Florida Gators

Florida vs. Florida State

 
* When: Friday, 7 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (2-1) / Opponent (2-0)
* TV: SEC Network (Mike Morgan and Mark Wise)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Kyle Crooks and Lee Humphrey)
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Tyrese Samuel	F	6-10 / 239	Graduate	11.3 pts / 9.0 reb
Micah Handlogten	C	7-1 / 235	Sophomore	10.7 pts / 9.0 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Junior	13.0 pts / 2.7 reb
Riley Kugel	G	6-5 / 207	Sophomore	14.0 pts / 3.0 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Junior	13.0 pts / 5.0 reb / 5.0 ast

Florida State	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Jamir Watkins	F	6-7 / 210	R-Junior	10.5 pts / 6.5 reb
Cameron Corhen	F	6-10 / 225	Sophomore	10.0 pts / 2.5 reb
Baba Miller	G	6-11 / 204	Sophomore	10.0 pts / 5.5 reb
Darin Green Jr.	G	6-5 / 195	Senior	17.0 pts / 3.0 reb
Jalen Warley	G	6-7 / 205	Junior	5.5 pts / 3.5 reb / 3.5 ast

The Breakdown

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Florida State
84.0	Scoring	94.0
.484	Field-goal percentage	.507
.317	3-point percentage	.377
71.3	Scoring defense	67.0
.443	Field-goal percentage defense	.398
.368	3-point percentage defense	.182
42nd	KenPom.com overall ranking	76th
28th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	67th
60th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	87th
81st	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	14th
N/A	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	N/A
97th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	290th

Team Snapshots

The Gators

They weren't particularly impressive in beating Florida A&M, even with the 21-point margin of victory. UF shot below 48 percent for the game, made just six of 19 from the 3-point line, missed

12 free throws and turned the ball over 12 times after giving it away 16 times in the loss to UVA. The defensive numbers were also sub-standard. With all that said, the Gators have been encouraged by a lot things done thus far (even in the Virginia defeat) because they were playing without grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin, the sturdy 6-foot-4, 206-pounder who will make his debut against FSU and -- the Gators believe -- make a big difference on both ends of the floor. Pullin was a 2023 first-team All-Big West Conference selection after averaging 18.3 points, 4.4 rebounds and 4.2 assists in 29 games as senior last season. He had to sit out the first three games because he participated in exposure games at the Portsmouth Invitational during his time in the NBA evaluation process last spring. Pullin won't start, but he'll be in the game early and log high minutes. ... Florida's two top scorers, guard Riley Kugel and center Micah Handlogten, had rough all-around outings against the Rattlers in combining for just seven points and going 2-for-10 from the floor. Will Richard (20 points, 6 rebounds) and Walter Clayton Jr. (18 points, 5 assists) were there to pick up the slack. Ditto a couple reserves, with freshman center Alex Condon (10.0 ppg, 4.0 rpg) going for a career-high 17 points and six boards, while sophomore guard Denzel Aberdeen chipped in 12 points and three rebounds (both career bests). ... Clayton has had five assists in each of the first three games. ... Forward Tyrese Samuel flirted with a second double-double on the season before finishing with nine points and eight rebounds vs. FAMU. ... Freshman forward Thomas Haugh is averaging 16.7 minutes off the bench. ... Backup guard Julian Rishwain did not score last game, but had three rebounds and an assist in nine minutes. ... FSU also brings size, length and athleticism to the party, which are elements Golden and the Gators sought in rebuilding the roster during the offseason. The Seminoles will make for a significant challenge for Handlogten and Condon, who both struggled with post and ball-screen defense against a very crisp UVA offense. How much they learned from that experience will show up in this one. ... The Gators are shooting just 61.3 percent at the free-throw line, with their top four rotational frontcourt players only 15 of 32 through the three games. That's 46.9 percent and that has to change. ... UF is averaging a plus-14.0 advantage on the glass, thanks to back-to-back plus-17 efforts against Virginia and FAMU. That's the first time the Gators have out-rebounded consecutive opponents by at least 17 since doing so against Stony Brook and South Florida in December 2021.
 

The Seminoles

Ageless Leonard Hamilton, now 75, is in his 22nd season on the Florida State sidelines, but looking to bounce back from a 9-23 season that was the worst in program history, as far as single-

season winning percentage (.281). Hamilton admittedly was a little behind in the transfer portal wave, but also had to deal with injuries and eligibility issues that undermined his '22-23 season. His '23-24 squad, though, is deep and healthier, but still waiting on the NCAA to determine the fate of point guard Amir "Primo" Spears, who started his career at Duquense, transferred to Georgetown, then to Florida State last offseason. The Seminoles filed an appeal for his eligibility, but Spears did not play the first two games. He averaged a team-high 16.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and Big East-best 5.4 assists per game for the Hoyas last season and figures to be a game-changer for the Seminoles, if he is cleared. ... Even without Spears, FSU is playing 11 guys and has six players averaging in double-figure scoring. ... The top scoring option thus far has been guard Darin Green Jr., who is shooting 52 percent from the floor and has dropped seven of 16 from deep (.438). ... Forwards Cameron Corhen (.667) and Baba Miller (.500) are the top low-post options. Miller got a late start last season, as he sit out the first 16 games awaiting his eligibility. ... After Green, FSU's next two scoring leaders are a pair of guards off the bench. Cam'Ron Fletcher (11.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg), in his second season since transferring from Kentucky, is shooting 50 percent on the season and needs to be accounted for from the arc. Same with Josh Nickelberry (10.5 ppg), who transferred from LaSalle. ... Minus Spears, guard Jalen Warley has had to play on the ball more, which he's more than capable of handling after his 105 assists (second on the team) last season. Warley also is a capable all-around shooter, but just as comfortable driving the ball and seeking contact. He leads the team with 10 free-throw attempts. ... Forward Jamir Watkins, an Virginia Commonweath transfer, is at 46 percent overall on the season and is the team's top rebounder. 
 

Numbers of Note

* .471 — Samuel's percentage from the free-throw line based on eight makes on a team-high 17 attempts.

* 4 — Where UF forward Alex Fudge's wicked and rude dunk over FSU 7-4 center Naheem McLeod ranked on SportsCenter Top 10 a year ago (ESPN replayed the slam from five different angles). Fudge is now on a two-way NBA contract with the Los Angeles Lakers, along with Castleton, both of whom enjoyed quite an evening against the Seminoles last Nov. 18. 

* 1,312 — Career points scored by Pullin during his four seasons at UC-Riverside. He also had 448 rebounds and 394 assists.

* 1951 — The first year Florida and Florida State played in men's basketball. The date was Dec. 29, the site was Tampa and the Gators prevailed 61-51.

* 2021 — The last year the Gators defeated the Seminoles at home, a victory that snapped the infamous seven-game losing skid (three of those games at the O'Dome) that dated to Coach Billy Donovan's final season and spanned the first six seasons under Mike White. The date was Nov. 14, the final score was 71-55 and the UF heroes were Castleton (15 points, 16 rebounds, 6 blocks) and forward Anthony Duruji (15 points, 9 rebounds).
 

Bottom Line

Huge game for both teams, obviously, but a really big one for the psyche of the Gators, who need a strong non-league showing -- which they did not have last year in going 7-5 before the Southeastern Conference slate, including two losses at home -- to gain some confidence (and cred) early in Golden's second season.