STUFFING: Florida at Tennessee (Sunday, noon)

Sunday, March 7

Knoxville, TN

12 PM

Florida Gators

Tennessee

Chris Harry's Pregame Stuff presented by Ticketmaster

STUFFING: Florida at Tennessee (Sunday, noon)

Saturday, March 6, 2021 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

FLORIDA at TENNESSEE

When: Sunday noon (EST)
Where: Thompson-Boling Arena, Knoxville, Tenn.
Records: Florida (13-7, 9-6); Tennessee (16-7, 9-7)
TV: ESPNU (Tom Hart and Jimmy Dykes)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)

THE BASICS

Birds-eye view of the University of Tennessee campus in Knoxville.

The regular-season finale for two teams headed for the NCAA Tournament, but looking to improve their postseason seeding; both in the SEC Tournament next week at Nashville, and in the 68-team NCAA field the week after. The winner will lock up the No. 4 seed in the SEC bracket and accompany double-bye into Friday's quarterfinals. If Florida loses, the Gators will fall to the No. 5 or 6 seed, pending outcomes elsewhere in the league Saturday. If Tennessee loses, the Vols could fall anywhere from No. 5 to No. 7. ... UF had its three-game winning streak snapped Wednesday night in a 72-70 loss to Missouri, which got a reverse layup from guard Dru Smith with just seventh-tenths of a second remaining. The loss dropped the Gators a line, from a 7-seed to an 8, in most bracketology projections, but UF, which sits at No. 27 in the NCAA Evaluation Tool rankings, can possibly get that line back Sunday, with a chance at a third straight Quadrant-1 road victory. UT was preseason favorite to win the SEC, but has not performed to expectations. The Volunteers have lost three of the last five, most recently last week's 77-72 defeat at Auburn. They had the whole week off to prepare for the Gators. ... Tennessee leads the all-time series 77-58, but Florida did a number on the Vols when the two meet in Gainesville on Jan. 19. In that one, the Gators were missing three of their best players -- Keyontae Johnson, as well as guard Scottie Lewis (health/safety protocols) and forward Colin Castleton (a game-time scratch with a sore ankle -- yet jumped on the sixth-ranked visitors from the start on the way to a resounding 75-49 blowout win. UF, which was led by 14 points from shooting guard Noah Locke and 13 points, seven assists and four rebounds by guard Tyree Appleby, shot 49 percent for the game and held UT to just 29.3 (only 3-for-18 from the 3-point line) and also forced 18 turnovers. The Vols got 15 points from forward John Fulkerson, who was in early foul trouble. ... Florida is 2-5 against Tennessee under Coach Mike White, including 0-4 on the road.

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Anthony Duruji	F	6-7	220	R-Junior	6.0 pts / 4.5 reb
Colin Castleton	F	6-11	231	Junior	12.8 pts / 5.7 reb
Tyree Appleby	G	6-1	180	R-Junior	10.9 pts / 3.3 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-3	203	Junior	10.6 pts / 2.4 reb
Tre Mann	G	6-5	190	Sophomore	15.0 pts / 5.7 reb / 3.4 ast

Tennessee	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
John Fulkerson	F	6-9	215	R-Senior	9.3 pts / 5.7 reb
Yves Pons	F	6-6	215	Senior	9.1 pts / 5.2 reb
Jaden Springer	G	6-4	204	Freshman	12.8 pts / 3.6 reb / 2.9 ast
Victor Bailey Jr.	G	6-4	179	R-Junior	11.3 pts / 2.1 reb
Keon Johnson	G	6-5	186	Freshman	10.7 pts / 3.0 reb

ONE TO WATCH

What made Florida's lopsided win in the last meeting even more astonishing, of course, was the fact the Gators were missing some of their best players. Well, **Jaden Springer** may not have been worth the 26-point difference in the final score, but the freshman standout did not play for the Vols that night and was sorely missed. He currently leads the team in scoring at 12.8 points per game, despite averaging only 8.5 shots per game. Out of Charlotte, N.C., Springer transferred to Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy for his final prep season. He rocketed up the recruiting charts to top-20 status, helping guide IMG to the mythical national championship and eventually becoming the 17th McDonald's All American to sign with Tennessee. His shooting percentages would be fabulous for an upperclassmen, but as a rookie they're astonishing. He's made 49.2 percent from the field, 47.3 from the arc and 80.4 from the free-throw line. Earlier this season, Springer hit his collegiate career-high of 23 points against Kentucky, then four days later bested it with 30 against Georgia. He has six games of at least 20 points, including each of the last two.

