Florida Gators

NCAA TOURNAMENT
FLORIDA vs VIRGINIA TECH 

When: Friday, 12:15 p.m. (EST)
Where: Hinkle Fieldhouse, Indianapolis.   
Records: Florida (14-9); Virginia Tech (15-6)  
TV: CBS (Jim Nantz, Bill Raftery, Grant Hill and Tracy Wolfson) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey) 


THE BASICS Florida and Virginia Tech will meet in first-round play of the 2021 NCAA Tournament. The teams were seeded in South Region. The Gators, who went 9-7 and finished fifth in the Southeastern Conference, check in as the No. 7 seed. The Hokies, 9-4 in league play but a third-place finisher in the Atlantic Coast Conference, are the bracket's No 10 seed. ... UF and Tech are two of just 11 teams in the country that have reached each of the last four NCAA tournaments (2017-19, '21), with last year's event canceled due to COVID-19. ... The Gators got here by playing a schedule ranked as the 23rd-most difficult, according to KenPom.com, and got significant consideration for its upset road victory at West Virginia in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge. The Hokies' strength of schedule came in 80th, but they had a big win over Villanova early in the season, plus a 14-point rout of ACC champion Virginia during league play. ... Florida is playing in the 21st tournament in program history, with a record of 44-18, including at least one win in each of the last five appearances. Virginia Tech will make its 11th NCAA appearances, boasting a record of 8-11, with their last showing a run to the Sweet 16 in 2019 when it lost by two points to top-seeded and No. 1-ranked Duke. ... The Hokies lead the all-time series 5-4, but the two programs have not played since a Dec. 28, 1991 date in the Red Lobster Classic at Orlando Arena. That was the second season for the Gators under Coach Lon Kruger and Tech won 79-57 behind 19 points from forward John Rivers. The Gators got 15 points and eight rebounds from sophomore Craig Brown, plus 10 points and eight boards from freshman forward Andrew DeClercq. ... UF is 5-3 in the NCAA Tournament under Coach Mike White.  

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Anthony Duruji	F	6-7	220	R-Junior	5.9 pts / 4.3 reb
Colin Castleton	F	6-11	231	Junior	12.0 pts / 5.9 reb
Tyree Appleby	G	6-1	170	R-Junior	11.4 pts / 3.0 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	203	Junior	10.4 pts / 2.3 reb
Tre Mann	G	6-5	190	Sophomore	16.0 pts / 5.7 reb / 3.4 ast

Virginia Tech	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keve Aluma	F	6-9	235	R-Junior	15.6 pts / 8.0 reb
Justyn Mutts	F	6-7	230	R-Junior	9.6 pts / 6.5 reb
Wabissa Bede	G	6-1	195	Graduate	4.1 pts / 2.4 reb / 3.2 ast
Nahiem Alleyne	G	6-4	195	Sophomore	10.3 pts / 2.7 reb
Tyrece Radford	G	6-2	200	R-Sophomore	11.9 pts / 6.1 reb

ONE TO WATCH  
TEAM BREAKDOWNS  
ABOUT THE GATORS: This will be just the sixth non-SEC opponent they've faced during '20-21, with half of those six (Boston College, Florida State and Virginia Tech) being ACC opponents. In normal seasons, the ratio of non-conference to conference games is closer to 50-50, but the Gators had seven non-league games canceled during the season. ... KenPom ranks UF No. 36 overall, 40th in offense, 37th in defense and 165th in tempo. The Gators score at 74.0 points per game, shoot 46.4 from the floor and 35.7 from the 3-point line, with both those shooting digits

best among SEC teams. Defensively, UF surrenders 69.8 points, 42.1 percent overall and 30.5 from distance. ... Florida has just two players on the roster who have participated in the NCAA Tournament. Shooting guard Noah Locke played in two 2019 games games, scoring five points in the team's opening win over Nevada and eight in the second-game blowout loss against Michigan. Forward Colin Castleton was a little-used freshman reserve on that Michigan team (he played one minute and did not score against he Gators) that was eliminated in the round of 16 by eventual NCAA runner-up Texas Tech. ... UF could use some hefty contributions from both Locke and Castleton (anybody, actually) to take some pressure off first-team All-SEC guard Tre Mann, who has carried the team the last three weeks. Mann, who received honorable mention All-America honors earlier this week, is averaging better than 22 points and shooting 58 percent over the last five games, scoring no fewer than 19 along the way, including a career-high 30 (with 28 in the second half) in the Gators' loss to Tennessee in the SEC Tournament. ... Locke has his 3-point shooting average back above 40 percent on the season (.406), but he's reached double-figure scoring only twice the previous eight games. ... In losing to Tennessee two of the past three games, the Gators weren't nearly as physical or aggressive as the Volunteers, especially inside. Castleton will have another challenge on his hands in facing Aluma and needs to produce more than the 10 points he totaled in the SEC Tournament. He only had three assists in those two games. Better recognition against double teams (and finding guys on the perimeter) will be paramount. ... Guard Tyree Appleby has a run of eight straight games scoring in double figures and has become the team's second-most consistent scorer. The consistency, however, has not extended to ball security (18 assists, 15 turnovers the last five games). He has made 43 percent of his 3s the last seven games. ... Forward Anthony Duruji played just seven minutes and was a second-half DNP against the Volunteers. Since grabbing 11 rebounds in the team's home-finale loss to Missouri, Duruji has totaled 10 boards the last three games (over 62 minutes). He's too athletic and provides too much energy to not get himself on the floor. ... If Duruji isn't called upon, the Gators will need something from sophomore backup Omar Payne, but who knows where his head will be after being ejected from the UT after a Flagrant-2 foul? Payne, for what it's worth, is shooting a staggering 77.1 percent from the floor on the season, but has taken only eight shots the last seven games. ... Backup guard Scottie Lewis totaled one point and seven rebounds over 42 SEC Tournament minutes. He has one double-figure scoring game during the last 10. If Lewis could shake out of his funk, even if just on the defensive end, he could be a difference-maker. ... The Florida bench has been nearly doubled up, 61-32, in scoring over the last three games. 

