Pregame Stuff: Florida at Tennessee (Saturday, 4 pm)
Friday, February 8, 2019 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
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By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer
FLORIDA at No. 1 TENNESSEE
When: Saturday, 4 p.m. (EST) Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn. Records: Florida (12-10, 4-5); Tennessee (21-1, 9-0) TV: ESPN (Tom Hart and Jon Sundvold) Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)
STAKES (The Setup)
Thompson-Boling Arena opened in 1987 with a seating capacity of more than 25,000, a construction design intended to make it larger than Kentucky's Rupp Arena; the largest basketball-only facility in the nation, actually. After the Volunteers program stagnated, along with attendance in the 1990s, the school reduced seating during a gorgeous renovation in 2007. IT now holds 21,678 and very well may be the finest facility in the SEC. UT is averaging 18,406 per game, which currently ranks fourth nationally.
Two programs dealing with entirely different seasons. Florida is mired in an offensively challenged campaign with its postseason chances flickering with each loss. Tennessee, meanwhile, is enjoying what is shaping up to be the greatest season in school history, currently riding a team-record 17-game winning streak and ranked No. 1 in the nation the past three weeks and the lone unbeaten club in the Southeastern Conference. ... The game signals the first of Florida's five rematches during league play. ... The Volunteers lead the all-time series 75-57, a mark that includes their 78-67 win in Gainesville on Jan. 9. In that one, the Gators led 63-60 with six minutes left, but fell prey to a blistering 18-4 run by the Vols to end the game. UF guard Noah Locke, his team down by two, missed a go-ahead 3-point attempt in transition with 1:11 left and UT scored the last nine points of the game. Forward Grant Williams led UT with 20 points and nine rebounds and guard Jordan Bone had 17 points, including 12 straight during one push by the Vols in the second half. ... UF coach Mike Whiteis 1-2 against UT during his four seasons with the Gators.
There is so much to be impressed with about Tennessee forward Grant Williams, who in 2018 became the 10th Vol in history to be named SEC Player of the Year, and the first since Chris Lofton in 2007. Where do you begin? How 'bout his statistics? In addition to leading the league in scoring, ranking fifth in rebounding and playing better than 31 minutes per game, Williams is shooting nearly 58 percent from the floor and better than 83 percent from the free-throw line. He's also averaging 3.4 assists per game, which speaks to his unselfishness. His basketball IQ is off the charts, which should come as no surprise considering the Charlotte, N.C., prospect got a 3-star basketball grade coming out of high school and actually chose Tennessee over Yale. As it turns, shunning the Ivy League may just work out for the kid. Williams is well on his way to becoming the first two-time SEC Player of the Year since Arkansas's Corliss Williamson in 1994-95. The past two years he has been a low-post nightmare for the undersized and low-post-thin Gators and figures to be so again in the hostile confines of Thompson-Boling
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)
KeVaughn Allen didn't find much space against the active hands and bodies of the Auburn defense, and figures to find things just as crowded when the Gators go up against Tennessee.
ABOUT THE GATORS: They're 2-15 all-time against teams ranked No. 1, including seven straight losses, a run that dates to the 2012 season when UF faced eventual national-champion Kentucky three times when the Wildcats were atop the polls. UF has never defeated the nation's top-ranked team in the regular season, with the two wins coming over Duke in the 2000 NCAA Tournament Sweet 16 and against Ohio State in the 2007 national-title game. ... UF has lost 16 straight games to opponents ranked in the Associated Press Top 5, with the last four of those losses coming under the current coaching staff. ... Despite allowing Auburn to shoot 48.1 percent in
Dontay Bassett (21)
Tuesday night's 76-62 road loss (and 50 percent after halftime), Florida still ranks first in the league in scoring defense (63.4) and 3-point percentage defense (.318). They'll need to be close to those numbers even to be in the game Saturday because the offense, despite a decent 46 percent against the Tigers, continues to struggle. UF went 4-for-20 from the 3-point line last time out. ... Leading scorer KeVaughn Allen had a rough go of it at Auburn. He went 4-for-11 and missed all three of his 3s. His 10 points were Allen's fewest since the SEC-opening loss to South Carolina, but did continue his career-best string of double-digit scoring outings, which now sits at 11. Allen needs 17 points to become the ninth player in school history to reach the 1,600-point milestone. ... Also worth noting on Allen: Last year at Tennessee, he went scoreless and took just three shots in 29 minutes of a 62-57 loss. Obviously, that can't happen this time. ... Auburn extended its defense and overplayed Noah Locke, allowing the freshman sharpshooter to attempt just five 3s. He