Pregame Stuff: Florida at Texas A&M (Wednesday, 8:30 pm)

FLORIDA at TEXAS A&M

When: Wednesday, 8:30 p.m. (EST)
Where: Reed Arena, College Station, Texas.
Records: Florida (14-9, 6-4); Texas A&M (11-11, 5-5)
TV: SEC Network (Roy Philpott and Mark Wise)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss)

THE BASICS

Texas A&M has gone 8-4 at Reed Arena (capacity 12,289) this season.

Florida and Texas A&M meet in a Southeastern Conference game, with both coming off lopsided losses on the road. The Gators were beaten 68-51 Saturday at Ole Miss while the Aggies were getting thrashed 74-54 at South Carolina. A&M was a preseason pick to finish near the bottom of the league standings, but is just one game behind UF, with a sweep of Missouri, a team the Gators lost to by 15 on the road. ... Florida leads the all-times series 8-4, with all but three of the meetings coming since A&M joined the SEC for the 2012-13 basketball season. The Gators are 6-3 against the Aggies in league plays, with three straight wins, including an 81-72 victory at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center on Jan. 22, 2019. In that one, A&M banged seven 3-pointers in the first half to lead by 13 at the break, but UF rallied behind 55-percent shooting and 11 3-pointers in the second half, as senior guard KeVaughn Allen scored 31 points and freshman guard Noah Locke added a career-high 27. Allen and Locke combined to go 15-for-23 from the 3-point line (65.2 percent). The Aggies got 25 points from junior guard Wendell Mitchell, including seven 3s. ... UF coach Mike White is 3-2 against Texas A&M, including 1-1 on the road.

PROBABLE STARTERS

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keyontae Johnson	F	6-5	225	Sophomore	13.5 pts / 6.7 reb
Kerry Blackshear Jr.	F	6-10	232	G-Transfer	13.8 pts / 8.1 reb
Scottie Lewis	G	6-5	187	Freshman	8.0 pts / 4.1 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-2	193	Sophomore	10.0 pts / 2.7 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Sophomore	11.4 pts / 3.0 reb / 5.7 ast

Texas A&M	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Emanuel Miller	F	6-7	213	Freshman	5.5 pts / 6.6 reb
Josh Nebo	F	6-9	245	Senior	11.4 pts / 6.6 reb / 2.2 blx
Savion Flagg	G	6-7	223	Junior	9.6 pts / 5.3 reb / 2.5 ast
Wendell Mitchell	G	6-3	183	Senior	8.6 pts / 2.6 reb
Andre Gordon	G	6-2	185	Freshman	7.9 pts / 2.6 reb

ONE TO WATCH

His statistics aren't going to overwhelm, but 6-foot-7, 223-pound junior guard Savion Flagg is the glue guy and defensive stalwart who makes the Aggies go. At Alvin (Texas) High, Flagg averaged 31.3 points, 11.9 rebounds and 5.9 assists on his way to becoming one of just three Houston-area players to score more than 1,000 points in a season (and more than 2,400 points in his career). Flagg has started 53 of the team's 54 games the last two seasons. He's one of just two A&M players on the current team averaging at least nine points a game. His shooting percentages are just 39 overall and 29.9 from the 3-point line, but he'll set the perimeter tone on the defensive end, which is the end of the court all teams coached by **Buzz Williams** place their greatest emphasis.

TEAM BREAKDOWNS

A run-out slam dunk by **Scottie Lewis** late in the first half was one of a lone highlights for the Gators in their 68-51 loss Saturday.

ABOUT THE GATORS: They have eight regular-season games left, all in SEC play, with the next three (at A&M, then home against Vanderbilt and Arkansas) against teams below them in the standings. Three of the final five games will be against teams currently in first place in the league (two against Kentucky, home against SEC), with the other two on the road at Tennessee and Georgia. If Florida is going to make a move out of the middle of the conference pack, it can't wait much longer. Their postseason

