Florida Gators

LAS VEGAS – The University of Florida women's basketball team returns to action Dec. 20-21 when it competes in the Duel in the Desert co-hosted by UNLV and Basketball Travelers, Inc. inside Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas. The Gators, participating in the Rebels division, draw the Utah Utes in their opening round matchup and will take on either UNLV or Hawaii in their second game.

Florida and Utah meet on Thursday at 3 p.m. ET and the Gators' second game is slated to tip at either 3 or 5:30 p.m. on Friday when a Rebel division champion will be decided.

Both contests will be streamed live on FloHoops while Kyle Crooks and Brittany Davis will handle the radio broadcast on ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM. A subscription to FloHoops is required to stream the game.

Full Bracket | UF Game Notes | Utah Game Notes | UNLV Notes | Hawaii Notes

Florida continues its conquests away from Gainesville after it battled the Buckeyes of Ohio State this past Sunday in its most recent action. Despite holding OSU in check with stifling defense and holding a lead in the game for over 35 minutes, the Gators saw their three-game winning streak fall at the hands of the Buckeyes, 46-41 in Columbus. Redshirt-senior Funda Nakkasoglu returned to the Gator lineup with 14 points including a trio of three-pointers and Delicia Washington added 10 or more rebounds for the fourth-straight game but UF was unable to hold on against the back-to-back Big 10 Champion Buckeyes.

Gators in Vegas
This season's tournament marks Florida's third time competing in a Las Vegas-based event and its first since the 2012-13 campaign when it finished the South Point Thanksgiving Shootout 2-1 with wins over NC State and Northern Iowa and a loss to Arizona State. It also played a pair of contests to open the 1989-90 slate at the UNLV Desert Classic Tournament, falling to UNLV and defeating George Mason. UF has an all-time record of 3-2 in games played in the state of Nevada.

Scouting Utah
Utah enters the meeting with a 9-0 record having won all of its games by double digits this season. Utah wrapped up a four-game homestand with a 77-56 win over Weber State on Saturday in its most recent action. Utah, who has featured the same starting five in all nine of its tilts, is paced by senior forward Megan Huff who averages 20.9 points and 9.1 boards per contest. Daneesha Provo, 12.8, and Dre'Una Edwards, 12.7, also average double figures while Dru Gylten initiates the offensive averaging a team-best 6.7 assists per game. The Utes are under the direction of fourth-year head coach Lynne Roberts who has guided the team to postseason berths in each of her first three seasons, amassing a record of 61-44.

Series History: Thursday marks just the second meeting between the programs as Florida claimed a 57-51 victory in the only other matchup between the squads in December of 1992 on a neutral court.

Scouting UNLV
UNLV enters the tournament 1-8 and has dropped five-straight since knocking off UC Santa Barbara 69-51 on Nov. 24. The Lady Rebels, picked to finish second in the Mountain West preseason poll, have been without the services of two of their top three returners, Katie Powell and Paris Strawther, for a good chunk of the non-league schedule. Nikki Wheatley has the highest scoring average of those who have started all nine games, checking in at 9.1 points per game. Kathy Olivier, former Lady Rebel All-American, serves as the head coach and is in her 11^th season.

Series History: Florida and UNLV have met just once and the meeting occurred during the Gators' 1989-90 season opener when UF fell 49-73 in the first round of the UNLV Desert Classic. 

Scouting Hawaii
Hawaii's record sits at 3-7 at the onset of the event and the Rainbow Wahine have won back-to-back contests. Hawaii, pegged to finish fifth in the Big West, has two players averaging double figures in Makenna Woodfolk and Leah Salanoa. The Rainbow Wahine are a strong shooting team, ranking top 50 nationally in three-point percentage and free throw percentage. Hawaii is led by seventh-year head coach Laura Beeman who has led her program to postseason appearances in four of the last six seasons.

Series History: Friday would mark the first meeting between the programs.

Following Florida's competition out west and a brief holiday break, it closes out its 2018-19 non-conference schedule Sunday, Dec. 30 when it hosts Charleston Southern at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

Game 1 Info
Florida vs. Utah
Time & Date: Thursday, Dec. 20 | 3 p.m. ET
Live Stream: FloHoops
Live Stats: Link
Radio: ESPN 98.1FM/850 AM WRUF
Records: Florida (3-7, 0-0) | Utah (9-0, 0-0) 

Game 2 Info
Florida vs. UNLV/Hawaii
Time & Date: Friday, Dec. 21 | 3 or 5 p.m. ET
Live Stream: FloHoops
Live Stats: Link
Radio: ESPN 98.1FM/850 AM WRUF
Records: Florida (3-7, 0-0) | UNLV (1-8, 0-0) or Hawaii (3-7, 0-0) 

Notables

• The Gators are 3-1 in their last four contests and are allowing just 51.0 points per game on .329 shooting over that span. Florida held Texas Tech to a season-low 67 points while limiting Ohio State to 46 points, the fewest point total they have accrued in any game this season.
• Utah is the seventh team Florida will face that qualified for the postseason a season ago. NCAA Tournament (FSU, Mercer, Ohio State), WNIT (Indiana, Bethune-Cookman, Utah) WBI (Northeastern).
• Utah will be the fifth team that was undefeated going into its matchup with Florida. Two of those teams, Indiana and Northeastern, are still without loss so far this season and there are only 17 remaining undefeated teams in all of NCAA Division I.
• Delicia Washington has grabbed exactly 10 rebounds in each of the last four contests as she continues to pace the Gators in overall rebounding. She ranks fifth in the conference in rebounding and first among SEC guards. 
• Redshirt-sophomore guard Danielle Rainey scored three points and logged 22 minutes in her Gator debut at Ohio State after sitting out the past the past two semesters due to NCAA transfer rules.
• Florida is in pursuit of its first victory over a Pac-12 team since it downed the Colorado Buffaloes Nov. 28, 2015 in Boulder.
• 2019 signee Lavender Briggs is a native of the state of Utah.
• Florida is outscoring its opponents 153-139 in first quarters on the season and has held a lead after the first quarter in six of its 10 games.
• Funda Nakkasoglu ranks second in the SEC averaging 19.4 points per game, trailing just AP & WBCA All-American Chennedy Carter of Texas A&M (20.8)
  • She ranks 11th nationally and second in the SEC with a .500 three-point shooting percentage. 
  • She leads the SEC averaging 3.5 treys per game which ranks her 11th nationally. 
• Florida is averaging 43.0 rebounds per game over its last five games, going 3-2, after averaging 35.6 through its first five contests.
• The Gators have made seven or more three-pointers in six of their last seven games and have finished with 10 or more three-pointers three times. UF leads the SEC averaging 8.2 three-pointers per game. 
• Florida's bench is averaging 21.5 points per game over its last four, outpacing its opponent's bench production in three of the four games. 

  
FOLLOW THE GATORS
SOCIAL: Twitter | Facebook | Instagram
JOIN THE CONVERSATION: #GoGators