Florida vs Ohio (Wednesday, 7 pm)

Florida vs Ohio

* What: Victorinox Tampa Tip-Off
* When: Wednesday, 7 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (6-4); Ohio (5-4)
* TV: ESPN2 (Kevin Fitzgerald and Mark Wise)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Sean Kelley and Lee Humphrey)

Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Fudge	F	6-9 / 200	Sophomore	8.5 pts / 4.9 reb
Colin Castleton	F	6-11 / 231	R-Senior	16.1 pts / 7.5 reb / 2.8 reb
Kowacie Reeves	G	6-6 / 192	Sophomore	9.3 pts / 2.1 reb
Will Richard	G	6-5 / 206	Sophomore	12.1 pts / 4.1 reb
Kyle Lofton	G	6-3 / 188	Graduate	8.4 pts / 3.1 reb / 3.0 ast

Ohio	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
AJ Clayton	F	6-8 / 225	Sophomore	9.4 pts / 7.6 reb
Dwight Wilson III	F	6-8 / 250	Graduate	12.5 pts / 10.0 reb
Miles Brown	G	6-1 / 180	Senior	10.6 pts / 3.3 reb
DeVon Baker	G	6-2 / 190	Senior	8.4 pts / 2.3 reb
Jaylin Hunter	G	6-0 / 195	Junior	9.9 pts / 3.3 reb / 4.4 ast

The Breakdown

Amalie Arena (capacity 20,500 for basketball) is home to the NHL Tampa Bay Lightning.

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Florida and Ohio meet in the Gators' first regular-season game to be played in Tampa in six years, back when the O'Connell Center was under renovation and UF played all but one of its non-league games at neutral sites, including seven different venues around the state. UF defeated Belmont 78-61 at Amalie on Nov. 21, 2016. ... The Gators' last outing was a 75-54 home thrashing at the hands of now-No. 3 Connecticut. The Bobcats, out of the Mid-American Conference, upset Youngstown State, 81-79, on the road Sunday, to inch above .500. ... Florida leads the all-time series 2-1, with the last win coming in opening-round play of the 2005 NCAA Tournament, when the fourth-seeded Gators defeated the No. 13-seed Bobcats 67-62 at Nashville. In that one, UF got a game-high 18 points, five rebounds and seven assists from junior guard Matt Walsh, who was just 3-for-13 from the floor but hit nine of 10 free throws. Center David Lee had 14 points and eight rebounds. The Gators turned the ball over 16 times, but forced 20 and survived their own 39-percent shooting for the game by going 18-for-19 from the free-throw line and closing out a win despite OU guard Mychal Green's 6-for-9 performance from the 3-point line. UF lost to Villanova in the tournament's second round. ... Florida is 4-2 all-time against teams currently in the MAC. ... UF coach Todd Golden has never faced a MAC opponent. ...

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Ohio
78.3	Scoring	78.1
.460	Field-goal percentage	.468
.375	3-point percentage	.360
69.6	Scoring defense	69.9
.424	Field-goal percentage defense	.424
.365	3-point percentage defense	.355
55th	KenPom.com overall ranking	190th
53rd	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	139th
56th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	246th
28th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	286th
76th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	138th
156th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	255th

Team Snapshots

The Gators

They were much, much better than Florida A&M and Stetson, hence the combined 78-point margin of victory in those back-to-back wins that preceded the UConn game. The problem for the Gators, though, is after the Ohio game the 21 left on the schedule are against power conference foes who will be much

closer to the caliber of West Virginia and UConn (OK, may not as good as the Huskies, but you get the poinT) in talent and skill. Against those two teams (which represent UF's last two losses), Florida combined to shoot 33.3 percent overall and 18.7 percent from the 3-point line (6 of 32). Obviously, those were unsustainable numbers against the Mountaineers and Huskies, who might be the best team in the country, but they'll be equally unsustainable in the Southeastern Conference, with the league opener just over two weeks away against defending champion Auburn; on the road. ... Guard Will Richard, who leads the Gators' starters in every shooting-percentage category (58.7 floor, 56.7 arc, 94.7 free-throw line) went scoreless and took just two shots against UConn. The Huskies made him a marked man and vowed to keep the ball out of his hands. And they did. Look for Richard to learn from that game and become more assertive on the offensive end, especially making himself available. ... Since averaging 25.3 points over the team's first four games, forward Colin Castleton has yet to score more than 12 points in a game over the last six, as teams have made roughing up the UF big man with a variety of bodies a priority. ... Will point guard Kyle Lofton be back in the starting lineup? Lofton left the Phil Legacy Invitational with back issues that kept him out of the FAMU and Stetson games. He came off the bench against UConn for the first time in his five-year, 124-game career and was held scoreless for the first time in his career. The St. Bonaventure transfer is shooting 38 percent from the floor, 28 from 3 and has made to the free-throw line just 10 times this season. ... If Lofton does return to the first unit junior Trey Bonham (9.6 ppg, 2.9 rpg) will either slide to the "2" or return to his role as a reserve. Bonham has been a bucket at times this season, but in the WVU and UConn games he combined to go 0-for-15 from the floor. ... In his last three games (the previous two as a starter), forward Alex Fudge averaged 13.3 points, hit 13 of 26 shots (50 percent) and all nine of his free throws. Fudge replaced CJ Felder (3.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg) in the first unit. ... Guard/Forward Kowacie Reeves is shooting 46 percent on the season and better than 42 from deep. His role, after opening the season as a starter through four games, taking a seat and returning to the first group again, figures to vary as the season goes on. ... Freshman guard Riley Kugel is coming off a career-high 13-point performance that could have been more, were it not for a 5-for-9 game at the free-throw line. He made both his 3s against UConn, but is still under 40 percent overall and at 33 from deep on the season (just 58 from the line). ...

