Florida Gators

FLORIDA vs No. 1 BAYLOR 

When: Saturday, 8 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.   
Records: Florida (12-6); Baylor (16-1)   
TV: ESPN (Bob Wischusen, Dick Vitale and Kris Budden) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss) 



THE BASICS  Florida and Baylor square off in the nightcap of the SEC Big/12 Challenge, with a rare O'Dome visit from a top-ranked team. ... The Gators are coming off Tuesday night's 84-82 loss at LSU, a game they trailed by 11 with 3:15 remaining (and by 10 with 1:20 to go) before taking off on a 20-11 spurt to pull within two, with a shot to put the game in overtime. Forward Keyontae Johnson converted a layup at the buzzer, but upon official review the shot was ruled to have come after the horn, denying UF a chance at overtime against the Southeastern Conference's lone upbeaten team. The Bears, winners of 15 in a row, began the week No. 2, but jumped to the top spot Monday for just the second time in program history. Later that day, they survived a scare at home in defeating Oklahoma 61-57. The Sooners, down two, had an open 3-pointer in transition with five seconds left, but missed and the Bears closed the game with a couple free throws. ... Florida is 2-16 all-time against teams ranked No. 1 in the Associated Press poll, with both wins coming in the NCAA Tournament. The Gators defeated Duke in the 2000 Sweet 16 round at Syracuse, N.Y., and Ohio State in the 2007 national-title game at Atlanta. ... UF and Baylor have met twice, with the series even 1-1. They first played Dec. 30, 1981 in the Cabrillo Classic at San Diego, where the Bears won 72-71. The Gators' win came by an 81-60 blowout in the 2018 SEC/Big 12 Challenge at the O'Dome. In that one, senior point guard Chris Chiozza dazzled the Bears by scoring 20 points, hitting four of seven 3-point attempts, grabbing six rebounds and dishing six assists. The Gators, ranked 20th, opened a 12-point halftime lead by shooting 52 percent from the floor and ran away with the game. Grad-transfer forward Egor Koulechov had 16 points (5-for-6, 3-for-3 from deep) and eight rebounds. ... Florida is 4-2 in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, including 3-1 under Coach Mike White., with wins over West Virginia in '16, at Oklahoma in '17, and Baylor in '18. The lone defeat came last January at Texas Christian. Baylor is 5-1 in the event, which is the best mark of any team in either league. 

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keyontae Johnson	F	6-5	225	Sophomore	12.7 pts / 6.7 reb
Kerry Blackshear Jr.	F	6-10	232	G-Transfer	14.8 pts / 8.7 reb
Omar Payne	G	6-10	223	Freshman	5.3 pts / 4.5 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-2	193	Sophomore	10.5 pts / 3.0 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Sophomore	11.0 pts / 2.8 reb / 6.1 ast

Baylor	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Freddie Gillespie	F	6-9	245	Senior	9.9 pts / 9.3 reb
Jared Butler	G	6-3	190	Sophomore	16.1 pts / 2.8 reb / 3.1 ast
Mark Vital	G	6-5	235	Junior	6.1 pts / 6.0 reb
MaCio Teague	G	6-3	195	Junior	13.6 pts / 4.8 reb
Davion Mitchell	G	6-2	195	Sophomore	9.7 pts / 2.7 reb

ONE TO WATCH  
TEAM BREAKDOWNS    ABOUT THE GATORS: Offensively, they're moving in a very good direction, but that trend will be significantly tested against an elite Baylor defense. Consider this: UF averaged just 66.3 points through its first six games, the first four coming before While and his staff did a total remake of the offense. The Gators are now six games into the SEC campaign and have averaged 80.3 points in league play, while shooting 47 percent overall, including over 50 each of the last three games. … For the season's 18 games, UF is at 74.0 points, 45.1 percent and 33.3 from deep. Florida is giving up 66.3 points, 40.2 percent overall and 29.5 on 3s. … Despite the six losses, KenPom.com puts the Gators at No. 27 overall, along with No. 25 in offensive efficiency and a disappointing 50th on defense. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke is on a torrid streak from

