FLORIDA at OLE MISS
When: Saturday, 2 p.m. (EST)
Where: The Pavilion at Ole Miss, Oxford, Miss.
Records: Florida (14-8, 6-3); Ole Miss (11-11, 2-7)
TV: ESPN2 (
Beth Mowins and
Dalen Cuff)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (
Mick Hubert and
Bill Koss)
THE BASICS
The Pavilion at Ole Miss (capacity 9,500) opened in 2016 and is among the finest arenas in the Southeastern Conference.
Florida and Ole Miss usher in the second half of the Southeastern Conference, with both teams coming off big wins. The Gators fell behind in the second half by 22 at home Wednesday night against Georgia, but rallied to equal the largest come-from-behind victory in program history, storming back to claim an 81-75 win behind a career-high 25 points from sophomore point guard
Andrew Nembhard and 60-percent shooting in the second half. The Rebels, meanwhile, went into Wednesday having dropped seven of their first eight league games, but then senior guard
Breein Tyree dropped a career-high 38 points on South Carolina, winner of three straight (and five of six), to win 84-70 at home. ... UF and Mississippi, paired off as rotating conference foes this season, met Jan. 15 in Gainesville, where the Gators won, 71-55, behind 15 points and six rebounds from sophomore forward
Keyontae Johnson, plus 13 points and nine boards from grad-transfer forward
Kerry Blackshear Jr. In that one, UF led by 11 early, but Ole Miss went on a tear by making 10 of 15 shots to move in front by three, before the Gators got hot down the stretch of the first half to lead by 12 at the break, thanks to 60-percent shooting for the period. Florida, though, can take absolutely nothing from that game, given the Rebels were without Tyree (back bruise), as well as starting power forward
Khadim Sy (coach's decision). Both will be available this game. ... UF leads the all-time series 67-46, including a 5-1 record under Coach
Mike White, who was a four-year starter at point guard for the Rebels from 1995-99. This will mark White's third road trip back to face his alma mater. He's 1-1 in Oxford.
PROBABLE STARTING LINEUPS
| Ole Miss |
Pos. |
Ht. |
Wt. |
Class |
Per Game |
| K.J. Buffen |
F |
6-7 |
225 |
Sophomore |
9.8 pts / 5.9 reb |
| Khadim Sy |
F |
6-10 |
240 |
Junior |
9.2 pts / 5.3 reb |
| Blake Hinson |
F/G |
6-7 |
230 |
Sophomore |
10.7 pts / 5.2 reb |
| Breein Tyree |
G |
6-2 |
195 |
Senior |
18.9 pts / 3.6 reb |
| Devontae Shuler |
G |
6-2 |
190 |
Junior |
11.3 pts / 4.6 reb |
ONE TO WATCH
So Breein Tyree, out of Sommerset, N.J., appeared in this space last month, but ended up not playing against UF in Gainesville after sustaining a back bruise at practice the day before. It's the only game the senior and No. 3 scorer in the SEC has missed this season. The game after sitting out against the Gators, Tyree bombed LSU for 36 points. The 38 he dumped on South Carolina (on 12-for-21 shooting, 3-for-3 from the arc and 11 of 13 from the free-throw line over 40 minutes) marked a third game this season of 30-plus. The 6-foot-2, 195-pounder is making 41.9 percent of his field goals, 35.8 percent of his 3-pointers and 77.9 of his free throws. He's not just a mad bomber, like Arkansas's Mason Jones or Alabama's Jaden Shackleford. Tyree can score from all three levels and considering this will be the Gators' first look at him up close (and on his home floor) they need to understand that he can single-handedly take over a game. He's up to 22.7 per game in conference play and ranks 10th on the Ole Miss all-time scoring list.
TEAM BREAKDOWNS
Sophomore point guard Andrew Nembhard is greeted by freshman teammate Tre Mann late Wednesday after Nembhard took over the game by scoring 11 of UF's last 12 points on the way to a career-high 25 in the defeat of Georgia.
