Florida Gators

FLORIDA vs GEORGIA 

When: 8:30 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.   
Records: Florida (17-11, 9-6); Georgia (10-18, 1-14)  
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal and Daymeon Fishback) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey) 



STAKES (The Setup)  Florida is surging at the right time. Georgia is playing its best basketball of the season, with little to show for it. The Gators are on a five-game Southeastern Conference winning streak that matches their longest in two years, while the Bulldogs have lost 12 straight league games, with the last four coming down to the final possession. UF won, 71-55, at Vanderbilt Wednesday, the Gators' first road victory in the series since 2014. UGA lost at home to Auburn, 78-75, on a 3-pointer with just 26 seconds left. ... Florida leads the all-time series 114-110, a record that has taken on a seismic shift since the late 1990s when the Gators started a 31-8 run in 1998. Last season was the first since 1997 that Georgia swept the regular-season series (the two are permanent home-and-home opponents). The Bulldogs won 72-60 at Athens and 72-69 in overtime at Gainesville, with the Gators trying to return the favor and get their series domination back with a sweep this year. ... Florida defeated Georgia, 62-52, Jan. 19 at Athens, when the Gators jumped to a 13-point lead in the first half, fell behind by five inside 10 minutes remaining, then finished the game on a 19-4 run, led by guard KeVaughn Allen's 13 points, seven of which came in the final three and a half minutes. The game was notable for another reason, and not a good one, as fourth-year junior forward Keith Stone suffered a season-ending knee injury on a day he had eight first-half points amid his best minutes of the season. ... Florida is 5-2 against UGA under Coach Mike White.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keyontae Johnson	F	6-5	225	Freshman	7.5 pts / 6.0 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	F	6-9	227	Senior	7.4 pts / 5.8 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	205	Freshman	10.5 pts / 2.5 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Senior	12.8 pts / 2.8 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Freshman	8.1 pts / 2.7 reb / 5.2 ast

Georgia	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Nicolas Claxton	F	6-9	250	Senior	12.7 pts / 8.9 reb / 2.4 blk
Derek Ogbeide	F	6-11	220	Sophomore	9.7 pts / 5.6 reb
William Jackson II	G	6-4	185	Senior	5.7 pts / 1.6 reb
Jordan Harris	G	6-4	190	Junior	6.6 pts / 3.5 reb
Christian Harrison	G	6-4	200	R-Senior	1.0 pts / 0.9 reb

STANDING OUT (One to Watch) 
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)  ABOUT THE GATORS: The five-game winning streak is the program's longest in SEC play since the Gators won eight straight deep into 2016-17 season. The timely run as moved the team squarely into the conversation for an NCAA Tournament at-large bid, assuming it can navigate this next cellar-dwelling trapdoor on the schedule. ... The Florida offense was under much scrutiny (and criticism) not too long ago, but the Gators, with a smaller rotation and more definitive rolls, are playing their best

basketball on that end of the court. No longer do they rely overwhelmingly on the 3-point shot, but instead have guys attacking the rim and even an element of a low-post game. ... No player has exhibited the Florida improvement on offense more than point guard Andrew Nembhard, who during the five-game streak has converted 24 of his 32 shots (75 percent) and six of 10 from long distance. As good as he's been on offense, Nembhard has maybe been better defensively, all the while being the workhorse on the team in terms of minutes played. He went 37 minutes at Vandy, scoring 19 points on 7-for-8 shooting overall, 3-for-3 from deep. Nembhard gives the Gators a scoring threat with the ball (shooting, driving and even posting), in addition to his elite skills as a passer. ... Center/forward Kevarrius Hayes is playing as well (if not better) than anytime in his Florida career. During the five-game streak, Hayes has connected on 14 of his 18 field-goal attempts, while flashing some nice post moves along the way that have helped get him to free-throw line, where he's connected on 15 of 19 during that span. Hayes had seven points and nine rebounds in the first meeting. He blocked his 200th career shot against Vandy, the second-most in UF history. ... Guard KeVaughn Allen failed to reach double-figure scoring last time out for only the second game over his last 17 games. Allen had just six against the Commodores, but still leads the team in scoring. In conference play he's at 14.9 points per. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke has hit just nine of 39 shots (23 percent) -- a mere 6-for-30 from distance (20 percent) -- during UF's winning streak, but he did have that 15-point output in the big road win at LSU. Locke was 1-for-4 from the 3-point line at Vandy and now has 72 long balls this season, three shy of breaking the freshman record of Anthony Roberson (2002-03). ... Backup guard/forward and fifth-year senior Jalen Hudson (7.2 ppg) has been instrumental in UF's late-season surge. After hitting double figures six times in the first 22 games, Hudson has done so in five of the previous six and averaged 12.2 points and 41-percent shooting while, at times, playing the "1" through "4" spots. Hudson, who had a season-high 17 points Wednesday, also is rolling out the best defense of his career. ... The last time UF played UGA, forward Keyontae Johnson got his first career start. That was 12 games ago and he's been on the floor for every opening tip since. ... The backup post tandem of third-year sophomore Dontay Bassett and redshirt freshman Isaiah Stokes is evolving into a nice change-of-pace when it comes to spelling Hayes. Against the Commodores, the two combined for four points and five rebounds in 17 minutes. ...  ABOUT THE BULLDOGS: They're in the first season under Coach Tom Crean, who went 356-231 in stops