the 3-point line. He's increased his program record for consecutive games with multiple 3s to 15, including 16 makes over the last four games. After going 4-for-7 at LSU, Locke is 27-for-52 over the last nine games. That's 51.9 percent. … By tip-off, forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. will have put nearly five days between him and the nasty stomach flu bug that leveled him Monday night and required rest and four bags of IV fluid to get him on the floor in Baton Rouge. Blackshear responded with 15 points, five rebounds and a couple 3s on as many attempts over 33 minutes. He's inching toward 33 percent from the arc on the season and doing yeoman's work getting to the free-throw line (101 of 123 and 82.1 percent). … Point guard Andrew Nembhard had his third double-digit assists game of the season, carding 10 at LSU. He also hit three of UF's eight field goals over the last 3:13 during the 20-point run. … After going 3-for-6 from deep, Keyontae Johnson is shooting 38.6 percent on the season, which means defenses are going to have to close out on him better. That'll leave more straight-line drive opportunities (he's 53.3 percent overall this season), which plays to his strength. … Forward Omar Payne has hit 16 of his last 17 field-goal attempts and still has more offensive rebounds (41) than defensive (40). … Reserve freshman guard Scottie Lewis had one of his better recent outings (9 points, 6 rebounds) against the Tigers. His defense against the guard-heavy Bears is going to be key. … Backup point guard Ques Glover had three turnovers in less than eight minutes at LSU. His ball-security and assist-to-turnover ratio (11-to-24) has to improve if the Gators are going to rely on him to spell Nembhard these last six weeks of the regular season. ... ABOUT THE BEARS: It's the 16th season under Coach Scott Drew, who is 334-209 during his watch that began in 2003-04. The first four seasons were brutal, as the Bears picked up the pieces from one of the worst scandals in college basketball history; one so bad, the program was only allowed to play only league games in '05-06. Two years later, Drew had Baylor in the NCAA Tournament and the Bears have been there nine of the last 12 seasons, with a couple Sweet 16 runs and two appearances (2010, '12) in the Elite Eight. They also won the NIT in 2013. … Baylor is ranked No. 1 for just the second time in school history, having spent two weeks there during the

2017 season on the way to being a 3-seed in the NCAA field. The Bears were knocked off that March in the East Region semifinals by South Carolina, 70-50, at Madison Square Garden, in the game before Chiozza splashed his famous buzzer-beater against Wisconsin. … Baylor scores 72.7 points per game and shoots 42.8 percent overall, 34.6 from the 3-point line. Defensively, the Bears give up just 58.5 a game, 38-percent shooting and 31.5 from deep. … KenPom ranks Baylor No. 4 overall, with the 28th best offense and fourth best defense in the country. Despite the guard-heavy lineup, the Bears are the slowest-playing team in their conference and rank sixth in the country in offensive rebounding percentage (37.3). … He may be the only so-called Baylor "big," but forward Freddie Gillespie represents a formidable challenge for the UF front court. Considered one of the most improved players in the country. Gillespie transferred from Division III Carlton College in Minnesota in 2017, arriving in Waco as a walk-on. He sat out the '17-18 season. Last year, Gillespie averaged 5.3 points and 4.4 rebounds, but now as a fifth-year senior has nearly doubled those numbers while playing spectacular defense. He leads Baylor in blocks with 37 and has a near 1-to-1 ratio on offensive-to-rebounds. His 66 offensive boards are 17 more than the closest UF player has tallied. … Guard MaCio Teague is shooting less than 40 percent overall and just 33 from deep, but tops the team in free throws with 68 and free-throw percentage at 85.3. … Davion Mitchell is at 34.4 percent from 3 and backup Devonte Bandoo 42.3. … Guard Mark Vitale, a defensive wiz who leads the team in steals (32) and is second in blocks (15), and reserve 6-10 forward Tristan Clark (4.5 ppg, 2.3 rpg) are the only Bears who played in the game here two years ago. … Of the Bears' eight top rotation guys, six of them have positive turnover-to-assist numbers. In comparison, the Gators have one (Nembhard). 


NUMBERS WORTH NOTING   * .425 — Locke's 3-point percentage for the season after going 5-for-21 (23.8 percent) through the first four games. 

* 0 — Florida regular-season games against No. 1-ranked opponents other than Kentucky during the 66 seasons from 1949 to 2015.  

* 4 — Florida regular-season games against No. 1-ranked opponents other than Kentucky during the five seasons from 2015-20, all during White's tenure (at Michigan State in '15; vs. Duke in '17; at Tennessee in '19; now Baylor). 

* 5 — Wins against ranked opponents for the Bears, who have won at No. 3 Kansas, beaten No. 9 Villanova on a neutral floor, No. 13 Butler at home, won at No. 18 and reigning NCAA runner-up Texas Tech, and beat No. 22 Arizona at Waco. 

* 9 — Other games in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge today. Missouri at No. 14 West Virginia, noon; Iowa State at No. 16 Auburn, noon; LSU at Texas, 2 p.m.; Mississippi State at Oklahoma, 2 p.m.; Tennessee at No. 3 Kansas, 4 p.m.; Oklahoma State at Texas A&M, 4 p.m.; TCU at Arkansas, 4 p.m.; No. 15 Kentucky at No. 18 Texas Tech, 6 p.m.; Kansas State at Alabama, 6 p.m.

* 2012 — Last year the nation's No. 1 team played at the O'Dome. Kentucky, armed with Anthony Davis and on its way to the national championship, defeated the Florida, 74-59, in the regular-season finale (and point guard Erving Walker's "Senior Day") on March 4 of that year. 


LAST WORD
Given the rematch nature of the game (so soon, at just two years), this one didn't generate much buzz when first announced as part of the SEC/Big 12 lineup. How 'bout now?