavier (2012-13), four at Drexel (2008-12) and four at LaSalle (2004-08) in his first full-time post. ... LaSalle has lost four straight, dating back to its 2017-18 regular-season finale at St. Joseph's and first-round exit from the A-10 Tournament against Massachusetts. ... They're not deep, what with five starters averaging at least 22.5 minutes, only one of whom has played less than 26.5 through the first two games. ... LaSalle has shot 36.6 percent from the floor, 34.5 from the 3-point line, and been out-rebounded by an average of 46-29 in the two games. ... Isiah Deas joins Powell as the lone returning starters from last season's 13-19 squad. Deas scored 9.5 points per game as a sophomore, but is plus-10 on that number early in his junior season, with a 23-point performance against Lafayette, and has hit 50 percent of his 3-balls (8-for-16). ... Backup forward Jared Kimbrough, at 6-8, 220, has 14 rebounds in just 28 minutes of reserve duty.

STATS (Some Numbers of Note)

UF coach Mike White and fifth-years senior wing Jalen Hudson.

* .294 — Field-goal percentage through two games for UF wing Jalen Hudson, the preseason All-SEC selection who led the team in scoring last season at 15.5 points per game. That's better than his 3-point percentage, which for now is just 22 percent. He needs to get going. And will.

* 2 — Players besides LaSalle's "L-Train" to eclipse that 3,000-point milestone in a Division-I college basketball career. The others: LSU's Pete Maravich (3,667 from 1967-70) and Portland State's Freeman Williams (3,249 from 1974-78). Simmons averaged 24.6 for his career on his way to 3,217 points from 1986-90 and was the three-time Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year.

* 8 — Fouls committed by UF redshirt freshman post man Isaiah Stokes in 24 minutes as a backup, including five in just 10 minutes on his way to fouling out against Charleston Southern.

* 10 — Fouls committed in two games by Beatty, LaSalle's starting guard, over 45 minutes. His statistics may not be impressive, but he's batting 1.000 on disqualifications.

* 740 —Consecutive seconds the UF defense held Charleston Southern without a field goal during Friday night's win. The Buccaneers went from the 2:57 mark of the first half to the 10:37 mark of the second without making a shot from the floor, and along the way had a stretch of 10 minutes, 11 seconds without scoring a point.

STATEMENT (Random thought)

Florida needs to hone up some things against the Explorers (and win), given what's on the immediate schedule horizon after this one. The Gators leave Monday night for the Bahamas and what figures to be no less than two (perhaps even three) high-major clashes over three days in the Battle 4 Atlantis Nov. 21-23.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida vs LaSalle (Wednesday, 7 pm)

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Deaundrae Ballard

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Keyontae Johnson

Noah Locke

Andrew Nembhard

Isaiah Stokes

Keith Stone

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Pregame Stuff: Florida vs LaSalle (Wednesday, 7 pm)

Next Event

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Deaundrae Ballard

Kevarrius Hayes

Jalen Hudson

Keyontae Johnson

Noah Locke

Andrew Nembhard

Isaiah Stokes

Keith Stone

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