Florida Gators

FLORIDA vs MISSOURI 

When: Wednesday, 6:30 p.m. (EST)
Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.   
Records: Florida (13-6, 9-5); Missouri (14-7, 7-7)  
TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan and Debbie Antonelli) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey) 



THE BASICS 

 
The final game at the O'Dome of this season like no other looms as a showdown between two Southeastern Conference teams headed for the NCAA Tournament, though one team has considerably more momentum than the other. ...  Florida has won three straight, including on the road last week, defeating Auburn and following it with just the 11th road at Kentucky in program history. The Gators enter the final week of the regular season -- the league added a Sunday road date at Tennessee to help offset UF's three COVID-19 postponements during conference play -- alone in third place in the SEC standings, a half-game up on LSU and a full game on Tennessee. A win in either of the two remaining games will lock up a top-four seed and double-bye in the SEC Tournament next week at Nashville. Losses in both could drop UF as far as the No. 7 seed. Missouri, meanwhile, has lost four of the previous five since rising to No. 18 in the Associated Press Top 25 after the Tigers handed Alabama its first league loss of the season. Mizzou has some other impressive, high-Quadrant wins on the resume, but the Tigers need to flip a switch and get back to playing like they were the first half of the conference season. ... Florida leads the all-time series 7-3, but Missouri manhandled the Gators in their lone meeting last season. The date was Jan. 11, 2020, and UF, unbeaten though two conference games, went to Columbia and got head-slapped from the opening tip on the way to a 91-75 defeat. The Tigers, who came in winless in their first two league games, shot 60 percent in the first half, including 8-for-11 from the 3-point line (72.7 percent) compared to UF's woeful 8-for-26 shooting through the first 20 minutes (30.8 percent). Mizzou led by a dozen at the break, opened a 24-point lead in the second half, and shot 61.5 percent for the game and 63.2 from distance. The Tigers' trio of dudes named Smith -- Dru, Mark and Mitchell -- combined for 46 points and seven 3s. The Gators were led by 22 points from forward Kerry Blackshear Jr., who went 10-for-11 at the free-throw line. ... Florida is 4-1 against Missouri under Coach Mike White, including 2-0 at home. 

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Anthony Duruji	F	6-7	220	R-Junior	6.2 pts / 4.1 reb
Colin Castleton	F	6-11	231	Junior	12.9 pts / 5.8 reb
Tyree Appleby	G	6-1	180	R-Junior	10.8 pts / 3.2 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	203	Junior	10.6 pts / 2.5 reb
Tre Mann	G	6-5	190	Sophomore	14.7 pts / 5.8 reb / 3.4 ast

Missouri	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Kobe Brown	F	6-7	240	Sophomore	7.9 pts / 6.0 reb
Jeremiah Tillmon	F	6-5	220	Senior	12.9 pts / 7.7 reb
Mark Smith	G	6-5	220	Senior	10.0 pts / 2.9 reb
Dru Smith	G	6-3	203	R-Senior	13.9 pts / 3.6 reb / 3.9 ast
Xavier Pinson	G	6-2	170	Junior	14.0 pts / 3.0 reb

ONE TO WATCH  
 

TEAM BREAKDOWNS  
 
ABOUT THE GATORS: With the victory at Kentucky, they clinched a fourth winning record in league play during Coach Mike White's six seasons on the UF sidelines. White, who has never posted a losing record in SEC play, is now a combined 22 games over .500 in conference play (63-41) since arriving in 2015. His .606 winning percentage is the SEC's second-best mark during that time, trailing only Kentucky. The next-closest is Tennessee (.566), which is 14 games over .500, followed by LSU (.542) at 11 games over .500. ... Florida currently sits an overall 27th in the KenPom.com metrics, as well as 29th in offense, 30th in defense and 142nd in tempo. The Gators lead the SEC in all three shooting-percentage stats: 46.8 from the floor, 35.9 from the line, 75.6 at the free-throw line. And while UF's defensive numbers took something of a hit a couple weeks ago, dropping all the way to 49th, the team is allowing 69.9 points, 41.8-percent shooting and 30.6 percent from the arc.

