Harry Fodder: 2023-24 Basketball Schedule Breakdown

Sophomore guard Riley Kugel averaged 12.6 points in SEC play last season, the highest by a Florida freshman since current NBA standout Bradley Beal in 2012.

Harry Fodder: 2023-24 Basketball Schedule Breakdown

Thursday, September 7, 2023 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry

By: Chris Harry, Senior Writer

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – The Florida Gators will open their Southeastern Conference schedule with a home game against Kentucky. Bam. It'll be the first time in a quarter-century (Jan. 2, 1998) the Gators and league power Wildcats have done so. In other words, we'll know in fairly short order what to make of Coach Todd Golden's second UF team. At least until its second game, that is. And so on.

The SEC made official its league-wide 2023-24 men's basketball schedule Thursday, meaning all the offseason "I's" and "T's" (with the exception of game tip-off times) pretty much are

dotted/crossed and it's just about time to enter preseason mode, what with the official start of fall practice less than three weeks away. Florida went 16-17 overall, including 9-9 in conference play, in Year 1 under Golden. The program's second losing season over the last 25 years did not sit well with the staff – nor the UF fan base, obviously – and Golden tried to do something about it in acquiring six players from the transfer portal and a couple promising freshmen who instantly made the Gators bigger, longer and more athletic, alongside building block and 2023 SEC All-Freshman guard Riley Kugel.

Better?

That's a question for the months to come. But while we're not (officially) in the preseason yet, it's not too soon for a game-by-game overview of the UF schedule and, with it, an early rundown of what to expect from the rest of the rugged SEC, with a slate that along with annual home-and-homes against Kentucky, Vanderbilt and Georgia will match the Gators against reigning league and tournament champion Alabama and Missouri twice, also.

Oh, and did we mention Florida opens against Kentucky?

Nov. 6: Loyola Maryland, TBD (SEC+)

The season opener will be the first meeting between the Gators and Greyhounds, out of Baltimore and a member of the Patriot League. They went 13-20 last season and finished in a four-way tie for sixth in conference play. Coach Tavaras Hardy is entering his sixth season and has yet to post a winning record (overall or in the league), but he'll have a trio of international 6-foot-10, 240-pound types, led by Spanish forward Alonso Faure (8.9 ppg, 6.1 rpg). The Greyhounds surrendered a sky-high 55.5 effective field percentage on defense, which ranked 355^th nationally, meaning only nine teams in the country were worse. They were 328^th in defensive efficiency, so look for the Gators to score. A lot. UF last lost an opening night home game in 1983 (vs. Stetson) and over the last 40 years has gone 30-0 when tipping off a season at the O'Dome.

Nov. 10: Virginia (Hall of Fame Series) at Charlotte, N.C.
7 pm, (ACC Network)

Virginia's **Tony Bennett** is one of just seven active Division I coaches to win a NCAA championship.

Talk about a contrast. UF will go from an opening-night opponent that plays next to no defense to four days later facing a program – in a neutral-site affair at Spectrum Center, home to the NBA Charlotte Hornets – that has defined itself on that end of the floor for going on 15 seasons. The Cavaliers lost some outstanding players from last season's Atlantic Coast Conference regular-season co-champion, but there's no doubt Coach Tony Bennett will have his pack line back in line. Maybe it's good for the Gators to get the Cavs early; maybe not. UVA, one of three ACC opponents on the UF schedule, lost an outstanding rim protector to the portal in Kadin Shedrick (now at Texas), but returns all-league guard Reece Beekman on the perimeter and will look to a pair of sophomores, athletic wing Ryan Dunn and shooting guard Isaac McKneely, to step into bigger roles after doing cameo work as freshmen. Impact transfers include point guard Dante Harris (Georgetown), forward Jordan Minor (Merrimack), guard Andrew Rohde (St. Thomas) and forward Jake Groves (Oklahoma), who the Gators faced each of the last two seasons in losses to the Sooners. The Cavs almost always have an impact redshirt freshman and that guy could be guard/forward Leon Bond III.

