Florida Gators

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The University of Florida women's basketball team (6-1) will look to push its winning streak to six games and complete its non-conference slate undefeated at home, Monday, when it welcomes North Florida for an afternoon matchup at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center. Tipoff is slated for 2 p.m. ET as the Gators and Ospreys square off for the sixth time.
 

GAME INFO

Date:	Monday, Dec. 21
Time:	2 p.m. ET
Matchup:	Florida (6-1) vs. North Florida (2-4)
Location:	Gainesville, Fla. | Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center
TV:	SEC Network+ with Kyle Crooks and Brittany Davis
Live Stats:	Here
Radio:	WRUF ESPN 98.1 FM/850 AM with Ryan Urquhart and Bree Maxwell
Notes:	Florida | UNF
Tickets:	Here
Parking:	Parking restrictions in the surrounding Green lots will be lifted for the game. Fans are encouraged to park in the Green section of the parking structure (second and third floors).

After a fast-paced stretch of games in which it played five games in nine days, the Gators received some well-earned rest as a week will have passed it between its last game action, versus Tarleton State on Dec. 14.
 
Florida, off to its best start in four seasons, has been led by a high-powered offense, a much-improved defense and the dynamic playmaking of its backcourt to begin the season.
 
The Gators are scoring 79.3 points per game and limiting opponents to just 59.1 points on average, both marks rank Florida near the top of the SEC. Through seven games a season ago, UF averaged 67.9 points per game. Four times, the Gators have scored over 80 points a game after doing so four times all of last year.
 
Over the past few seasons, the Gators have been known as an impressive long-range shooting team, but in 2020-21 they have shown they are deft at defending the three-point arc. Opponents are shooting just .181 from three-point range against UF this season. That's one of the best marks in not only the Southeastern Conference but all of Division I.
 
The Gator guards have been the tone setters for the team. Senior point guard Kiki Smith paces UF in scoring (16.7), rebounds (6.7), assists (3.9) and steals (3.0) and has added at least 10 points in all seven games. Running mate Lavender Briggs, who was tabbed a second team All-SEC selection in the preseason, has also been a force to reckon with. The Utah native is just behind Smith with a 16.9 points per game average to go with 5.9 rebounds per contest. She has scored 20 or more points four times already this season, including the Gators' last contest when she registered 20 in a rout of Tarleton State.
 
Joining Smith and Briggs with a double-figure scoring average is sophomore guard Nina Rickards. The team's leader in three-point percentage and three-pointers made, Rickards, is averaging just a hair over 10 points per game along with 6.6 rebounds per game from the guard position. Rickards' rebounding prowess was on full display against Tarleton State when she collected 17 rebounds, establishing a new career best.

The Ospreys enter the contest 2-4 on the young season with wins over FIU and Edward Waters. UNF has losses to two ACC squads in nationally-ranked NC State and Miami and also fell to FAU and Auburn. In its most recent matchup at Auburn, the Ospreys dropped a 94-81 decision. The Ospreys got off to a strong start but couldn't hold on despite 23 points from preseason Atlantic Sun Player of the Year, Jazz Bond. At 16.0 points per game, Bond is one of three Ospreys averaging double figures along with Marissa Mackins (17.3) and Rhetta Moore (14.3). UNF is one of the top three-point shooting teams in the nation as it enters the contest averaging 10.3 connections per game. The Ospreys are under the direction of sixth-year head coach Darrick Gibbs. Gibbs, a Pawleys Island, S.C. native, spent 10 years at Miami before taking the post in Jacksonville. Monday is UNF's non-conference finale as well.
 
Monday marks the sixth meeting between the Gators and Ospreys and the first since 2014. When the teams last met, Florida posted a 63-51 victory in its final non-conference matchup paced by then freshman Haley Lorenzen's team-high 14 points.
 
Playing five of its first seven games at home, the Gators have taken full advantage of their friendly confines, winning all five contests. For the first time since the beginning of the 2015-16 campaign, Florida has opened with a 5-0 record at home. The Gators, whose average margin of victory at home so far is 25 points, with a win Monday would extend their record to 6-0 at home for the first time in five years.
 
NEXT UP: Florida's SEC opener will take place Thursday, Dec. 31 at Vanderbilt as the Gators, for the fourth-straight season, begin their conference campaign away from home. Florida has picked up five-consecutive wins against Vanderbilt, its longest active streak against any SEC opponent.
  
Notables

• With a win Monday, Florida would have its best winning percentage (.875) in non-conference play since it posted a 12-1 record (.923) during the 2015-16 season.
• As of Dec. 18, Kiki Smith is the only player in the SEC leading her team in points, rebounds and assists.
• UF has won five-straight non-conference finales including the previous three under Coach Newbauer. A season ago, Florida downed Davidson 55-50 on Dec. 29, 2019.
• Florida has shown its offense can ignite fast as it has scored 25 or more points in six quarters already this season. Its season high in points scored in a period is 29 which it set in the third quarter against Tarleton State. Their 29 points were the most the Gators have scored in a stanza since Nov. 15, 2018 when they poured in 34 fourth quarter points at Mercer.
• UF is outscoring its opponents 113-45 in terms of fast break points.
• The Gators are 5-0 all time against the Ospreys and have won by an average margin of 19.4 points.
• Christina Bacon, the director of basketball operations for Gibbs' staff, spent seven years with the Gators in various roles including game manager, video coordinator assistant, equipment manager and graduate assistant. She is a two-time graduate of Florida with a bachelor's of science in anthropology in 2014 and a master's in recreation management in 2016.

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