Pregame Stuff: Florida vs West Virginia (Tuesday, 9 pm)
Monday, December 3, 2018 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
JIMMY V CLASSIC
FLORIDA vs WEST VIRGINIA
When: Tuesday, 9 p.m. (EST) Where: Madison Square Garden, New York Records: Florida (4-3); West Virginia (5-2) TV: ESPN (Dan Shulman,Dick Vitale and Allison Adams) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise)
STAKES (The Setup)
The Gators are playing their fourth game at famed Madison Square in the last two years.
Florida is not only back in action after a week, but back against the first of two high-major opponents, a classification the Gators have not fared well against in this young season. After the Gators get the Mountaineers Tuesday night in New York City, they get a visit this weekend from No. 9 Michigan State, but that's a conversation for later in the week. ... The Gators were pummeled at Florida State by 21, then lost by five to Oklahoma, beat Stanford by 23, then lost by seven to Butler, the latter three games coming on a neutral floor at the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas, so these back-to-back dates against Power 5 conference teams figure to be a decent gauge as to whether UF's points of emphasis since returning from Atlantis have made a difference. ... The 32-point home win last week over North Florida (the third low-major victory of the season, joining triumphs against Charleston Southern and La Salle) served only as a temporary get-well card, not much more. ... WVU also is looking for some semblance of a signature win, with the Mountaineers' latest victories coming at home against Rider and, most recently, Saturday over Youngstown State. ... UF leads the all-time series 5-3, with the last meeting an 88-71 blowout win Jan. 30, 2016 at the O'Connell Center in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge during Coach Mike White's first season, marking his first win over a ranked opponent. In that one, senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith scored 24 points, banging five of his seven 3-point attempts, and grabbed five rebounds to lead a UF onslaught that included a 12-for-20 performance from the arc. Freshman guard KeVaughn Allen had 19 points and five rebounds, and even sophomore forward Brandon Francis-Ramirez got into the long-ball act by making all three of his 3s on the way to nine points. ... White is 4-2 against the Big 12 in his four seasons at Florida.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
Florida
Pos.
Ht.
Wt.
Class
Per Game
Keith Stone
F
6-8
253
R-Junior
6.4 pts / 4.6 reb
Kevarrius Hayes
F
6-9
227
Senior
7.6 pts / 6.0 reb
Noah Locke
G
6-3
205
Freshman
8.3 pts / 1.0 reb
KeVaughn Allen
G
6-2
193
Senior
8.7 pts / 2.1 reb
Andrew Nembhard
PG
6-5
191
Freshman
7.3 pts / 3.0 reb / 6.6 ast
West Virginia
Pos.
Ht.
Wt.
Class
Per Game
Esa Ahmad
F
6-8
225
Senior
16.6 pts / 5.4 reb
Sagaba Konate
F
6-8
250
Junior
14.8 pts / 8.2 reb / 2.3 blx
Lamont West
F
6-8
222
Junior
14.5 pts / 5.3 reb
James Bolden
G
6-0
175
Junior
13.4 pts / 3.4 reb / 3.4 ast
Chase Harlen
G
6-3
210
Junior
6.9 pts / 1.4 reb
STANDING OUT (One to Watch)
Say hello (if you dare) to Sagaba Konate, the Mountaineers human soda machine in the post. He's not just 6-foot-8 and 250 pounds, but a chiseled, rock-like version of that, and thus deters traffic in and around the paint. Too bad, because the Gators will have to attack the interio against WVU's relentless pressure, which isn't exactly something the wings have been particularly willing to do. Konate started all 36 games he played last season and ended up on the All-Big 12 Defensive Team. So far this season, he's made 47 percent of his field goals, and has been excellent from the 3-point (9-for-20) and free-throw (16 for 20) lines. Konate's best game came against Valparaiso, when he posted 26 points and 10 rebounds, going 5-for-8 from the arc. He got in foul trouble in WVU's loss to Western Kentucky and future NBA lottery pick Charles Bassey, the 6-11, 245-pounder who cleaned Konate and the Mountaineers for 13 points and 15 rebounds. He sat out the Mountaineers' win over Rider last week, but returned to the lineup in Saturday's 106-72 drubbing of Youngstown State with 14 points and nine rebounds in just 17 minutes. The Gators don't have anyone like Bassey to combat Konate's bulk and beastliness, so it'll have to be a team effort when it comes to boxing and bodying on the block. Good luck, fellas.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
Freshman guard Noah Locke has been highly efficient both shooting and defending since being inserted into the starting lineup three games ago.