hit two and now has 61 on the season (at 42.1 percent), which is two from passing Matt Walsh (2002-05) for the sixth-most in program history for a freshman. ... Point guard Andrew Nembhard is coming of his first minus-assist/turnover game after dishing three dimes and giving the ball away four times at Auburn. The Tigers converted a season-worst 17 UF turnovers into 19 points. The Gators were a little loose with the ball in the last UT meeting and it hurt them on some crucial possessions. ... Forward Keyontae Johnsonhas grabbed 10 rebounds in back-to-back games and at 5.6 boards per game is closing in on team-leader Kevarrius Hayes, who had a pretty good night at Auburn in scoring 11 points (one off his season high) and playing his normally efficient, high-energy defense. Hayes will likely be back in the starting lineup after being benched for the tip for missing a team meeting earlier in the day at Auburn. Third-year sophomore Dontay Bassett got his third career start and finished with four points, no rebounds in eight minutes. ... Backup guard Deaundrae Ballard's eight points last game equaled his total of the previous five games and equaled his SEC-high this season. Ballard went 3-for-5 from the floor and 2-for-3 from deep. ... ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS: This is the fourth season under Coach Rick Barnes and his hiring is looking somewhat better than the "retread" label it was branded back in 2015. UT is Barnes' sixth stop as a
Jordan Bowden (23)
head coach (joining George Mason, Providence, Clemson and his 17 seasons at Texas) and he's now 682-359 all-time. ... Tennessee has won its last four games by double digits, most recently being Tuesday's 72-60 win over Missouri, which was a second meeting against the Tigers this season. ... The Vols lead the SEC in scoring (86.0 ppg), as well as scoring margin (plus-18.4), field-goal percentage (.515), field-goal percentage defense (.392), assists (20.0 pg) and assist-to-turnover ratio (plus-1.8). There is nothing Tennessee does not do well (as the record might suggest), which is why the Vols are a fashionable Final Four pick by so many talking heads. ... While Williams leads the league in scoring, running mate Admiral Schofield isn't far behind at No. 5. Schofield is a guard by title, and shoots like one, but looks and plays like a "4" man. He's making nearly 49 percent of his shots, including 40 percent from the arc. He had a late dagger 3-ball in the Vols' win at the O'Dome, a late-shot clock 3 at 41 seconds left to put the Vols up five, just after Locke missed his go-ahead look at a 3. ... Point guard Jordan Bone was named SEC co-Player of the Week last week in averaging 18.5 points, 9.5 assists and 5.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 70 percent from the floor and 78 percent from beyond the arc. With 18 points and 10 assists at Texas A&M, he became the third Vol ever (and the first since Tyrone Beaman in 1983) to have three points/assists double doubles in a season. ... Bowden, who killed UF in the first meeting, is shooting 47 percent from the floor, 36 from 3 and 91 from the free-throw line -- and he comes off the bench.... More than 36 percent of Kyle Alexander's rebounds (58 of 160) have come on the offensive end.
STATS (Some Numbers of Note)
Forward Keyontae Johnson (11) has some bounce to him, obviously, which has allowed the freshman to grab 10 rebounds in each of the previous two games.
* .016 — Difference in SEC winning percentages between UF's White and UT's Barnes since the two entered the league for the 2015-16 season, based on a one-game difference. White's conference record in four seasons is 37-26 (.587), while Barnes' stands one game back at 36-27 (.571).
* 1 — Wins needed by Barnes to tie the longest winning streak during his 31 seasons as a head coach. Barnes led Texas to a 17-0 start during the 2009-10 season, but lost the 18th game.
* 8.3 — Rebound average for Johnson in the six games since joining the starting lineup.
* 77 — Days that will have passed, come Saturday, since Tennessee's last (and only) loss, which came in overtime against then No. 2-Kansas on Nov. 23 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn.
* 2014 — The last year the Gators won in Knoxville (which so happens to be the year the Gators won everywhere they played in the SEC). In that one, UF led by just one point after an old-time 3-point play by UT forward Jarnell Stokes with four minutes left (the older brother of current Florida backup forward Isaiah Stokeshad 20 points and 11 rebounds that night). The third-ranked Gators, though, after missing their first eight 3s of the second half, came alive late, with long balls from Michael Frazier II and Scottie Wilbekin on the way to outscoring the host Vols 12-2 over those final four minutes. In those last minutes occurred the famous dive by UF center Patric Young to save a critical late possession, a play that has made the social media replay rounds of late.
STATEMENT (Random thought)
First came No. 7 Kentucky at home last Saturday. Then a trip to high-scoring Auburn. Now a road date at No. 1 Tennessee. Is there a team in the country that has faced a more brutal back-to-back-to-back run this season than the Gators have the over the last week?