TEAM BREAKDOWNS

Florida guard **Tyree Appleby** (right) has been good on defense, but needs to clean up his turnovers at the other end.

ABOUT THE GATORS: They can sit around and lament the lost causes at home (as in costly defeats against South Carolina last month and Missouri earlier this week) or they can resume the mostly solid road of the season. UF is 5-4 in true road games this season, including the gold-star victory at West Virginia, but the Gators will be facing a well-rested UT opponent that figures to be locked in, given what happened in the previous meeting (embarrassing loss), coupled with what happened the last

time it took the floor (road defeat at Auburn last weekend). ... Florida currently is rated an overall 28th by KenPom.com metrics, as well as 32nd in offense, 33rd in defense and 151st in pace of play. The Gators score 75.6 points per game and lead the SEC in field-goal percentage (47.2), 3-point percentage (35.9) and free-throw percentage (76.0). Defensively, they give up 70.0 points, 42.1 percent overall and 31.2 from distance. ... Guard Tre Mann's productivity continued in the loss to Mizzou. He went 9-for-11 from the floor and scored a game-high 21 points. He probably should have taken more shots, though shooting wasn't the problem for the Gators in that game. The case can easily be made they lost the game on offense, thanks to 18 turnovers, including 15 in the first half that the Tigers converted into 18 points that buried UF in a 10-point hole early in the second half. Tyree Appleby was responsible for five of those first-half giveaways, but cleaned his play up in the second half. Florida had just three turnovers after the break, but the damage already was done. Appleby scored 12 points in that game (to go with five rebounds and five assists) to run his double-digit scoring streak to five games (and nine of the previous 10). ... Forward Colin Castleton was scoreless and grabbed just one rebound in the first half against Mizzou, but tallied 10 points in the second. He also hit all four of his free throws and is now at 76.6 percent on the season; excellent for a big. ... Shooting guard Noah Locke has become a greater focus of opposing scouting reports, evidence by his decreased number of shots. Defenses are extending on him and daring him to drive. In 11 of the team's first 17 games, Locke took at least nine shots. He has 19 field-goal over the last three games, despite going 7-for-15 from the arc. ... Forward Anthony Duruji only scored two points last game, but he was an animal on the glass, working for 11 rebounds. That's his high in a UF uniform. ... Backup guard Scottie Lewis toyed with foul trouble again (3 fouls in 18 minutes), but started in the second half over Appleby due to those turnovers. Could that be the case today? ... After Lewis, the Gators haven't gotten much production (or minutes, actually) from their bench of late. Example: sophomore point guard Ques Glover has 11 points over the previous six games, and all of them came in UF's home win Feb. 20 against Georgia when he went 4-for-5 from the floor, with two rebounds and an assist in 18 minutes. In the five other games of that sample, Glover played 20 combined minutes, missed all four of his shots, grabbed one rebound, dished one assist to four turnovers and was called for eight fouls. Sophomore forward Omar Payne has totaled 12 points, 12 rebounds over the last five games, freshman wing Samson Ruzhentsev has four points in seven games, junior forward Osayi Osifo no points and two rebounds his last two outings, sophomore center Jason Jitoboh five minutes and two points this month, and freshman guard Niels Lane, who played 18 minutes on his way to six points and five rebounds in the win against Tennessee, has five consecutive DNPs.

