Pregame Stuff: UF vs Embry-Riddle exhibition (Monday, 7 pm)

Florida vs. Embry-Riddle

* When: Monday, 7 p.m.
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: N/A
* TV: SEC Network+ (Kyle Crooks and Mark Wise)
* Radio: None

Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	2020-21 stats
Anthony Duruji	F	6-7 / 220	R-Senior	6.1 ppg / 4.4 rpg
Colin Castleton	F	6-11 / 231	Senior	12.4 ppg / 6.4 ppg
Phlandrous Fleming Jr.	G	6-5 / 205	Graduate	20.1 ppg / 7.4 rpg (Charleston Southern)
Brandon McKissic	G	6-3 / 185	Graduate	17.2 ppg / 3.7 rpg (Missouri-KC)
Myreon Jones	G	6-3 / 175	Senior	15.3 ppg / 2.7 rpg (Penn State

Reserves	Position	Height / Weight	Class	2020-21 stats
Tyree Appleby	G	6-1 / 170	R-Senior	11.3 ppg / 3.1 rpg / 3.3 ast
CJ Felder	F	6-7 / 231	Junior	9.7 ppg / 5.6 rpg (Boston College)
Jason Jitoboh	C	6-11 / 290	Junior	1.5 ppg / 1.1 rpg
Niels Lane	G	6-5 / 206	Sophomore	1.1 ppg / 0.7 rpg
Kowacie Reeves	G	6-6 / 182	Freshman	Macon, Ga.
Elijah Kennedy	G	6-3 / 185	Freshman	Virginia Beach, Va.
Tuongthach Gatkek	F	6-9 / 172	Sophomore	10.0 ppg / 6.9 rpg / 2.2 blx (Trinity Valley CC / Texas)

The Breakdown

Series / Last Meeting

Florida and Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, located in Daytona Beach, Fla., played in an exhibition game to tip-off the 2005-06 season, with Joakim Noah scoring 21 points and grabbing 10 rebounds in UF's 81-46 victory. Since the 2013-14 season, with the exception of last year's pandemic-marred campaign, the Gators have annually scheduled exhibition games against an opponent from the Division II Sunshine State Conference, a league that numbers 11 programs in the state of Florida. UF has strung together consecutive victories over Florida Southern, Barry, Palm Beach Atlantic, Eckerd, Tampa, Florida Southern again, and Lynn, with the closest game being a 79-70 win against Barry in the '14-15 season that turned out to be the last for Coach Billy Donovan. The athletics program at ERAU, a private school that focuses on aviation and aerospace studies, was launched in 1988. The Eagles competed at the NAIA classification (and captured the 2000 national championship) for 27 years before moving to Division II in 2015.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	2020-21 Stats	Opponent
74.2	Scoring	93.7
.471	Field-goal percentage	.476
.356	3-point percentage	.392
70.3	Scoring defense	81.3
.420	Field-goal percentage defense	.428
.356	3-point percentage defense	.392
41	KenPom.com overall ranking	N/A
44	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	N/A
41	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	N/A