ABOUT THE GATORS: Their offense continues to make strides, if not in bizarre increments. UF may have shot 35.5 percent in the first half against Georgia and go two of 12 from the 3-point line (16.7 percent), but the Gators reversed those numbers during their monstrous comeback in converting 60 percent in the second and seven of 11 from deep (63.6 percent). In SEC play, Florida ranks third in scoring at 77.2 points per game and leads the league in both shooting percentage (46.1) and 3-point percentage (38.1). ... Florida's
KenPom.com numbers didn't change much post-Georgia. The Gators are 42nd overall, 29th in offensive efficiency and 68th in
Tre Mann
defense. ... The question of whether
Andrew Nembhard was shooting too much of late was a valid one, given the UF point guard was on a four-game run of games with double-digit field goal attempts after having only five such games the previous 17. Nembhard had shot only 39.6 percent in those four games (three of them losses), including two of 16 from distance. Against Georgia, though, Nembhard was 10-for-16 (but just 1-for-5 at the arc) and took over in the halfcourt with aggressive drives and mid-range pull-ups. What that means for the Florida offense as the season goes in remains to be seen. ... Lost in UF's digging of that big first-half deficit was the fact both starting forwards,
Keyontae Johnson and
Kerry Blackshear Jr., were hit with two fouls. Both played about seven minutes, seriously impact the team's frontcourt options on offense, and weren't on the floor when Georgia went on its 10-0 run to end the period to go up 15. They combined for six points and three rebounds that half. In the second half, Johnson logged all 20 minutes and Blackshear 15 on the way to totaling 21 points, with three 3s, and grabbing 11 rebounds between them. Johnson went 5-for-10 for the game, including two of three from deep. He's now shooting 3s at nearly 42 percent on the season and 48 against the SEC. ... Shooting guard
Noah Locke hit just one 3 in four attempts against the Bulldogs, but still checks in at 50 percent on the season vs. the SEC. He's made at least one trey in 20 consecutive games. ... Locke didn't get to attempt as many shots last time because backup freshman shooting
Tre Mann was playing too well to be taken from the game. Mann scored all 11 of his points after halftime, with a trio of 3s (each one huge) and also drew two charges on the defensive end. It was far and away his finest game of the season; of his career, actually. ...
Scottie Lewis, UF's best defender, had his hands full with Georgia's
Anthony Edwards (32 points), but had his moments on both ends. Lewis figures to get a crack at another scoring machine Saturday when he gets in a stance against Tyree. ... Backup forward
Omar Payne played 15 minutes against the Bulldogs, scored three points and grabbed one rebound. Since his big 19-point, 11-rebound game against Auburn, Payne has totaled 11 points and 11 rebounds over the five games, as he's fought to stay in defensive position at times. ...
ABOUT THE REBELS: They're 31-24 in two seasons under
Kermit Davis, who
Devonte Shuler
came to Ole Miss in 2018 after 16 very successful seasons at Middle Tennessee State and guided the program to the NCAA Tournament for just the ninth time in its history. The win over the Gamecocks was No. 500 for Davis, whose career also includes brief stops at Idaho (3 seasons) and Texas A&M (one season). ... Ole Miss is scoring 69.2 points per game, shooting 42.9 percent overall and 32.1 from the 3-point line. Defensively, the Rebels give up 68.1 per game, 42.7 from the floor and 30.1 from distance.
KenPom rates them 114th overall, 157th in offense and 101st on defense, but one of the best in the nation at defending the arc (44th overall, fifth in the SEC). ... It'll be a tougher go inside for the Gators this go-round, what with
Khadim Sy back on the floor. He's one of two Rebels over 50 percent on the season. He also has six 3s, so he must be honored out there. He's second on the team in offensive rebounds with 33. ...
K.J. Buffen is the other plus-50 shooter, with his 80 field goals third on the team and his 20 blocked shots first. He had a team-high 20 points in the first UF meeting. ... Wing
Blake Hinson gave the Gators fits in the first half of the first game, with 13 of his 16 points coming before intermission. He also had 11 rebounds. Hinson is one of three Rebels with at least 30 makes from distance. ... Guard
Devonte Shuler is super-streaky. He had five points and five turnovers in Gainesville, but in back-to-back games last week against LSU and Auburn -- arguably the two best teams in the league -- Shuler went for 26 and 28, respectively, and hit 15 of 27 shots and 20 of 25 free throws. Next game at South Carolina? Seven points. The Gators don't want him feeling it early. Or late, actually. ... The Rebels played just seven guys against the Gamecocks. They used 51-percent shooting in the first half (while defending USC at 34.9) to open an 11-point lead at the break and withstood any South Carolina charge by nailing four of eight 3s and 11 of 15 free throws.
NUMBERS WORTH NOTING
UF sophomore forward Keyontae Johnson attacks the rim for a bucket in the team's first meeting against Ole Miss last month.
* 3 — Where Johnson ranks among SEC players in field-goal percentage at 53.7 percent on the season.
* 10 — Assists for Nembhard over the last three games, an average of 3.3 compared to his 5.8 average for the season that ranks second in the league to Kentucky's
Ashton Hagans.
* 11 — Total years White spent at Ole Miss, as both a player (4) and assistant coach (7) under
Rod Barnes and then
Andy Kennedy before branching off to his first head-coaching job at Louisiana Tech in 2011.
* 1,583 — Career points for Tyree, making him the SEC's No. 1 active leading scorer. His 38-point outburst against USC moved Tyree into No. 10 on the all-time Ole Miss scoring list, passing
Don Kessinger (1,553) and
Gerald Glass (1,564).
* 2016 — The last year UF and Ole Miss played twice in a season. It was White's first on the Florida sidelines and the Gators swept the Rebels, winning 80-71 at Oxford on Jan. 16, and 77-72 on Feb. 9 at Gainesville.
LAST WORD
Ignore the Rebels' record. Winning on the road in conference play is never easy. Ask LSU.
