Florida Gators

Hall of Fame Series / Florida vs Virginia

 
* When: Friday, 7 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Sectrum Centre / Charlotte, N.C.
* Records: Florida (1-0) / Virginia (1-0)
* TV: ACC Network (Doug Sherman and Cory Alexander)
* 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	15.0 pts / 8.0 reb
Micah Handlogten	C	7-1 / 235	Sophomore	16.0 pts / 6.0 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Junior	3.0 pts / 1.0 reb
Riley Kugel	G	6-5 / 207	Sophomore	23.0 pts / 4.0 ast / 6.0 stl
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Junior	9.0 pts / 8.0 reb / 5.0 ast

Virginia	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Jacob Groves	F	6-9 / 211	Senior	9.0 pts / 1.0 reb
Andrew Rohde	G	6-6 / 202	Sophomore	6.0 pts / 3.0 reb
Ryan Dunn	G	6-8 / 216	Sophomore	9.0 pts / 7.0 reb
Isaac McNeely	G	6-4 / 188	Sophomore	15.0 pts / 4.0 reb / 4.0 ast
Reece Beekman	G	6-3 / 194	Senior	16.0 pts / 4.0 reb / 7.0 ast / 3.0 stl

The Breakdown

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Florida and Virginia meet in the Charlotte stop of the Naismith Memorial Hall of Fame Series, a collection of non-conference games that will be played across the country over the next eight

weeks. The series began Monday in Las Vegas, with games also set for Toronto, San Antonio and Phoenix. ... For these two teams, the showdown will serve as a solid marker of just where two name-brand programs stand after much roster turnover during the offseason. ... Florida opened the season Monday night with a 93-73 home against Loyola Maryland, while Virginia did the same in beating Tarleton State 80-50. ... UF leads the all-time series 2-1, with both wins coming in NCAA Tournament play on runs to the Elite Eight. UVA's win came in the 1992 NIT semifinals. ... The Gators defeated the Cavaliers 71-45 in the 2012 tournament in opening-round play at Phoenix, then again in 2017 by a 65-39 count in second-round play at Orlando. In that one, forwards Devin Robinson (14 points, 11 rebounds) and Justin Leon (14 points, 10 rebounds) paced the way, but it was UF's overall defense performance (or UVA's atrocious shooting) that set the tone for one of the most dominant all-around displays in Florida's tournament history. The No. 4-seed Gators smothered the fifth-seeded Cavs into 26.6-percent shooting for the game, including 1-for-15 from the 3-point line (6.7 percent). Florida led 31-17 at halftime and blew the game open in the second half, as Virginia missed all eight of its 3s. The 39 points were the fewest ever allowed by a UF team in NCAA play. ... The Florida-Virginia matchup will be sandwiched between games between Charlotte and Liberty (4:30 p.m.) and South Carolina vs. Virginia Tech (9:30 p.m.). 
 

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Virginia
93.0	Scoring	80.0
.581	Field-goal percentage	.489
.375	3-point percentage	.455
73.0	Scoring defense	50.0
.458	Field-goal percentage defense	.333
.346	3-point percentage defense	.231
41st	KenPom.com overall ranking	29th
41st	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	42nd
44th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	18th
70th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	360th
N/A	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	N/A
T-6th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	T-6th

 

Team Snapshots

The Gators

They won the opener by 20 points, but Coach Todd Golden, now in his second season, and his Gators were far from pleased with the overall performance against Loyola MD. The UF defense gave up too many easy shots, including some of the nine 3-pointers, and were a horrific 15 of 30 at the free-throw line. That said, the roster flip to a bigger, longer, faster and more athletic group was on full display. The Gators' desire to play faster will be tested (perhaps even thwarted) against the disciplined Cavaliers. ... Last season, Florida went nearly half the season without winning a so-called "Quadrant 1" game, so this is an excellent early opportunity to put a resume-building win on the resume. ... UF remains without two players, point guard and projected starter Zyon Pullin and forward Aleks Szymczyk, who figure into the eventual rotation. Pullin, the All-Big West Conference grad-transfer from California-Riverside, is sitting out the first three games due to his participation in the NBA evaluation process and Portsmouth Invitational. Szymczyk, who likely will get some scatter minutes in the front court, is about a month away from returning from a broken foot suffered during the summer. ... Preseason All-SEC guard Riley Kugel is off to a stellar start after making 10 of his 15 shots on his way to 23 points (one off his career high), plus four rebounds and a career-high six steals in the opener. ... Combo guard Walter Clayton Jr., the Iona transfer who with Pullin sidelined is sharing the play-making duties with Kugel, had an outstanding line of nine points, eight rebounds, five assists and three steals, but was seething about his 0-for-3 performance at the free-throw line. Why? He led the nation in free-throw percentage last season at 95.3. ... This will be a big game for center Micah Handlogten, a Charlotte native. The 7-1 Marshall transfer made seven of his eight shots Monday, including a couple 3-pointers on his way to 16 points and six boards. He teamed with 6-10 forward Tyrese Samuel, the Seton Hall transfer, and 6-11 freshman Alex Condon in the Gators remade frontcourt that combined for 44 points on 13-for-18 shooting and 17 rebounds. Condon, like Handlogten, also was 2-for-2 from the arc. ... The Gators won comfortably despite just three points and one rebound over 30 minutes from guard Will Richard. Richard was an analytical dream last season, finishing in the top 5 percent nationally in offensive efficiency, including 50 percent from the floor, 40 from the arc and 85 from the free-throw line, so he's too consistent of a player not to believe Monday was an odd blip. ... Freshman 6-9 forward Thomas Haugh, the second reserve behind Condo in the frontcourt, had six points and three rebounds in his collegiate debut. Like Condon, he was a little handsy on defense, finishing with four fouls. Condon had three. They will learn. 