ABOUT THE GATORS: They're trying to avoid the program's first 4-4 start since 2014. ... UF's 98 points in the win over North Florida marked the first time the Gators hit the 90-point mark since defeating Gonzaga 111-105 in double overtime in the PK80 Invitational on Nov. 24, 2017. ... Florida is allowing just 62.7 points, 36.2 percent from
Deaundrae Ballard
the floor and 32.2 from the 3-point line this season. ... Biggest challenged for Gators this game will be boxing out against a team that is relentless on the offensive glass. ... In carding 11 assists and no turnovers against UNF, point guard Andrew Nembhard became just the eighth player in the SEC since 1997 to have at least 11 assists and no turnovers in a game. Chris Chiozza did it in the NCAA Tournament victory against St. Bonaventure last March. ... Guard KeVaughn Allen is coming off an across-the-board solid performance against UNF, with 13 points, five rebounds, a career-high seven assists and three steals. Allen, of course, carded his career-best scoring game at the Garden when he poured in a UF NCAA Tournament-record 35 in the 2017 Sweet 16 defeat of Wisconsin. ... In three games since replacing Jalen Hudson in the starting lineup, Noah Locke has made 13 of his 28 shots, including eight of 17 from distance, has not turned the ball over and played some of the team's most inspiring defense. ... Since being replaced, Hudson is 3-for-12 from the floor and 2-for-7 from long range.... Center Kevarrius Hayes is coming off a 12-point, five-rebound game when he hit six of his seven shots. ... Reserve guard Deaundrae Ballard (10.9 ppg) continues to lead the team in scoring and remains the lone player averaging in double figures. ... Forward Keith Stone has yet to score more than 10 points in a game this season, but against the Ospreys knocked down three of five field-goal attempts and both of his 3s. ... Neither reserve forward and West Virginia native Chase Johnson, just recently cleared from concussion protocol, nor backup center Gorjok Gak, who is still hampered by knee pain, will play in the game. Johnson has played 12 minutes in two games this
Bob Huggins
season, while Gak has yet to take the floor. ... ABOUT THE MOUNTAINEERS: West Virginia is in its 12th season under alumnus and future Hall-of-Famer Bob Huggins, who is 260-132 at WVU and 850-343 in his 37 years and five stops as a head coach. ... Like Florida, they're searching for a solid, high-major victory to hang a hat on early in the season. The Mountaineers, in a rebuild mode after losing to graduation their starting backcourt of the last four years, Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles, lost at home to Buffalo in the second game of the season, then to Western Kentucky in the Myrtle Beach Invitation. WVU's five wins have come against Monmouth, St. Joseph's, Valparaiso, Rider and Youngstown State. ... Minus Carter and Miles, this is not the "Press Virginia" defense Huggins has made famous the last dozen years. That was evident in the season-opening upset overtime loss on the home floor to Buffalo, when WVU gave up 99 points. The Mountaineers, though, are certainly capable of wreaking havoc and will be no less aggressive in attack UF's ball-handlers. Still, the numbers don't lie. WVU is surrendering nearly 76 points a game to go with 46-percent shooting and better than 35 percent from the 3-point line. ... West Virginia does not have a player with 10 steals, compared to the Gators who have two. WVU, however, is out-rebounding opponents by nearly seven per game. ... Backup 6-8, 222-pound forward Lamont West is averaging 14.5 points and 5.3 rebounds off the bench. When he and Konote are on the floor together, the Mountaineers are a handful in inside. West is an all-around threat, shooting 45 percent from the floor, nearly 39 from 3 and better than 80 percent from the free-throw line. ... Starting point guard James Bolden's strength just might be scoring (53 percent floor, 48 from 3), but his assist-to-turnover ratio (17/13) suggests he can be pressured. ... Backup guard Brandon Knapper needs to be accounted for from the 3-point line, where he's made six of 14 off the bench, and also leads the team in assists (3.0 pg).
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Must be strange for West Virginia coaches, players and fans to watch a game without the former (and tenacious) backcourt of Jevon Carter (left) and Daxter Miles (right), whose terrific careers wrapped in the 2018 Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament last March.
* 1 — 3-pointers needed by Ballard to double the total he made in his entire freshman season. Ballard was 5-for-32 from deep last season (15.2 percent), but through seven games is 11-for-25 (44.0 percent).
* 10 — Trips to the Northeast the team has made the last eight seasons. The Gators played at Syracuse (loss) and Rutgers (loss) in 2011-12, at Yale (win) in 2012-13, at Connecticut (loss) and against Memphis (win) in New York City in 2013-14, at Navy (win) and against St. Joe's (win) and Purdue (loss) in Uncasville, Conn., in 2015-16, against Duke (loss) in New York City and back there again for the NCAA Tournament against Wisconsin (win) and South Carolina (loss) in 2016-17, and against Cincinnati (win) at Newark, N.J., in 2017-18.
* 65 — Offensive rebounds for Florida this season. The Gators have one player (Hayes with 19) who has at least 10 caroms on the offensive glass this season.
* 102 — Offensive rebounds for West Virginia this season. The Mountaineers have four players with at least 10 this season, including a reserve averaging just 9.1 minutes per game.
* 3,069 — Combined points by the former backcourt tandem of Carter (1,758) and Miles (1,311), who started alongside one another the previous four seasons, 105 wins and four NCAA Tournament berths.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
If the Gators thought the trip to the Bahamas was a so-called "fact-finding mission" with regard to their team, this week should be a downright archeological dig into the DNA of not only where this team is relative to its competitive fight, but also where it's headed this season.
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