Team Snapshots

The Gators

Coach Mike White enters his seventh season on the UF sidelines. His 123-75 record with the Gators includes four straight NCAA Tournament berths, with UF the only team in the Southeastern Conference able to make that claim. The program also has won at least one game in each of those tournaments, making it one of only eight schools in the country to do so. ... The Gators return five players, including a trio of starters, from a team that went 15-10 last season and lost in the second-round of NCAA play and were picked by media to finish seventh in the 14-team SEC in the league's preseason poll. ... Forward Colin Castleton was named to the preseason All-SEC team after being a second-team selection in his first Florida season. Castleton, the Michigan transfer, led UF by shooting 59.7 percent from the floor last season and was stellar (especially for a big man) from the free-throw line at 78.1 percent. ... UF's three perimeter transfer players -- Phlandrous Fleming Jr., Brandon McKissic and Myreon Jones -- are expected to be in the starting lineup and provide the Gators with a bevy of game experience, not to mention defense. Fleming was a two-time Defensive Player of the Year in the Big South, while McKissic was 2021 Defensive Player of the Year in the Summit League. Both players are physical, high-motor dudes that will look to get their teammates going. Jones, a two-time honorable mention All-Big Ten selection, shot just shy of 38 percent from the 3-point line in his three seasons at Penn State. ... The fourth transfer, forward CJ Felder, was second in the Atlantic Coast Conference in blocked shots last season and is a warrior on the glass. ... Forward Anthony Duruji and point guard Tyree Appleby both started for the Gators last season, but will go into this season in different roles than a year ago. Duruji replaced Keyontae Johnson following the UF star's collapse last December and held off a preseason challenge from Felder at the "4" spot. Appleby has been asked to come off the bench and provide reserve energy and production. He's a playmaker and non-conventional shot-maker at times, but needs to improve his assist/turnover ratio (82/72 last season) ... Junior center Jason Jitoboh has lost more than 40 pounds and is hovering around (perhaps even below) 290 after struggling with conditioning and preseason surgery in '20-21. His status is big because the Gators, as a team, are not very big. ... Of the rookies, freshman Kowacie Reeves figures to get the first look (maybe the only look), but will have a tough time busting through the veteran depth on the perimeter.

The Eagles

Embry-Riddle will take the floor for the first time since March 5, 2020. The Eagles opted to sit out the '20-21 season due to COVID and will roll out four of their top five scorers from that last team that went 20-10. ... ERAU was picked to finish third in the SSC standings. ... The Eagles are coached by Steve Ridder, who took over the post in the program's second year of existence and 32 seasons later will take a 716-296 record into '21-22. Under Ridder, the offense is break-neck, wide open and shoots a bunch of 3s. The Eagles averaged more than 93 points two seasons ago and had five players attempt at least 115 3-pointers. ... Guard Romeo Crouch averaged 19.2 points and jacked a team-high 267 treys at 43.1 percent. ... All four of the returning starters — guards Elijah Jenkins (13.4 ppg) and Nick Heard (10.6 ppg), plus forward Chris Murray (9.0 ppg, 6.8 rpg)— shot 41 percent or better from distance. ... ERAU has just three players over 6-6, so the Gators should enjoy a sizable advantage in the post.

Numbers of Note

Anyone remember former UF player **Dillon Graham**?

* 1 — Attempted 3-pointers by Castleton last season. A significant part of his time in the NBA underclassman evaluation process (and on-own gym work since his return) has been spent getting up shots from long-distance range. Castleton has shown he can make them in drills and practice, and will be given the freedom to prove he can do so in games in hopes of spreading defenses.

* 2 — New assistant coaches on the Florida sidelines. With Jordan Mincy (Jacksonville) and Darris Nichols (Radford) bolting for Division I jobs, the Gators replaced them with Erik Pastrada (by way of Oklahoma State) and Akeem Miskdeen (Florida Atlantic), both of whom will make their O'Dome debuts Tuesday night.

* 31 — Consecutive exhibition-game victories for the Gators, dating to the run-up to the 2002-03 season when they pummeled the Midwest All-Stars 113-63.

* 2014 — The year Dillon Graham, a seldom-used junior guard from Orlando, left the Florida basketball program one game into his junior year and transferred midseason to Embry-Riddle. Graham went on to start 50 of 51 games and averaged 11.6 points and 4.2 rebounds over his two seasons for the Eagles.

* 3,882 — Combined points scored by UF's four transfers at their previous schools. That's the second-most of any transfer class in the country, behind only Arkansas.

Bottom Line

In this era of virtual free-agency in college basketball, these exhibitions provide serious intrigue, if for no other reason than the unknown.

Gators Calendar

Pregame Stuff: UF vs Embry-Riddle exhibition (Monday, 7 pm)