Florida Gators

NCAA TOURNAMENT WEST REGION
FLORIDA vs No. 10 MICHIGAN  

When: Saturday, 5:15 p.m. (EST)
Where: Wells Fargo Arena, Des Moines, Iowa  
Records: Florida (20-15); Michigan (29-6)  
TV: CBS (Kevin Harlan, Reggie Miller, Dan Bonner and Dana Jacobson) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Mark Wise) 



STAKES (The Setup)  No. 10-seed Florida and No. 2-seed Michigan, the national runner-up a year ago, will play Saturday with the winner advancing to the Sweet 16. ... The Gators got here by upsetting seventh-seed and 14th-ranked Nevada, 70-61, in a game they led by 18 in the second half, only to see the Wolf Pack storm back and three times cut the margin to two in the final five-plus minutes. UF surprised Nevada by going to a 1-3-1 zone defense over the final two minutes and held the Pack scoreless the rest of the way. ... The Wolverines, ranked 10th after finishing third in the Big Ten and falling to rival Michigan State in the conference tournament final, smashed 15th-seeded Montana, 74-55, in the second West Region game Thursday night. Michigan, which lost to Villanova in the 2018 national-title game, took a 19-6 lead, shot 52 percent in the first half, got a game-high 22 points from guard Charles Matthews and were never tested by the overmatched Grizzlies. ... UF and Michigan will play for just the fourth time, including the second time in the NCAA Tournament. When last on the floor together, the fourth-seeded Wolverines destroyed the third-seeded Gators, 79-59, in the 2013 South Region title game at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Guard Nick Stauskas hit seven of eight shots, including all six 3-balls, on the way to 22 points, while forward Mitch McGarry had 15 points and eight rebounds. UF was never in the game, falling behind 20-4, as U-M shot 51 percent in the first half and made seven of 11 treys. The Gators got 13 points from guard Kenny Boynton in his final game, plus 13 points and seven rebounds off the bench from forward Will Yeguete. ... UF is 44-17 all-time in 20 NCAA tournaments, including 5-2 under Coach Mike White. Michigan is 60-27 in 29 NCAA appearances, with a national title in 1989.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keyontae Johnson	F	6-5	225	Freshman	8.1 pts / 6.3 reb
Kevarrius Hayes	F	6-9	227	Senior	8.3 pts / 6.2 reb / 1.9 blk
Jalen Hudson	F	6-6	195	R-Senior	9.2 pts / 2.9 reb
KeVaughn Allen	G	6-2	193	Senior	11.9 pts / 2.8 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Freshman	8.1 pts / 2.9 reb / 5.3 ast

Michigan	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Ignas Brazdeikis	F	6-7	215	Freshman	15.0 pts / 5.3 reb
Jon Teske	C	7-1	260	Junior	9.7 pts / 7.0 reb / 2.1 blk
Charles Matthews	G	6-6	205	Senior	12.3 pts / 5.0 reb
Jordan Poole	G	6-5	195	Sophomore	12.7 pts / 2.9 reb
Zavier Simpson	PG	6-0	190	Junior	9.0 pts / 5.0 reb / 6.7 ast

STANDING OUT (One to Watch) 
STUFF (Need-to-Know Info)  ABOUT THE GATORS: They were able to dictate their deliberate pace of play on Nevada, the Mountain West Conference champion facing just its fourth high-major opponent of the season. That will be a lot tougher against Michigan, obviously, which likes to play fast, spread the floor and shoot 3s. Though UF built an 18-point lead in its win over the Wolf Pack, the Gators' poise was seriously tested, and exposed at times, when Nevada blitzed double-teams at the ball and forced Florida into playing faster than it wanted late in the game. UF returned the favor late by going to a 1-3-1 in the final two minutes after defensive standout Kevarrius Hayes (16 points, 3 blocks) fouled out,