Nov. 14: Florida A&M, TBD (SEC+)

UF is 12-0 all-time against FAMU, including a 102-62 home win last Nov. 30. In that one, the Gators shot 62 percent from the floor and dropped 13 of 22 from the 3-point line (59 percent), yet defense was not the Rattlers' most pressing issue. On the way to going 7-22 (5-13 in the Southwestern Athletic Conference), they finished next-to-last in the country in offensive efficiency and dead-last in turnover percentage, with giveaways on nearly one of every four possessions. Coach Robert McCullum, an assistant for Lon Kruger during UF's run to the 1994 Final Four, returns just one of his top six scorers, but that could be a good thing given the Rattlers' leading scorer last season was at just 10.6 points per game.

Nov. 17: Florida State, 7 pm (SEC Network)

Forward Cam'Ron Fletcher has been far more productive in his two seasons at Florida State than his one as freshman at Kentucky.

Speaking of Tallahassee, FSU didn't just have a bad season in '22-23, the Seminoles had a historically bad one; as in the worst in program history. They went 9-23, tying for the second-fewest wins in the program's 67 seasons and finished with an all-time worst winning percentage of .281, with losses along the way to Stetson, Central Florida, Troy and Sienna. Coach Leonard Hamilton will enter his 22^nd season without much expectation after losing two of his top three scorers in Max Cleveland (Miami) and Caleb Mills (Memphis). The Seminoles do, however, return their other top-five scorers, including guard Darin Green Jr. (13.4 ppg, 2.9 rpg) and forward Cam'Ron Fletcher (10.8 ppg, 7.5 rpg), who found a niche at FSU the last two seasons after mostly riding the bench as a high-profile freshman at Kentucky. This is not an enormous team, relative to bigs, like recent Hamilton squads, but his lone freshman is 6-10 Taylor Bol Bowen, from the Brewster (N.H.) Academy hoops factory.

Nov. 22-24: Preseason NIT at Brooklyn, N.Y.

The Barclay's Center (capacity 20,707) is home to the NBA Brooklyn Nets.

Back to the Barclay's Center, where the Gators will play for the third time in four years. UF lost a close one to Maryland in 2021 and smashed Providence in 2019, both times in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Invitational. UF drew Pittsburgh in opening-round play for the late Wednesday night tip on Thanksgiving eve. The Panthers, coached by Jeff Capel, are coming off their first NCAA Tournament season in seven years, after tying Duke for third in the ACC regular-season standings. They return just one of their top six scorers in forward Blake Hinson (15.3 ppg, 6.0 rpg), signed only two transfers – guard Ishmael Leggett averaged 16.4 points and 5.8 boards at Rhode Island – and figure to rely on an incoming freshman class ranked in the top 30. Depending on the outcome against Pitt, the Gators will face either Baylor, just two seasons removed from its first NCAA championship and led by point guard Adam Flagler, or Oregon State, which went 11-21 last season, finished next-to-last in the Pac-12 and was beaten by UF in the Phil Knight Legacy at Portland, Ore. The second game will be Friday at either 3 or 5:30 p.m.

Nov. 29: at Wake Forest (SEC/ACC Challenge), 7:15 pm (ESPNU)

If only Tyree Appleby could have found a seventh season of eligibility. Instead, the Gators missed a reunion with their former guard (Appleby had a first-team, All-ACC season in '22-23) by just eight months. Oh well. Such will be the case for the inaugural SEC/ACC Challenge, which replaces the SEC/Big 12 Challenge and (unfortunately) was moved by ESPN honchos from its unique, stand-alone spot in late-January – the weekend of the NFL conference championship games – to a more conventional (and obscure) mid-week spot just after Thanksgiving. UF, with its fourth date against an ACC foe, will play at the Lawrence Joel Veteran's Memorial Coliseum in Winston-Salem, N.C., for the first time since the 2000 NCAA Tournament (see Miller, Mike in above video) and its first true road game against the Demon Deacons since 1960. Wake lost Appleby's league-high 18.8 points per game, but returns its next three scorers, led by forward Cam Hildreth (12.4 ppg, 5.3 rpg), and welcomes four transfers, including 7-footer Efton Reid, who started at LSU two seasons ago then transferred to Gonzaga, where he saw little playing time.

