Florida Gators

FLORIDA vs BUTLER 

When: Saturday, 4 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.   
Records: Florida (7-4); Butler (9-3)  
TV: ESPNU (Jay Alter and Chris Spatola) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) 



STAKES (The Setup)  Both teams are back on the floor for the first time after extended Christmas breaks. For UF, it's the first game since defeating Florida Gulf Coast 77-56 in the Orange Bowl Class at Sunrise, Fla., Saturday night. Butler last played Dec. 21 when it beat California-Irvine, 71-54, at home. Both teams have won four of their previous five, with the lone losses along the way against very good ranked opponents. The Gators fell at home to then-No. 10 Michigan State, while the Bulldogs lost on a 35-foot buzzer-beater to in-state rival Indiana, 71-68, in a spectacular sold-out neutral-site game at Indianapolis. ... The two teams have played four times, with the all-time series tied at 2-2, and the first three coming in the 2000, '07 and '11 NCAA tournaments. ... Due to some unusual circumstances, Florida and Butler will be playing for the second time in 37 days, having met Nov. 23 in the Battle 4 Atlantis in the Bahamas. The B4A officials, knowing the two teams would begin a home-and-home series this season, intentionally put the Gators and Bulldogs on opposite sides of their tournament bracket, yet both lost first-round games, won second-rounders and ended up playing for fifth place on Nov. 23. In that one, the Butler backcourt of Kamar Baldwin and Paul Jorgensen combined to score 35 points on the way to a 61-54 victory. The duo hit 13 of 19 shots, with 25 of those points coming after halftime — and with Baldwin connecting on a couple late-shot clock daggers — as the Bulldogs hit 50 percent as a team and held the Gators to just 22 second-half points on just 8-for-24 from the floor. The Gators were led in that one by freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard, who finished with 11 points, five rebounds, seven assists and no turnovers. ... UF is 1-1 vs. the Big East Conference under Coach Mike White. 

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keith Stone	F	6-8	253	R-Junior	7.2 pts / 4.7 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	F	6-9	227	Senior	7.7 pts / 6.7 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	205	Freshman	9.2 pts / 1.8 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Senior	10.3 pts / 2.5 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Freshman	7.4 pts / 2.6 reb / 6.0 ast

Butler	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Sean McDermott	F	6-6	195	R-Junior	11.6 pts / 2.8 reb
Nate Fowler	C	6-10	240	Senior	5.3 pts / 4.2 reb
Kamar Baldwin	G	6-1	195	Junior	16.2 pts / 5.3 reb / 4.0 ast
Paul Jorgensen	G	6-2	185	R-Junior	15.3 pts / 4.2 reb
Aaron Thompson	G	6-2	185	Sophomore	6.7 pts / 2.0 reb / 4.8 ast

STANDING OUT (One to Watch) 
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)  ABOUT THE GATORS: They're in search of some momentum and confidence heading into Southeastern Conference play, and both elements are there for the taking against a highly respect Power Six opponent like Butler, especially when lined up against UF's last three victims (North Florida, Mercer, FGCU). ... Guard Noah Locke has led the Gators in scoring in each of the last two games, finishing with 18 and 15 points, respectively. Along the way, he became the first Florida player since Michael Frazier in November 2013 to hit at least five 3-pointers in back-to-back games. Since being inserted in the starting lineup seven games ago, Locke is averaging 11.0 points, while