fate depends on it. ... UF is scoring 72.0 points per game, while shooting 44.5 percent and 33.2 from the 3-point line. The Gators led the SEC in overall field-goal and 3-pointer percentage in SEC play before the Ole Miss game, but those numbers took a hit courtesy of of 34.6 shooting against the Rebels and just 5-for-23 from the arc (21.7 percent). ... KenPom.com rates Florida 46th nationally, 44th in offensive efficiency and 69th in defensive efficiency. ... Forward Keyontae Johnson had his fourth double-double (16 points, 10 rebounds) of the season against Mississippi. ... Forward Kerry Blackshear Jr. had just eight shot attempts in the game over 30 minutes, but did get to the free-throw line five times. After going 15 of 26 from the line over a four-game span, Blackshear hit all three of his free throws at Ole Miss and is at 78.6 percent on the season. ... After taking over late in the 22-point comeback win against Georgia last week, point guard Andrew Nembhard was just 2-for-9 shooting against the Rebels with three assists and three turnovers. He's totaled 13 assists and eight turnovers the last four games. Over the last six games, Nembhard has led the team in field-goal attempts four times, while shooting 42.3 percent and 4-for-26 from the arc (15.3 percent). In a couple of those outings, UF's best offensive options, Johnson and Blackshear, were in foul trouble and Nembhard had to assert himself in the halfcourt. Someone had to. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke has made at least one 3-pointer in 21 consecutive games, which is one off the school record. ... Backup freshman forward Omar Payne has averaged just 8.6 minutes the last three games. He needs to get more consistent with his ball-screen defense and motor, with classmate/center Jason Jitoboh getting more minutes of late. ... After what felt like a breakout performance in canning three 3s against Georgia, reserve freshman guard Tre Mann missed all six of his shots against the Rebels. ... Ball security continues to be an issue for backup guard Ques Glover, who had four turnovers and no assists in nine minutes last time out. ...
ABOUT THE AGGIES: It's their first year under Coach Buzz Williams, who inherited a program on the decline, especially with regard to scoring. That's OK. Williams is one of the best defensive coaches in the country, having proved as much in winning at least 20 games (and at least 10 in the Atlantic Coast Conference) during the

previous four seasons at Virginia Tech, which he guided to the Sweet 16 last spring with Blackshear, then a fourth-year junior, starting in the post. Williams is 264-166 in 16 seasons as a head coach, with a very successful stint at Marquette included in that mark. ... A&M played one of the league's softest out-of-conference schedules, though it did include a home game against Gonzaga, currently ranked No. 2. The Aggies lost that one by 30. ... Ten times this season, the Aggies have failed to score 60 points, including four times finishing in the 40s. They did hit 85 in a home overtime loss against LSU, though. A few teams that have struggled offensively for the season have found their shooting eye against Florida's defense. ... A&M has 229 assists as a team versus 315 turnovers, but the Aggies also are tied for fourth in the number of turnovers they have forced. ... Post man Josh Nebo is the only Aggie scoring in double figures and is converting at 67.2 percent. He's attempted one 3-pointer this season, so there's no mystery to where he'll be on the offensive end, where he's also grabbed 58 rebounds of 139 rebounds (nearly 42 percent). ... Guard Wendell Mitchell is shooting only 27.4 percent for the season and 25.0 from the 3-point line on a team-high 136 attempts. That's more 3s taken than anyone on the UF team. Mitchell, though, had those seven 3s against the Gators last season on his way to a career-high 25 points. He's capable out there. ... Guard Andre Gordon is scoring 9.7 points and making nearly 37 percent of 3-point tries in SEC play. ... Backup guard Quentin Jackson has 15 steals in league play.

NUMBERS WORTH NOTING

Senior guard KeVaughn Allen lets fly a 3-pointer in the face of A&M's **Jay Jay Chandler** during his red-hot 8-for-10 shooting display in a win over the Aggies last year at the O'Dome.

* 1 — Players from either Florida and Texas A&M participating in the NBA All-Star Game this weekend. Milwaukee's Khris Middleton was a second-round pick out of A&M in 2012 and has blossomed into a star for the Milwaukee Bucks. That '12 season preceded A&M's entry into the SEC, but the Gators faced Middleton and the Aggies in the Orange Bowl Classic on Dec. 17, 2011, with UF winning 84-64 behind 22 points from Kenny Boynton. Middleton finished with 13 points on 5-for-18 shooting to go with seven rebounds and seven assists.

* 13.0 — Average shots attempted by Nembhard over the last six games.

* 22 — UF record for consecutive games with at least one 3-point field goal. It's held by Lee Humphrey (March 18, 2005 to Jan. 28, 2006), but Locke can tie it with a 3 in College Station.

* 27 — Combined 3-pointers by both teams in their O'Dome meeting in 2019, including eight by Allen (who went 8-for-10 from deep) and seven by Locke (on 13 attempts). That night, Allen and Locke joined Erving Walker (7) and Boynton (6) as the only duo in Florida history to hit at least six 3s in the same game.

* 1992 — The first year Florida and Texas A&M met in men's basketball. It was Coach Lon Kruger's second season on the UF sidelines and the game was part of a home-and-home series, with UF winning 73-46 on Jan. 2. The two teams played the next season at College Station, with A&M prevailing 57-54 in overtime.

LAST WORD
Nothing is going to come easy for this team from here on out ... obviously.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: Florida at Texas A&M (Wednesday, 8:30 pm)

Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Kerry Blackshear Jr.

Ques Glover

Jason Jitoboh

Keyontae Johnson

Scottie Lewis

Noah Locke

Tre Mann

Andrew Nembhard

Omar Payne

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Pregame Stuff: Florida at Texas A&M (Wednesday, 8:30 pm)

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Players Mentioned

KeVaughn Allen

Kerry Blackshear Jr.

Ques Glover

Jason Jitoboh

Keyontae Johnson

Scottie Lewis

Noah Locke

Tre Mann

Andrew Nembhard

Omar Payne

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