as the Pack did not score again. ... Florida will go into the game ranked 14th in adjusted defensive efficiency, according to KenPom.com advanced metrics, but statistically will be the second-best defense on the floor (read on). ... It's been pointed out countless times the last month that Hayes is playing his best basketball on both ends. He's always been fabulous defensively, but over the last 11 games, Hayes has made 47 of 62 field-goal attempts. That's 75.8 percent. ... Against Nevada, forward Keyontae Johnson became just the third freshman in UF history to post a double-double (10 points, 10 rebounds) in the NCAA Tournament, joining a pair of future NBA stars, Mike Miller (vs Gonzaga in 1999) and Bradley Beal (vs Virginia in 2012), in that select company. Johnson, though, had a few rough moments against the Pack in missing a couple easy shots, committing some undisciplined fouls and turning the ball over. He knows he needs to be better all-around in this game. ... Point guard Andrew Nembhard logged more than 38 minutes against Nevada, had to guard beastly 6-7, 233-pound forward JC Caroline in the post and all the while fend off wave of double-teams against the Pack's defensive pressure. All that in his NCAA debut and Nembhard still finished with eight points, five assists, two steals and just two turnovers. ... Swingman Jalen Hudson scored 13 of his 15 in the first half and has averaged 14.1 points over his previous 13 games. His 36 minutes were second only to Nembhard.  ... Shooting guard KeVaughn Allen did not score in the first half against the Pack, but dropped eight points in less than three minutes to start the second and was instrumental in sparking UF to its 18-point lead. Allen ran his career point total to 1,715, the sixth-most in school history. ... UF's starting unit was a collective plus-61 against Nevada, with all five players registering positive digits. The three-man bench of guard Noah Locke and forwards Dontay Bassett and Isaiah Stokes went four of seven from the floor and provided 11 points, but was a combined minus-16, with all three in negative digits. ... ABOUT THE WOLVERINES: They're

277-148 in 12 seasons under Coach John Beilein, who went to Ann Arbor in 2007 after five successful seasons at West Virginia. The Beilein-led Wolverines have been to eight NCAA tournaments and been to four Sweet 16s, three Elite Eights and two national-title games, losing both (2013 against Louisville; 2018 against Villanova). He's an offense-first coach, but this might be his best defensive team at U-M, as Michigan is one of just seven teams ranked in the top 20 in both offensive efficiency (19th) and defensive efficiency (2nd), according to KenPom.com. ... Of their six losses, three have come against rival Michigan State, which swept the regular-season series, then beat U-M on a neutral floor in the Big Ten Conference championship game. The Wolverines started the season with 17 straight wins, with their losses coming against only Big Ten teams (on the road at Wisconsin, Iowa and Penn State being the others). ... The rotation, like Florida's, is thin, with seven players averaging in double-figure minutes. ... Brazdeikis is their best player, but the Wolverines' engine is driven by point guard Zavier Simpson, who is the team's leader in minutes and best defensive player. Simpson, who has not missed a game in three seasons, ranks 17th in the nation at 6.7 assists per game and led the Big Ten in assist-to-turnover ration at plus-3.6 (234 assists vs just 67 turnovers). In January, he became the sixth player in U-M history to post a triple-double, finishing with 11 points, 10 rebounds and 12 assists in a win over Ohio State. ... Florida has played against a bigger player this season than 7-1 Jon Teske, but the Wolverines' center is more skilled than Florida State's 7-4 Christ Koumadje and shoots 3s at 31 percent. ... Guard Charles Matthews, who went 8-for-12 in the win over Montana, was the Most Outstanding Player in the 2018 West Region on the way to the Final Four. Matthews transferred to U-M from Kentucky. ... Guard Jordan Poole is a 37-percent shooter from distance, with a team-high 71 makes from deep. ... Backup forward Isaiah Livers plays 22 minutes off the bench and is the Wolverines' best long-distance shooter, having gone 51-for-115 (.443). 


STATS (Some Numbers of Note)   * 7.4 — Percentage of teams among the nation's 353 Division I programs that have won at least 20 games each of the last three seasons, with the Gators in that mix.

* 10 — Games against teams currently ranked in the AP Top 12 that Florida will have played this season come Saturday night: Florida State, Michigan State, Tennessee (twice), Kentucky (twice), LSU (three times) and Michigan. 

* 14 — Combined vacated NCAA tournament victories by the two programs, due to rules infractions. UF was forced to vacate three wins in the 1987 and '88 tournaments, courtesy of then-Coach Norm Sloan and star guard Vernon Maxwell. U-M had to give up 11 victories during the '92, '93 and '98, including all 10 wins on the way to back-to-back national-title game appearances by the infamous "Fab Five" due mostly to illegal payments to All-America forward Chris Webber. 

* 33.1 — Average minutes played during the postseason (three SEC Tournament games, one NCAA game) by UF's five starters.

* 84 — Days since the No. 10 Florida football team defeated eighth-ranked Michigan 41-15 in the Peach Bowl at Atlanta, back on Dec. 28, 2018. 


STATEMENT (Random thought) 

Another test-of-wills matchup as far as pace, only this time a far bigger and more talented opponent for the Gators. Which team will break down first?