The Bobcats

It's the fourth season under Jeff Boals, a decorated player during his days as a Bobcats guard when he helped guide the program to 1994 MAC title and NCAA berth. He came home following three seasons as head coach at Stony Brook and has a 64-37 mark at OU, highlighted by a MAC title in '21 and

upset of ACC champion Virginia in first-round play as a No. 13 seed. ... The Bobcats are 1-4 away from Athens this season, after losing at Belmont, Detroit Mercy, Michigan (in overtime) and Marshall before winning at cross-state foe Youngstown on a buzzer-beating shot by forward Dwight Wilson III, now in his second Ohio season after transferring from James Madison. Wilson, who averages a rare double-double, is shooting nearly 55 percent from the floor, with 37.5 percent of his rebounds on the offensive glass. ... The Bobcats put five players in double figures in the win at YSU, led by guard Jaylin Hunter's 17 points. The ODU transfer is shooting nearly as well from the arc (37 percent) as overall (39.2). ... Beefy forward AJ Clayton will be the guy banging around with Castleton down low (and also is a solid offensive rebounder), but he's making 44.6 percent of his 3s, also. ... Grad guard DeVon Baker is a three-school transfers, having come to Ohio after three seasons at UNC-Ashville, after starting at Tulane. ... Guard Miles Brown is 18-for-38 from deep (47.4 percent). ... Backup wing AJ Brown (10.7 ppg), who starred at Orlando Christian Prep, scored 16 points over 27 minutes, hitting six of his eight shots, in the Youngstown win. He's shooting 57.1 percent from the floor. ... Their biggest "big" is Louisville transfer Gabe Wiznitzer (5.3 ppg, 3.3), who goes 6-11 and 240. ... Backup guard Ben Roderick (7.0 ppg) is 13-for-23 from distance this season (56.5 percent).

Numbers of Note

The last time Florida went to Amalie Arena, Texas A&M guard **Hassan Diarra** (5) stuck a 3-point dagger through in the Gators' heart with one second remaining in their 2022 SEC Tournament game last March 10.

* 2 — SEC teams playing at a faster pace than Florida's 72.5 possessions per game: Missouri (74.8) and Alabama (72.7).

* 13 — Times the Gators have played in Amalie Arena, formerly known as the Ice Palace, St. Pete Times Forum and Tampa Bay Times Forum. UF's first games there came in the 2003 NCAA Tournament (win over Sam Houston State, loss to Michigan State), with a return trip for NCAA play in '11 (wins over UC-Santa Barbara and UCLA). The SEC Tournament has been there twice (2009 and '22). Florida also played single games there against FAMU ('06), Vermont ('07), Wright State ('11), Middle Tennessee ('12) and the last one against Belmont ('16).

* 18.8 — Percentage of points scored by Ohio at the free-throw line. That ranks 362nd in the country (out of 363), in front of only Marshall, which beat OU last week. The two teams combined for nine makes in 17 attempts.

* 1,010 — Career points for Castleton, who eclipsed the four-digit milestone against UConn. HIs first 99 points came during two seasons at Michigan, so he's 89 away from becoming the first Gator since Chris Chiozza in 2018 reach UF's 1,000-point club.

* 1926-27 — The first season (the actual date unknown) when Florida played Ohio U in men's basketball. UF went to Athens and lost 38-29. The two teams would not play again for 51 years, with the Gators winning 96-61 during the '78-79 season opener at Alligator Alley.

Bottom Line

The Gators have a pair of neutral-site games (this one in Tampa, then next week's at Charlotte against future SEC foe Oklahoma) to get some stuff figured out, starting with what the ideal first rotation for this group.

Gators Calendar

Florida vs Ohio (Wednesday, 7 pm)