Dec. 5: Merrimack, TBD (SEC+)

The UF-Merrimack contract was drawn up last winter, giving the Gators a good, clean "buy" game against a program that in '23-24 will play its first season as a full member of Division I. Seems harmless enough, right? Well, then the Warriors had to go and win the Northeast Conference Tournament championship, but were not eligible for the league's automatic NCAA Tournament berth, due to transition rules. Who knows what Merrimack might have done? The Warriors ended the season with the nation's longest winning streak (11 games) and in the tournament title game upset Fairleigh Dickenson, which mere days later shocked No. 1-seed Purdue in opening-round NCAA play. Upon the celebratory – and frustrating -- conclusion to the season, the Warriors lost their top four scorers from a 20-11 team to the transfer portal and basically will be starting their Division I journey from scratch. C'mon on down.

Dec. 9: Richmond (Orange Bowl Classic) at Sunrise, Fla., TBD

FLA Live Arena, home to the NHL Florida Panthers, seats more than 20,000 for basketball, but crowds have been historically sparce for the Orange Bowl Classic, despite bringing both the Gators and Seminoles to South Florida for a double-header.

Last season, the Gators skipped the Orange Bowl Classic for the first time since 2006, but return to FLA Live Arena (formerly the BT&T Center, BankAtlantic Center, Office Depot Center and National Car Rental Center) for what will likely be the start of an every-other-year appearance in the event. UF is 18-4 all-time in the OBC, with one of those four losses a 56-53 defeat against Richmond in 2009. Florida has had four head coaches since then, while the Spiders will be in Year 19 under Chris Mooney, who had to take leave last February to undergo surgery for an aortic aneurysm. With Mooney sidelined the team went 2-4 the rest of the season to finish 15-18 for just the fourth losing campaign over Mooney's previous 16 years. Richmond's leading scorer and rebounder, forward Tyler Burton, was one of the top prospects in the portal and took his talents to Villanova. The Spiders return their No. 2 guy in both categories with versatile 7-foot, 260-pound center Neal Quinn (9.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.9 apg) and got a proven scoring point guard in Jordan King, an All-Southern Conference selection at East Tennessee State, where he averaged 15.6 points per game, shot better than 41 percent from the arc as a sophomore and last season poured in a career-high 42 points, including eight 3s, in a game.

Dec. 14: East Carolina at Lakeland, 7 pm (SEC Network)

Former UF forward Devin Robinson did this the last time the Gators played at the building formerly known as the Lakeland Center, a 73-66 win over St. Bonaventure on Nov. 17, 2016.

Call this "The Walter Clayton Jr." Game. Don't be surprised if every soul from Lake Wales and Bartow – if not all of Polk County – file into the RP Funding Center in downtown Lakeland for the Gators' first appearance there since the renovation of the O'Dome forced the team to barnstorm across the state before the new Exactech Arena was ready to open in the fall of '16. Clayton, the transfer from Iona and 2023 Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Player of the Year, was a football/basketball standout at Lake Wales, then transferred to rival Bartow to play basketball only and promptly led that team to back-to-back Class 6A state titles. The Pirates return their third-leading scorer and top rebounder in 6-8 forward Brandon Johnson (12.3 ppg, 8.1 rpg), who was second in the American Athletic Conference in double-doubles with 10. They also will get a boost from transfer guard Cam Hayes, who averaged 8.1 points at LSU last season and nearly eight a game the two previous seasons at North Carolina State. UF and ECU will play for the first time.

Dec. 19: Michigan (Jumpman Classic) at Charlotte, N.C., TBD

"Fab Five" icon and former NBA star **Juwan Howard** is 79-48 since returning to coach his alma mater, but is coming off a disappointing 18-16 campaign that ended in the NIT.

