Florida Gators

Florida vs. Pittsburgh

 
* What: Preseason NIT
* When: Wednesday: 9:30 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Barclay's Center / Brooklyn, N.Y.
* Records: Florida (3-1) / Pittsburgh (4-0)
* TV: ESPN2 (Kevin Brown and Fran Fraschilla)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Sean Kelley and Lee Humphrey)
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Tyrese Samuel	F	6-10 / 239	Graduate	12.3 pts / 8.5 reb
Micah Handlogten	C	7-1 / 235	Sophomore	10.0 pts / 8.5 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Junior	11.8 pts / 2.8 reb
Riley Kugel	G	6-5 / 207	Sophomore	13.0 pts / 3.5 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Junior	14.8 pts / 3.5 reb / 5.0 ast

Pittsburgh	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Blake Hinson	F	6-8 / 230	Senior	20.5 pts / 5.8 reb
Zack Austin	F	6-7 / 210	Junior	5.5 pts / 5.5 reb
Federiko Federiko	C	6-11 / 225	Junior	7.3 pts / 7.8 reb / 3.0 blk
Ismael Leggett	G	6-3 / 185	Junior	15.0 pts / 8.0 reb
Carlton Carrington	G	6-5 / 190	Freshman	18.0 pts / 5.5 reb / 6.2 as

The Breakdown

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Florida and Pittsburgh will meet in opening-round play of the four-team Preseason NIT. ... The Gators are coming off their best performance of the season (fueled by one of their best halves in

years), following Friday night's 89-68 home wipeout of Florida State. The Panthers remained unbeaten that same night in crushing fashion, beating Jacksonville 107-56. ... Depending on the outcome, the Gators will face either 15th-ranked Baylor (4-0) or Oregon State (3-1), the match-up on the other side of the bracket, in the championship game or consolation game Friday afternoon. ... This is the seventh time in the last eight seasons (the pandemic-impacted 2020-21 notwithstanding) Florida has played in a Thanksgiving week holiday tournament. It's also their third time at Barclay's. In the two previous appearances, UF defeated Providence 83-51 on Dec. 17, 2019 and lost to Maryland 70-68 on Dec. 12, 2021 at the home of the NBA Brooklyn Nets. ... Pittsburgh leads the all-time series 4-3, but the meetings have been rare and not particularly recent, with the exception of the last. The Gators have won the last two, both in the postseason. UF won 77-74 on the road in the quarterfinals of the 1992 NIT, but the bigger win of the two came March 22, 2014, when the No. 1-seed Gators eliminated the 9th-seeded Panthers in second-round play of the NCAA Southeast Region, with a 61-45 win at Orlando. In that one, senior guard Scottie Wilbekin scored a game-high 21 points, including a 3-pointer just inside half court at the halftime buzzer. UF did not play particularly well on offense that day (sophomore guard Michael Frazier II was the only other Gator in double figures with 10 points), but as was often the case with that Final Four squad it was defense that carried the day. Florida held Pittsburgh to 37 percent for the game and only turned the ball over six times. ... UF coach Todd Golden is 3-1 all-time against teams from the Atlantic Coast Conference.
 

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Pittsburgh
85.3	Scoring	95.5
.492	Field-goal percentage	.494
.333	3-point percentage	.378
70.5	Scoring defense	60.5
.422	Field-goal percentage defense	.353
.329	3-point percentage defense	.245
36th	KenPom.com overall ranking	39th
25th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	32nd
59th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	52nd
78th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	59th
N/A	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	N/A
108th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	263rd

Team Snapshots

The Gators

The performance against FSU, specifically the first half, was quite simply one of the best 30 minutes the program has put on tape over the last decade. It wasn't perfect, but in a rivalry game