The Cavaliers

One of the nation's most highly respected programs led by an equally respected coach, Virginia and Tony Bennett have punched their way into national relevance (both really good and really bad) during their 15 seasons together, what with 11 consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances, including the 2019 national championship, and 11 consecutive seasons of at least 20 wins (excluding 2020 Covid year). Of course, that NCAA title came one year after Virginia became the first No. 1 seed to lose to a No. 16 team in tournament play, what with the infamous Maryland-Baltimore County defeat. Clearly, the Cavaliers made up for it. ... UVA returns just one starter from last season when the Cavs shared

the ACC regular-season championship with eventual Final Four participant Miami, but were upset by Furman in first-round tournament play. Yes, they lost some key players, but Bennett brought in some guys also and is known for moving and developing guys through the program. And then there's the UVA defense, with its "Pack Line" system that couples with what is annually among the most (if not the most) deliberate pace-of-play offense in the country. It can drive opponents crazy, but (as Bennett has learned) can keep opponents in the game, if the Cavs aren't scoring. ... The lone starter back is a great one. Combo guard Reece Beekman, the 2023 ACC Defensive Player of the Year, toyed with the NBA evaluation process before opting to return. His opening-night performance was stat-stuffer: 16 points, four rebounds, seven assists and three steals. He hit five of his nine field-goal attempts, but missed all three 3s, yet got to the free-throw seven times. He's a problem. ... Ryan Dunn, a long and athletic wing, averaged 21 minutes off the bench as a freshman last season and didn't score many points, but he's going to be a major factor on this team. Ditto shooting guard Isaac McNeely, who as a freshman hit 39.2 percent of his 3s and dropped four of eight in the win against Tarleton. ... Forward Jacob Groves transferred from Oklahoma, where he was part of teams who defeated Florida each of the last two years. ... Forward Andrew Rohde is an interesting story. He transferred from St. Thomas, a Division III program just four years ago, where he was 2023 Freshman of the Year in the Summitt League after averaging 17.1 points, 3.8 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 steals. ... Point guard Dante Harris did not start against Tarleton, but it may just be a matter of time. The 6-foot, 170-pound Harris averaged 10 points, 3.5 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 55 career games for Georgetown from 2020-22. He was MVP of the 2021 Big East Conference Tournament when the Hoyas made a stunning run to the title. But Harris left the program for personal reasons last fall and in January enrolled at UVA. He played 24 minutes Monday, scored seven points, dished three assists and grabbed one rebound in his UVA debut. ... Another debuting Cav was forward Leon Bond III, who red-shirted last season and had 12 points, nine rebounds and two steals in just 17 minutes off the bench. 

Numbers of Note

* 0 — UF players at least 6-10 in height to make at least two 3-pointers in a game this century ... that is until Monday night, when Condon (in the first half) and Handlogten (in the second) each dropped a pair. They combined to go 4-for-5 from deep.  

* 4 — ACC teams on the Florida schedule this season, each of which show up over the next month. The Gators will play Florida State at home next week, Pittsburgh in Brooklyn, N.Y during the Thanksgiving holiday and travel to Wake Forest the following week for the SEC/ACC Challenge.  

* 5 — UVA players on the '16-17 team that was drummed by the Gators in the NCAA Tournament and also on the team that claimed the NCAA championship two years later. Those five were Kyle Guy, Ty Jerome, Mamadi Diakite, Jack Salt and DeAndre Hunter. Guy, the MVP of the '19 Final Four, and Jerome were scoreless in the UF loss, while Hunter did not play as a red-shirting freshman. 

* 2015 — The last year a Gator, in this case Michael Frazier II, scored at least 20 points and had at least six steals in a game, like Kugel did against Loyola MD. Frazier had 21 points (on 4-for-6 from the arc) and the half-dozen swipes in a 67-61 loss at Vanderbilt in what was Billy Donovan final season coaching the Gators. 

* 2020 —The year San Francisco, coached by Golden, upset No. 4 Virginia 61-60 in the Covid "Bubble" at Mohegan Sun in Uncasville, Conn. The victory over the reigning NCAA champs (the Cavs technically still held the 2019 title due to the pandemic shutdown of '20) was the first by a USF team over a top-five opponent in 39 years.
 

Bottom Line

Florida has a significant athletic advantage, but will be challenged by Virginia's discipline, patience and structure. Should make for an interesting contrast in styles ... and test of wills.