Just 39 days after facing Virginia at the Queen City, the Gators will be back at Spectrum Center to face another marquee brand-name opponent; one of their Jumpman brothers, of course. The Jumpman Classic debuted last year with a two-night double-header featuring the four programs (men and women) who first adopted the Michael Jordan-brand logo. Florida lost to Oklahoma, while North Carolina defeated Michigan. This year, the Gators rotate to face the Wolverines (yes, it'll be Florida vs UNC next season). UM, entering its fifth season under famous "Fab Five" alum Juwan Howard, faded late in '23, losing in double-overtime at Illinois and in overtime at Indiana to end the regular season, then against Rutgers in first-round play of the Big Ten Tournament. The collapse dumped the Wolverines into the NIT. More bad news followed with the transfer of 7-foot standout Hunter Dickinson to Kansas and early NBA exits of No. 2 scorer Jett Howard and Kobe Bufkin, both of whom were lottery picks. The rebuild starts with point guard Dug McDaniel (8.6 ppg, 3.1 rpg, 3.6 apg), transfer forward Olivier Nkamhoua (10.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg at Tennessee) and freshman guard George Washington III, the Ohio Gatorade Player of the Year.

Dec. 22: Grambling, TBD (SEC Network)

The Tigers lost four of their top five scorers from a team that went 24-9 and was riding an 11-game winning streak until being upset by Texas Southern in the Southwestern Athletic Conference Tournament title game. Ouch. Florida and Grambling have never played, with this one falling in the dreaded last-game-before-Christmas spot. Translation: Beware. Wing Jourdan Smith, the lone returnee of note, averaged 8.7 points and 4.9 rebounds last season.

Dec. 30: Quinnipiac, 1 pm (SEC Network)

Another first-time meeting. Whichever UF assistant coach is assigned the pregame scout no doubt will get with Clayton to review the Bobcats, who handed Clayton's Iona squad one of its three Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference losses last season. Clayton, though, didn't play in the game, but scored 17 in leading his team to victory in the rematch. Quinnipiac lost four of its top five scorers, with fifth-year senior guard Matt Balanc (12.0 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 37 percent from 3) the lone guy back.

Jan. 6 – Kentucky, 12:30 pm (ESPN)

Incoming Kentucky freshman D.J. Wagner (12) has quite the college basketball lineage.

At point in early June, Kentucky had just seven players on its '23-24 roster. Seven. That said, four of them were members of an incoming freshman class ranked No. 1 in the country, so – per usual for Coach John Calipari, entering his 14th season in Lexington – it's not as though the Wildcats were bereft of talent. On the contrary, all four of those freshmen played in the 2023 McDonald's All America Game, led by 6-7 forward Justin Edwards, the consensus no. 1 prospect in the country. Edwards's classmates include 7-foot Aaron Bradshaw and point guard D.J. Wagner (the latter is son of Dajuan Wagner, former Memphis star, and grandson of Milt Wagner, who won an NCAA title at Louisville in 1986), and Kentucky Mr. Basketball Reed Sheppard (3,727 career points, 1,214 assists, and 1,050 rebounds), whose father, Jeff, was 1998 Final Four MVP for Tubby Smith's national champs. Where expectations surged for this band of Cats was when forward Antonio Reeves, the 2023 SEC Sixth Man of the Year and UK second-leading scorer (14.4 ppg, team-high 80 3-pointers at 39.8 percent) exited the transfer portal and rejoined the program. That was Fortuitous Development No. 1. No. 2 came courtesy of the Bob Huggins offseason scandal at West Virginia, with standout forward Tre Mitchell (11.7 ppg, 5.5 rpg) leaving the Mountaineers for the Cats in July. UK might be down somewhat in numbers (and experience), but what a late rally by Cal. His best young teams have been known to yet their stride deep into the conference season, so maybe this rare early crack at the Cats will be good for the Gators, who have lost five straight home games in the series. When UF and UK last met this early, the Cats hammered what became Billy Donovan's first NCAA Tournament team by 35.

Jan. 10 – at Ole Miss, 9 pm (SEC Network)

Mississippi, come what may, won the controversial **Chris Beard** free-agency sweepstakes. Beard, here with Rebels athletic director **Keith Carter**, had quite a run at Texas Tech before his domestic scandal run-in at Texas last year.

