FLORIDA at No. 24 MISSISSIPPI STATE
When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. (EST)
Where: Humphrey Coliseum, Starkville, Miss.
Records: Florida (9-6, 1-2); Mississippi State (12-3, 0-2)
TV: SEC Network (
Tom Hart and
Jon Sundvold)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (
Mick Hubert and
Bill Koss)
STAKES (The Setup)
UF is on the SEC road twice this week, starting with a visit to Humphrey Coliseum (capacity 10,575) for Tuesday night's date against Mississippi State.
Two teams with postseason aspiration that need a win to keep from falling further down the Southeastern Conference standings. Florida got bum-rushed late by Tennessee in a 78-67 home loss Saturday and is trying to avoid its first 1-3 start in league play since the 1996-97 season. Three weeks ago, Mississippi State had won 12 of its first 13 (with a lone loss at Arizona State) and was ranked 14th in the country, but the Bulldogs have dropped their first two league games, most recently Saturday's home 81-77 loss to rival Ole Miss. ... UF leads the all-time series 65-49, including eight straight wins, but is 23-34 all-time in Starkville, a mark that includes a 57-52 victory there two years ago. ... Florida is 3-0 against Mississippi State under Coach
Mike White, with the last meeting a 71-54 win at Gainesville on Jan. 10, 2018. In that one, grad-transfer forward
Egor Koulechov scored 23 points, made four of five 3-point shots, and grabbed eight rebounds. Senior point guard
Chris Chiozza did not start, after missing practice time due to illness, but came off the bench to score 10 points and dish seven assists in 28 minutes.
STARTERS (Probable Lineups)
| Mississippi State |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Per Game |
| Abdul Ado |
F |
6-11 |
225 |
R-Sophomore |
5.8 pts / 5.4 reb |
| Aric Holman |
F |
6-10 |
225 |
Senior |
12.7 pts / 8.4 reb / 2.5 blk |
| Quinndary Weatherspoon |
G |
6-4 |
205 |
Senior |
17.1 pts / 5.7 reb / 2.8 ast |
| Nick Weatherspoon |
G |
6-2 |
195 |
Sophomore |
10.7 pts / 2.3 reb |
| Lamar Peters |
PG |
6-0 |
185 |
Junior |
13.5 pts / 2.0 reb / 6.1 ast |
STANDING OUT (One to Watch)
Quinndary Weatherspoon came to Mississippi State after leading Canton (Miss.) Jackson to state titles as a sophomore, junior and senior. He started more than half the Bulldogs' games as a freshman and was named to the All-SEC second teams each of the last two seasons after amassing nearly 1,400 points and more than 500 rebounds in his three years at MSU. The program fell short of reaching the NCAA Tournament last season, but reached the semifinals of the NIT and now is looking for bigger things with Weatherspoon, again, as its lynch pin. He's the Bulldogs' leading scorer (fifth in the SEC) and second-leading rebounder, while shooting 47.8 percent overall, 32.7 from the 3-point line, nearly 79 on his free throws, and is close to three assists per game. Weatherspoon opened his senior campaign with three games scoring at least 20 points, but has hit that mark just three times in the 12 games since. He's certainly capable of doing so on any given night. In MSU's non-league finale, a win over Brigham Young, he poured in 27 points (three off his career high), on 9-for-13 shooting, 2-for-2 from deep, and 7-for-7 from the free-throw line.
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
This shot (uncontested, wide open) did not fall for UF's Andrew Nembhard. It was that kind of night Saturday against Tennessee for the freshman point guard, who went 1-for-10 and missed all three of his 3-point attempts.