at Marquette (which he took to a Final Four, alongside Dwayne Wade) and Indiana before sitting out last season and landing at Georgia. ... The Bulldogs' best win to date was a home upset of Texas in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, the lone win over the past 14 games. UGA's only victory in the SEC came against still-winless Vanderbilt. Georgia has had some close losses (to Temple and Arizona State) and some downright ugly ones (by 24 against Georgia State, by 46 against Tennessee, 20 at home against Kentucky, 17 at struggling Texas A&M), but the Bulldogs' last four games -- all against likely NCAA Tournament-bound teams (LSU and Mississippi State, at Ole Miss, and Auburn) have been decided by a combined nine points. ... UGA played Auburn without the services of forward Rayshaun Hammonds, its No. 2 scorer (12.6 ppg) and rebounder (6.3 pg), due to a foot injury. His status for Saturday will be a game-time decision. For what it's worth, Hammonds really struggled in the first UF meeting, going scoreless with four turnovers and six rebounds in 15 minutes. ... Forward Derek Ogbeide beat up on the Gators inside last season, but he also was a virtual no-show in the Athens game (4 points, 6 rebounds in just 13 minutes, without being in foul trouble). ... Backup guard Tyree Crump (9.9 ppg) is the Bulldogs' most prolific 3-point shooter, with 61 makes at 37.7 percent, and is the type of streak shooter who's capable of coming into the O'Dome, hitting five long balls and making a mess of things. UF's defense needs to know his whereabouts at all times, especially in transition. ... Guard Jordan Harris is another one to keep tabs on. He had 18 against Auburn and 11 rebounds against Ole Miss. ... William "Turtle" Jackson II, a guard who did some spot damage in UGA's sweep of the UF series a season ago, is another guy capable of showing up and throwing in a couple 3s, with 37 makes at 36 percent. 


STATS (Some Numbers of Note)   * .125 — Georgia's winning percentage on the road, based on a 1-8 record, with the Bulldogs' lone win coming at Georgia Tech, a bottom-rung Atlantic Coast Conference team, by a score of 70-59 on Dec.22.

* .788 — Florida's free-throw percentage in SEC play, which ranks third in the league. 

* .938 — Florida's free-throw percentage in the win at Vandy, based on its 15-for-16 performance from the line. Ironically, the lone miss came from Allen, who is merely the No. 1 career free-throw shooter in UF history at 87.6 percent.  

* 15 — Power conference teams that have won at least nine games (and finished no worse than .500) in their respective leagues from 2016-19, the time White has been at UF. Only two of those teams, Florida and Kentucky, are from the SEC. The rest: Cincinnati, Duke, Houston, Kansas, Louisville, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina, Purdue, Utah, Villanova, Virginia and Virginia Tech.

* 20 — Georgia turnovers the last time it faced UF, with the Gators converting those miscues into 28 points. 

* 126 — Career starts for Allen, which now ranks third all-time in program history. Allen, presumably, will pass Andrew DeClercq (1991-95), who started 128 games, on his "Senior Night" next week against LSU.


STATEMENT (Random thought) 

A win Saturday would be Florida's 18th. Aesthetically, that's a good number through 29 games relative to postseason consideration, especially with a few more chances to pad it.