Chris Beard was the biggest free agent on the 2023 coaching carousel, but the circumstances weren't pretty. Beard, with his 70.7 career winning percentage (including 11-5 mark in NCAA play and national runner-up finish with Texas Tech in 2019), was fired nine games into his second season at Texas over a domestic abuse incident. Ole Miss, which had bailed on Kermit Davis after five seasons and just seven SEC wins the last two years, was the school that took on Beard's baggage and winning resume, having guided three different programs to the tournament. The excitement for the Rebels has gone through the roof. Not only does Mississippi return leading scorers Matthew Murrell (14.4 ppg, 3.5 rpg) and Jaemyn Brakefield (11.1 ppg, 5.7 rpg), but the Rebels landed a six-member transfer class ranked in the nation's top 10, including guard Jaylen Murray (12.5 ppg at Memphis), forward Allen Flanigan (10.1 ppg, 5.0 rpg at Auburn), 6-10 forward Moussa Cisse (6.8 ppg, 8.0 rpg at Oklahoma State) and 7-2 center Jamarion Sharp (7.4 ppg, 7.7 rpg, NCAA-leading 4.1 bpg at Western Kentucky). This could be the most improved team in the league in '23-24.

Jan. 13 – Arkansas, 5 pm (ESPN)

Razorbacks forward **Trevon Brazile**, who played his first two seasons at Missouri, returns from a season-ending knee injury he suffered early last December.

It was a wild fifth season for Coach Eric Musselman and his Razorbacks. A freshman class considered among the best in the country was rocked by an early injury to lottery-pick-in-waiting Nick Smith about the same time marquee big-man transfer Trevon Brazile suffered a season-ending knee injury. The Hogs went 8-10 in SEC play and finished ninth, but with a decent resume of wins still got a No. 8 NCAA Tournament seed, then upset No. 1-seed and reigning national champion Kansas before getting blasted in the Sweet 16 by eventual champ Connecticut. Arkansas lost its top three scorers (and four players total) to the NBA, including freshman standout point guard Anthony Black, now with Orlando. The four accounted for 57 percent of the team's scoring, 38 percent of rebounding and 63 percent of assists. No biggie. Musselman, going back to his days at Nevada, is the "OG" when it comes to portaling and hauled in six solid ones to team along three key returnees in guard and elite defender Davonte Davis (10.9 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 48 steals), 6-10 fifth-year Makhi Mitchell (7.0 ppg, 5.3 rpg) and Brazile (11.9 ppg, 6.0 rpg in nine games). The incomings include a trio of guards in El Ellis (17.7 points, 4.4 assists at Louisville), guard Khalif Battle (17.9 ppg at Temple) and Tramon Mack (10.1 ppg, 4.9 rpg at Houston). They added a couple of four-star freshmen also, with 6-10 Denver product Baye Fall expected to help up front. UF has lost three straight in the series after going 24-5 against the Hogs from 2000-20.

Jan. 16 – at Tennessee, 7 pm (ESPN2)

Sharp-shooting combo guard Santiago Vescovi (maestro of the push-off) will be back for a fifth season in Knoxville.

The Volunteers led the nation last season in defensive efficiency on the way to going 25-11, finishing fourth in the league, gaining a No. 4 NCAA seed and – again – flaming out against a lower seed in tournament play, courtesy of a Sweet 16 loss to Cinderella Florida Atlantic. It didn't help that standout point guard Zakai Zeigler (10.7 ppg, 5.4 apg, 2.1 spg) suffered a season-ending knee injury in February. Zeigler is on schedule to return in '24, but in the interim the Vols will lean – again – on fifth-year shooting guard Santiago Vescovi (11.6 ppg, 3.6 rpg, 3.2 apg), who has been terrific in starting 110 of 114 games the last four seasons and shot 38 percent from 3 for his career since he arrived in the '19-20 midseason from Uruguay. UT lost its best big (the aforementioned Olivier Nkamhoua) to the portal and 7-1 bully Uros Plavsic to graduation, but forward Josiah-Jordan James (9.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg), once considered a one-and-done, is back for a fifth season. Tennessee nabbed a couple highly productive mid-major guards via the portal in Dalton Knecht (20.2 ppg, 7.8 rpg, 38 percent from 3 at Northern Colorado) and Jordan Gainey (15.2 ppg at South Carolina-Upstate), and signed a couple four-star incoming freshmen, including 6-11 center JP Estrella. A lot of new faces, but the Vols figure to look and play the same, as the program, after eight years, is firmly grounded in the principles and defensive/physical style that is the blueprint of Coach Rick Barnes, who's averaged 24 wins the last six seasons. UF has not won at Knoxville since 2014, a run of six straight defeats.