ABOUT THE GATORS: The final score of the Tennessee loss was not indicative of how close the contest was throughout, but very telling with regard to how the visiting Volunteers made all the winning plays over the final five or so minutes. Undisciplined and unaccountable moments have become a calling card for this UF team, especially in
Noah Locke
losses, despite a defense that keeps the Gators in games. ... Guard
Noah Locke has distinguished himself as (by far) the most consistent player on the team, despite his status as a freshman. Locke had another terrific game against the Vols (17 points, four 3s, solid defense) and has now reached double-figure scoring in six straight outings. ... Guard
KeVaughn Allen, more active and aggressive than usual on offense the last two games, led UF with 18 points on 5-for-6 shooting from the 3-point line, but also had a hand (as did several Gators) on UT's late surge; on both ends. ... Point guard
Andrew Nembhard went 1-for-10 last time out, with five assists and three turnovers. Look for him, coming off his toughest night as a Gator, to be locked and loaded with focus going up against a veteran MSU backcourt. ... Center/forward
Kevarrius Hayes, the team's top defender in the post, has averaged just 14.6 minutes in three SEC games because of foul trouble. ... The lack of production from the "4" position in SEC play has been profound, what with the trio of fourth-year junior
Keith Stone, freshman
Keyontae Johnson and fifth-year senior
Jalen Hudson (when the team goes small) averaging a
combined 9.6 points on 9-for-50 shooting overall (18.0 percent) and 3-for-21 from the 3-point line (14.2 percent). Third-year sophomore
Dontay Bassett, however, has provided a pretty reliable lift as a reserve at both the "4" and "5" spots. Bassett is at 6.7 points, 4.3 rebounds to go with 55.5 percent shooting from the floor and 77.8 from the free-throw line against league foes. ...
ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: They're in the fourth season under Coach
Ben Howland, who was
Aric Holman
hired by then-Athletic Director
Scott Stricklin in 2015. Howland's record with the Bulldogs is 67-48, but with no NCAA tournament berths. MSU is his fourth stop, however, with successful stints at Northern Arizona (1994-99), Pittsburgh (1999-2003) and UCLA (2003-13) producing 10 NCAA appearances, seven Elite Eights, three Final Fours and one NCAA runner-up finish, where (of course) his UCLA team was defeated by Florida in the 2006 national-title game. Howland's all-time record is 468-254 in 23 seasons. ... State averages 80.1 points per game, shoots nearly 48 percent from the floor and 38.8 from the 3-point line. According to
KenPom.com advanced metrics, the Bulldogs have the 23rd-ranked offensive efficiency in the nation and the No. 60 defense. MSU gives up 69.0 points per game, allows 42.8 percent overall and 34.4 from the arc. ... Forward
Aric Holman will be in the NBA next season. That he's making 49 percent of his shots is not a surprise, being 6-10 and skilled, but he's attempted the fourth-most 3s on the squad and is shooting just under 44 percent. He's also fourth in the league in rebounding and second in blocked shots. ... Guard
Lamar Peters ranks sixth on the SEC in assists, but he's also a shoot-first point guard, with the second-highest field-goal attempts (at 43 percent) and far away and most launched 3s. His 111 tries from deep is almost twice as many as the next guy on the team, and he drops them at 41 percent. ... Shooting guard
Nick Weatherspoon may one day be as good as big brother Quinndary. He's at 48 percent from both 2
and 3. ... Reserve guard
Tyson Carter is scoring 9.5 points off the bench.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Massive Reynardo Sydney, all 6-10 and 300 pounds of him, and Coach Rick Stansbury were among the Mississippi State faces when the Bulldogs last defeated the Gators eight years ago.
* .767 — UF's free-throw shooting percentage in SEC play, after shooting a gruesome 64.8 in 12 non-conference games.
* 0 — Times this season a UF player has scored at least 20 points in a game, the only program of 359 in Division I to do so. Yes. Still.
* 1 — Times Florida and Mississippi State, despite the conference's annual scheduling rotations, have met twice in the same season since the SEC expanded from to 12 teams for the 1991-92 season. That lone time came in 2013.
* 18 — Years since UF started 1-3 in the SEC. The Gators, though, under
Billy Donovan, went on to win 11 of their next 12 league games to finish 12-4 and win just the second conference title in school history.
* 2011 — The last year the Gators, winners of eight straight in the series, lost to the Bulldogs. It came on Jan. 29 by a count of 71-64, with that UF team going on to capture the regular-season SEC title.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
A response akin to what the Gators took to Fayetteville, Ark., last week will be necessary to steal one in Starkville against a very, very desperate team. Actually, an even better response. The Bulldogs are better than the Razorbacks.