... Combo guard Tre Mann is making a late push for all-league honors after averaging 20.0 points and 10.5 rebounds last week, while dropping 15 of 25 shots from the field (60.0), and becoming the first UF player to lead the team in points and rebounds in back-to-back road victories. Mann is playing with an aggressiveness unseen during his two seasons and everybody on the team (starting with his coaches) want to see it continue. ... Guard Tyree Appleby appears to have taken on the role of the designated point guard after mostly sharing ball-handling duties with Mann. For the second time in three games, Appleby had five turnovers last time out; for the second time in three games, the Gators won anyway, with Appleby making big plays down the stretch, including a go-ahead 3-pointer late, a huge hustle play to get his team an extra possession, and free throws inside the final minute. Appleby finished with 11 points against the Wildcats and has reached double-figure scoring in nine of the past 10 games. ... Forward Colin Castleton had a solid, efficient performance at UK, finishing with 14 points on 5-for-7 shooting, 5-fo-5 from the free-throw line, five rebounds and a career-high four assists, including a double-team kick-out to Appleby for that lead-taking (for good) 3-ball. Castleton had not posted more than one assist  in any of the previous six games. ... Anthony Duruji had 10 points against the Wildcats, giving him a first double-figure game since getting 15 in the previous Kentucky meeting. That's a run of 11 games. Duruji, however, is impacting the game in multiple ways, mostly through energy, challenging shots, fighting for rebounds and tips, and just playing hard. His athleticism just shows up and, apparently, takes the officials by surprise. Some of the whistles against him Saturday were blown calls, plain and simple. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke only got off four shots at Kentucky, as the Wildcats (again) made closing out on him from the 3-point line one of their top scouting priorities. All four of his shot attempts were 3s, though, and Locke did manage to knock down two of them. Mizzou doesn't have the defensive length to bother him as much, but the Tigers are active on the perimeter. ... Scottie Lewis (9.0 ppg. 3.3 rpg), after erupting for 16 points and five steals in the win at Auburn, was relegated mostly to watching at Kentucky, again due to foul trouble. He was called for three in 13 minutes and took a seat for the final 7:31 after attempting a behind-the-back pass (in a two-point game) that went out of bounds. That the Gators, minus Lewis's defense, still held UK to 39-percent shooting and 4-for-20 from the 3-point line was a testament to their collective effort (as well as UK's ongoing offensive struggles). ... Castleton's two backups, Omar Payne and Osayi Osifo, combined for two points, no field-goal attempts, no rebounds and four fouls in 13 minutes. Need something/anything from at least one of those two, both of whom likely will be matched up with Tillmon on more than one occasion.  

ABOUT THE TIGERS: They're in the fourth season under Cuonzo Martin, who is 64-53 in his stint, including 29-39 in SEC play, with one NCAA Tournament berth coming in his inaugural 2017-18 season. Mizzou sits in a tie for sixth place in the league standings alongside Ole Miss. For now, the Tigers have the bead on what figures to be a sixth bid for the conference, by virtue of a resume that shows the nation's 19th toughest schedule, with wins over three teams currently in the NET Top 20:

Illinois (6), Alabama (7) and at Arkansas (19). The Rebels, no doubt, would differ with that assessment (vehemently, in fact), given they've beaten the Tigers twice this season. ... KenPom puts Missouri at No. 48 overall, along with 42nd in offensive efficiency, 66th in defense and 161st in pace. The Tigers score 73.9 points per game, while shooting 45.4 percent overall and 31.6 from the arc. On defense, they give up 71.5, as well as 42.1 percent and 32.1 from 3. ... Dru Smith, who transferred from Evansville two years ago, is the guard that makes 'em go. The team's recent funk has had something to do with a Smith drought, of sorts. He had 10 straight double-figure scoring games until failing to hit doubles in two of the last three games (both losses). In those defeats (Georgia and Ole Miss) he combined to go just 7-for-22 and 3-for-13 from the arc and finished with just nine points in both. ... Guard Xavier Pinson had a tough game in the Ole Miss loss (1 of 9 from the floor, missed all four of his 3s) and finished with just two points. This from a guy who went for 36 points in 34 minutes in a win over Texas Christian in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, had 27 against Tennessee and shot 15 free throws against Arkansas. The Gators do not want to let him get going. ... Guard Mark Smith, no doubt, enjoyed himself earlier this season when the Tigers beat Illinois, given he transferred two years ago from Illinois, where he was that state's player of the year in high school. Since missing all eight of his shots in the home overtime loss to Arkansas, he's gone 13-for-24 from the floor and 8-for-15 from deep. .... Forward Kobe Brown has averaged 15.0 points the last three games and hit 17 of his 32 shots. ... Backup guard Terrence Watson only averages 7.6 minutes, but he's fifth on the team in 3-point attempts. If he checks in, he's launching. 


NUMBERS WORTH NOTING  
 
* 2.33 —  Castleton's blocks-per-game average, which is on pace to be the fifth-highest in program history, trailing only 7-2 center Dwayne Schnitzius in 1986-87 (2.87), '87-88 (2.57) and '89-90 (2.54), as well as 6-11 center Joakim Noah in 2006-07 (2.44).  

* 3 — Times this season a Gator has been named SEC Player of the Week, with Mann this week joining the twice-honored Castleton.  

* 12 — KenPom ranking for Missouri in the "Experience" category. The Tigers have 10 players on their roster in their third year or more, for an average of 2.46 years of experience. Among the six power conferences, only Georgia Tech (4th at 2.56) rates an older roster.  

* 69.6 — Missouri's collective free-throw percentage, which is 10th in the league, but really gets pulled down by Tillmon's struggles from the line. Five of the Tigers' top rotational players make 79 percent or better. 

* 75.6 — Florida's collective free-throw percentage, which now ranks No. 1 in the SEC. Individually, Mann (83.1) and Appleby (82.1) rank fourth and seventh in the league, respectively. 


LAST WORD

Gators can match their season-best winning streak of four, which they enjoyed in late-January, only to lose a home game they should have won (against South Carolina) to start the month of February. This is the first game of a new month. Need to do better than last time.