against a team renowned for its size and physicality (and with seven wins in the series over the previous nine games), Florida shot 52 percent from the floor, 39 from 3, won the battle of the boards by 15 and led by 30 at halftime. That was thoroughly impressive. ... And speaking of impressive, far and away the most significant area of improvement for last year's team to this year's (besides the all-around upgrade in talent, of course) has been on the glass. Last year, Florida ranked 320th in offensive rebounding, per KenPom.com analytics. Through four games this season, the Gators are No. 1, having grabbed 75 offensive rebounds versus yielding 75 defensive rebounds. That's a 50.0 percent ratio. In fact, Florida has grabbed at least 20 offensive rebounds in each of the last three games. The Gators had not done that since the fall of 2015, a run of 264 games. ... The debut of grad-transfer point guard Zyon Pullin was a hit. He had 15 points (and now leads the team in scoring, by the way), five rebounds, four assists and one turnover in 28 minutes against the Seminoles. Pullin also drew five fouls and showed what kind of defender he is. Whether he starts either game in the tournament will be determined, but it's just a matter of time before the California-Riverside transfer is on the floor for opening tips and playing around 30 minutes every night. ... Against FSU, Walter Clayton Jr. had his best game as a Gator, posting a game-high 19 points, five assists and two steals over 28 minutes. The addition of Pullin allows Clayton, the Iona transfer, to move to his more natural, play-making spot off the ball. And when UF has those two on the floor, plus guard Riley Kugel (10 points, 5 rebounds, 2 assists, 3 blocks over 30 minutes vs. the Seminoles), it's pick your poison on the perimeter. All three can drive it, shoot and make opportunities for teammates. ... And let's not forget wing Will Richard, who had eight points, three rebounds and two assists over a game-high 35 minutes vs. FSU. Richard and Kugel were terrific on defense, as well. ... The starting front court duo of Tyrese Samuel and Micah Handlogten combined for 23 points and 14 rebounds. Not bad, right? Well, the Gators' top front court reserves, 6-11 Alex Condon (9.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and 6-9 Thomas Haugh (4.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg), combined for another 14 points and 16 rebounds, with Haugh pulling down a game-high 10 boards in 26 minutes. Reminder: "Condo" and Haugh are freshmen. ... The arrival of Pullin was obviously a game-changer as far as the team's primary rotation goes, as the Gators played just eight guys during meaningful minutes before emptying the bench late. ... UF is averaging 14.8 turnovers (with 16 against Virginia and 20 against Florida State), which is a number that has to be trimmed, substantially. And after another poor night at the free-throw line (22 of 36), the Gators also are making just 61.2 percent on the season. That's a number that has to increase, also substantially.
 

The Panthers

After a dismal run of five seasons under two coaches, Pittsburgh had the biggest turnaround in college basketball last season by going 24-12 (a 13-win improvement from the previous season),

finishing tied for third in the ACC and winning a play-in game in the NCAA Tournament. The performance bought Jeff Capel, now in his fifth season, some more time after four straight losing seasons (which were preceded by two straight under Kevin Stallings). ... Preseason projections have Pittsburgh finishing as high as sixth in the league in '23-24. ... The bulk of the '22-23 Panthers, including three starters and four of the top five scorers, graduated and now the team is in something of a youth movement built around one big returning star in forward Blake Hinson, a preseason All-ACC selection after averaging 15.3 points and 6.0 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from the 3-point line last season. Hinson, UF fans may recall, was a two-year starter at Ole Miss. He transferred to Iowa State in 2020, but did not play a game there the last two seasons. ... Pitt has won its four games, all at home, by an average of 35 points, with the closest being an 86-74 defeat of Florida Gulf Coast. ... The Panthers added a pair of experienced transfers in guard Ishmael Legget, who averaged 16.4 points and 5.8 boards at Rhode Island last season, and former High Point forward Zack Austin, who posted 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds, 2.1 blocks and nine games with at least three 3s in '22-23. ... Freshman point guard Carlton Carrington, a top-100 prospect from Baltimore, Md., had a triple-double of 18 points, 12 rebounds and 10 assists in the first game of his career, a 100-52 blasting of North Carolina A&T. He's also shooting 51.7 percent from distance (14 of 27). ... Center Federiko Federiko, easily one of the best names in the country, was third in the ACC in blocks last season with 58. He's shooting 61.8 percent from the floor. ... Junior forward William Jeffress missed all of '22-23 with a foot injury, but he's back and at 6-7, 210 is considered the team's best perimeter defender. ... Pitt will go to a pair of "big" brothers off the bench in 7-foot, 220-pound Guillermo Diaz Graham (10.5 ppg, 15.8 ppg, 82.5 percent from floor) and 6-11, 210-pound Jorge Diaz Graham (6.5 ppg, 3.5 rpg). 
 

Numbers of Note

* .479 — Combined season's free-throw percentage of UF's top four "bigs," based on Samuel's 13-for-26, Handlogten's 0-for-1, Condon's 7-for-12 and Haugh's 3-for-9 on the young season. What's really weird? That same foursome is a combined 46.6 percent from the 3-point line. 

* 3 — Teams from the Sunshine State the Panthers will have faced through their first five games come Wednesday night. In addition to FGCU, JU and UF, they also have one game each against fellow ACC teams Miami and Florida State.    

* 7th — Where the Panthers rank, per KenPom, in average height at 78.9 inches (or just under 6-7). Florida State ranked second in the country in the same stat at 79.5 (or just over 6-7).

* 186th — Highest KenPom ranking of the four teams Pitt has faced this season, making Florida (at 35th) easily the best. The other three: NCA&T 355th, Binghamton 234th and Jacksonville 260th.

* 1948 — The first year Florida and Pittsburgh played and the circumstances certainly were somewhat unique. That's because the Gators traveled to Pennsylvania and played the Panthers twice in two days. Pitt won 50-40 on Dec. 28 and again on Dec. 29 by a 45-39 count. 
 

Bottom Line

The Florida State game started a run of four straight against power conference opponents, which is a rarity this time of year. Florida looked the part of a very a good team against the Seminoles. Let's see how the Gators look after two more high-major opponents (especially if they're fortunate enough to get Baylor for a post-Thanksgiving date).