ABOUT THE HOKIES: They're in Season 2 under Coach Mike Young, with a 31-21 record to show for it. Young came to Blacksburg, Va., by way of Wofford, where he was an institution for 17

seasons in guiding the Terriers to 299 victories, five NCAA tournaments and four Southern Conference championships, including a 30-5 record and perfect 18-0 league mark in '18-19. His hallmark is an offense with constant ball movement, with 41 percent of their field-goal attempts being 3-point shots (that ranks 80th nationally). ... KenPom metrics place Tech as the nation's No. 50 overall team, as well as 55th in offense, 54th in defense and 293rd in pace of play. The Hokies score 72.1 points per game, shooting 45.1 percent overall and 35.7 from the 3-point line. Defensively, they give up 65.5 points, 41.8 percent and 33.0 from distance. ... The numbers would not suggest it, but after Aluma the Hokie that matters most just might be point guard Wabissa Bede, the only player other than Aluma to start all 21 games. Bede is an X-factor guy who runs the show and makes Tech go. He averages barely four points a game, shoots just 24.5 percent from distance, and has attempted just 11 free throws all season, but it's his command of Young's offense that is stupendous. He has 68 assists on the season to only 28 turnovers and also leads the team in steals. ... Guard Tyrese Radford has made 56 percent of his field goals, but just seven of 22 3s. Long-range is not his game. He's looking to drive and finish or get fouled. His 60 free throws (at 75 percent) are second-most on the team. ... Forward Justyn Mutts, the grad-transfer from Delaware, can score from both levels (51.6 percent overall, 34.1 from the arc) and is coming off a 24-point performance in the Hokies loss to the Tar Heels in the ACC Tournament. ... Guard Nahiem Alleyne joins Aluma and Radford in double-figure scoring average. He actually shoots it better from the arc (40.9 percent) than than inside it (36.4). ... Backup guards Jalen Cone (9.2 ppg) and Hunter Cattor (8.4 ppg) have the second- and third-most 3-point makes on the team (behind Alleyne's 38). Combined, they're 73 of 186 from out there (39.2 percent), with both players averaging over 20 minutes off the bench. Neither one will waste much time inside the arc, with Cone totaling just eight 2-point field goals this season (to 37 from 3) and Cattor, who starred at Bishop Moore in Orlando, with 17 (to his 36. ) 


NUMBERS WORTH NOTING  
* .600 — Florida's all-time winning percentage in the NCAA Tournament as a No. 7 seed (based on a 3-2 record), which includes the 2012 run of three wins (against Virginia, Norfolk State and Marquette) to the Elite Eight, where the Gators to No. 4-seed Louisville one game shy of the Final Four.  

* 3 — UF players that transferred from Virginia Tech over the last nine seasons, starting with Dorian Finney-Smith in 2012, Jalen Hudson in '16 and Kerry Blackshear Jr. in '19.   

* 9 — Teams from so-called "power conferences" that have made the last four NCAA Tournaments. Along with Florida and Virginia Tech, those teams are Florida State, Kansas, Michigan, North Carolina, Purdue, Villanova and Virginia. 

* 1967 — Virginia Tech's best year in the NCAA Tournament. The Hokies went 20-7 in '66-67 to claim their first tournament bid and upset Indiana to reach the Elite Eight, where they lost to eventual national runner-up Dayton.  

* 2010 — The last year Florida lost its first game of a NCAA Tournament. The Gators, after two NIT appearances followed their back-to-back NCAA championships, got an at-large bid as a No. 10 seed in Oklahoma City and lost 99-92 in double-overtime to seventh-seeded Brigham Young, behind a 37-point performance from guard Jimmer Fredette. UF was led by 27 points from freshman guard Kenny Boynton, along with 20 points and 10 rebounds from junior Chandler Parsons. 


LAST WORD

Playing the first game of the tournament's first round, the Gators hope they get a weekend in Indiana rather than the shortest stay of any team in the field.