ABOUT THE VOLUNTEERS: It's their sixth season under Rick Barnes and the Vols' 121-71 record during that time is nearly identical to White's record at UF, save one more loss. UT is 60-46 in SEC play during the tenure of Barnes, whose 725 career wins have come at five different schools: George Mason (1 season), Providence

(6), Clemson (4), Texas (17) and Tennessee. ... The Vols check in at No. 24 in KenPom, including 73rd in offense, sixth in defense and 248th in tempo. As a team, they score 72.8 points per game on 44.4 percent from the floor and 34.6 from deep. That great defense allows only 63.1 points, 40.1-percent shooting and 32.0 from the arc. ... Guard Victor Bailey Jr., the transfer from Oregon, came into the last UF game as his team's leading scorer. He went 1-for-12, missed all six of his 3s and had five turnovers. He's a lot better than that (42 percent overall, 47.4 from deep) and will be Sunday. Count on it. ... Forward John Fulkerson hasn't chased last year's terrific breakout season with a similar performance, but he's a really good player who will not be outworked down low. And that's where you'll find him, too: down low. Fulkerson has attempted just two 3s all season (don't remind UF fans about his one attempt last year), and is making 51.6 percent doing work in the paint and converting 75.3 percent of his free throws. ... Point guard Santiago Vescovi has 72 assists to 44 turnovers and the savvy lefty has identical 3-point numbers (43 of 115) as Bailey. ... Forward Yves Pons is the reigning SEC Defensive Player of the Year, but hasn't had the overall impact, game to game, as he did last season. No Gator will want Pons guarding them, however. ... Sophomore Josiah-Jordan James, a McDonald's All American from Lewis and Mann's class, is UT's next-best ball-handler after Vescovi (42 assists, 24 turnovers). He's shooting 38.7 percent from the floor and leads the team with 40 offensive rebounds and in steals with 32. ... Freshman Keon Johnson is a fabulous athlete, whose bounciness will show up in highlight-reel fashion. He's the Vols' No. 3 scorer; not because he's a great shooter (26.8 percent from 3), but rather for what he does around the basket and his ability to get to the free-throw line. His 92 trips there (where he converts at 71.8 percent) is tied for the team-high with Springer.

NUMBERS WORTH NOTING

Reserve sophomore forward **Omar Payne** (5) had a fabulous game last time against Tennessee, replacing Colin Castleton in the starting lineup.

* 1 — Double-digit scoring games for Locke over the previous five games, the one time coming with his 11 points against Missouri.

* 4 — Teams that have led the SEC in all three shooting-percentage statistics (field-goal, 3-pointer, free-throw), since the advent of the 3-point line in 1987. The '20-21 Gators have a chance to be join Alabama 1986-87, eventual NCAA champion Kentucky '95-96, Alabama 2004-05, and eventual NCAA champ Florida '05-06 on that list.

* 10 — Programs from major conferences that have gone the last six seasons without a losing record in league play. Florida, during White's six-season tenure,
is one of those teams, along with Duke, Louisville and Virginia from the Atlantic Coast Conference, Creighton, Seton Hall and Villanova from the Big East, Michigan in the Big Ten, Kansas in the Big 12, and Oregon in the Pac-12. Yes, UF is now the only team from the SEC to do so.

* 27 — Minutes for Payne against Tennessee in the first meeting, thanks to the injury to Castleton. Payne was great that night, making four of his five shots on his way to nine points, a season-high nine rebounds (five on the offensive glass) and five blocked shots.

* 2014 — The last year UF defeated UT twice in the same season. The Gators actually swept a regular-season home-and-home against the Vols, smashing them 67-41 at Gainesville on Jan. 25, then coming from behind for a 67-58 win Feb. 11 at Knoxville. The two met again March 15 in the SEC Tournament at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta, where UF won 56-49 in the semifinals on the way to the program's last conference tournament crown -- as well as the Final Four.

LAST WORD

The Gators have been pretty good on the road this season. They'll need to be really good Sunday, else their postseason standing will take another tumble.