shooting 44.8 percent from the floor and 45.2 from the 3-point line. ... Senior swingman Jalen Hudson snapped out of his scoring rut against Florida Gulf Coast with 14 points to go with six rebounds on his way to Orange Bowl Classic MVP honors. Hudson, who had totaled 18 points in the previous six games, at one point hit three straight 3s in the first half and finished 4-for-9 from deep after entering the game with 11 straight misses from the arc. ... Senior center Kevarrius Hayes is inching up his scoring and rebounding numbers. His current numbers of 7.7 points and 6.7 rebounds are career bests, and in the last game he was 5-for-5 from the floor. He also continues to be the team's catalyst when it comes effort and energy, and cleans up a lot of defensive mistakes for his teammates. ... Point guard Andrew Nembhard has yet to have a game with more turnovers than assists. He's got two break-even games (4/4 vs Florida State; 3/3 vs Michigan State) and had just four assists and three turnovers against FGCU, but also was in foul trouble in the first half. ... Guard KeVaughn Allen had just five points against the Eagles, but remains the only player on the team averaging in double figures. ... Forward Keith Stone has gone four games without reaching double figures, but still leads the team in 3-point percentage at 44.4. He needs to get more attempts from out there. ... Backup forward Keyontae Johnson (6.6 ppg, 4.3 rpg) has at least five rebounds in each of his last three games, despite averaging just 17.6 minutes in those games. He's also shooting 52.6 percent from the floor for the season. ... In his last six games, redshirt freshman forward Isaiah Stokes has grabbed only one rebound in five games and had just two in the sixth. Against FGCU, Stokes played the most minutes (10) since the third game of the season. ... 

ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: It's Season 2 under former Butler star LaVall Jordan, who is 30-17 at his alma mater, including a trip to the 2018 NCAA Tournament. ... The three losses this season have come against Dayton in the Battle 4 Atlantis, on the road at St. Louis and the big one against IU. ... The Bulldogs basically are a team of gym rats that is highly efficient with the ball, as in No. 25 in offensive efficiency, according to KenPom. Butler averages 74.8 points per game (compared to 70.5 for UF), shoots nearly 47 percent from the floor and 43 from the 3-point line. Defensively, the Bulldogs are giving up 63.5 points per game, with an efficiency rated 48th, while allowing just 38 percent shooting overall and just under 33 from deep. ... Butler has a trio of outstanding long-ball shooters, none of which happen to be Kamar Baldwin, who is the squad's most gifted offensive player. He's shooting just 28 percent from beyond the arc (and was 1-for-7 in the first meeting against the Gators), but 48 percent when taking 2s. The Bulldogs will run their offense with great discipline, but if nothing is there late in the shot clock they give it to Baldwin, flatten out and let him go to work. He will downhill defenders to death and get to the free-throw line, where he's nearly 86 percent. ... As for those aforementioned 3-point shooters, trash-talking guard Paul Jorgensen is at 42 percent, swingman Scott McDermott at 43 percent, and the newly arrived Tucker at 60. Pick your poison, Gators. Each member of that threesome hits between 41 and 45 percent overall and over 80 percent from the line (so don't foul the jump-shooters). ... Center Joey Brunk has connected on a stunning 36 of his 49 shots (that's 73.5 percent) and point guard Aaron Thompson is at 64 percent. ... If the Bulldogs have a weakness it might be on the glass, but they're plus-1.0 per game on the season and out-rebounded the Gators 35-33 in the first meeting. 




STATS (Some Numbers of Note)   * .000 — Fowler's percentage from the 3-point line this season, having missed all nine attempts. Considering he shoots better than 45 percent overall and nearly 79 percent from the free-throw line, Fowler probably is capable of knocking down some long balls ... and is probably due. 

* .900 — Hayes' combined field-goal percentage the last two games, based on 9-for-10 shooting from the floor. 

* 4 — UF record for most games with at least five 3-pointers in a season, a mark set by Kenny Boynton in 2009-10. Locke, with those five 3s in each of the last two games, is halfway there and the SEC season hasn't even begun.

* 6 — Double-figuring scoring games off the bench from UF sophomore guard Deaundrae Ballard, who had 11 points against FGCU. Ballard started the season red-hot from the 3-point line, but has made just one of his last seven over his previous three games. 

* 25 — Years since UF has played a non-conference opponent twice in a regular season ... until now. That was in 1993-94 and the Gators did it twice. They swept South Florida, winning 69-65 at home on Dec. 5 and again on Jan. 11, by a score of 69-64, in a game played at in St. Petersburg at the venue then known as the Thunderdome (now Tropicana Field). Also that season, UF was beaten by Florida State, 69-59, on Dec. 18 in what was called the Milk Challenge at Orlando Arena. The two teams met again Feb. 21, with the Gators winning 72-61 at Gainesville. 


STATEMENT (Random thought) 

Winning this game, especially at home, is pivotal. The Gators need another quality, non-league victory on their resume for down the line.