Jan. 20 – at Missouri, TBD (ESPN or ESPN2 or ESPNU)

**Dennis Gates** won 25 games and guided Mizzou to the NCAA Tournament in his first season with the Tigers.

A case could have easily been made for Dennis Gates as 2023 SEC Coach of the Year. After flipping the reclamation project that was Cleveland State – he turned a program with six straight losing seasons into the Horizon League champs and went to two NITs – the former FSU assistant and ace recruiter took over a place that was 12-21 in the final season under Cuonzo Martin and went 25-10, finished fourth in the SEC and went to the NCAA Tournament. The Tigers said goodbye to All-SEC forward Kobe Brown (first-round by the L.A. Clippers), but get fifth years from super-active forward Noah Carter (9.6 ppg, 4.0 rpg after transferring from Northern Iowa) and stocky point guard Nick Honor (7.9 ppg, 39.9 percent from 3 in his first year after leaving Clemson). Center Connor Vanover, who goes 7-3 and 247, is back in the SEC after averaging 12.7 points and 7.2 rebounds in his lone season at Oral Roberts following three middling years at Arkansas. Fifth-year guard Caleb Grill (9.5 ppg, 4.0 rpg) came from Iowa State. The Tigers' best freshman likely will be 6-8 forward Trent Pierce, a top-100 prospect out of Arizona. Worth noting, given the mid-January date: Florida's last two trips to Mizzou have coincided with wicked snowstorms, including a 2022 blizzard that stranded the team in Columbia overnight.

Jan. 24 – Mississippi State, 8:30 pm (SEC Network)

Forward Tolu Smith (left) figures to be in the preseason SEC Player of the Year conversation, especially with the Bulldogs returning the bulk of their lineup to an NCAA Tournament squad.

The Bulldogs were one of two SEC teams (along with Arkansas) that finished behind the Gators in the conference standings, yet still made the NCAA Tournament. UF beat MSU on the road in the regular season and could have repeated the feat in second-round SEC Tournament play were it not for a blown late defensive assignment and layup by All-SEC forward Tolu Smith with four seconds to play. Smith (15.7 ppg, 8.5 rpg) toyed with the NBA draft process, but opted to return, giving the Bulldogs all five of their top scorers back from a team that bounced from a dreadful start to league play to win eight of its final 10 and steal a spot in the Dayton play-in round, where they lost to Pittsburgh. Smith was the lone Bulldog to average in double figures, but Shakeel Moore, D.J. Jeffries, Dashawn Davis and Cameron Matthews each averaged between 9.8 and 6.9 points for Coach Chris Jans' first MSU squad after coming to Starkville from New Mexico State. The roster newcomers include the No. 1- and 2-ranked junior college prospects in the country – guard Lerenzo Fort III and forward Jaquan Scott, respectively – plus Marshall transfer shooting guard Andrew Taylor (20.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg, 4.7 apg, 36 percent from 3).

Jan. 27 – Georgia, noon (ESPN, ESPN2 or ESPNU)

**Mike White** took over a mess in Athens and exited the season with his first non-winning record in 12 years as a head coach.

Mike White's first season after bolting Gainesville for Athens went about as expected, given he inherited a program in utter shambles after going 6-26 overall and 1-17 in SEC play in the final season of Tom Crean's disastrous four-year turn. The Bulldogs went 16-16, including 6-12 against league foes, making for White's first non-winning record in 11 seasons as a collegiate head coach. He's got a shot at a second straight. UGA lost its top three scorers, including guard Kario Oquendo (12.7 ppg) bolting for Oregon. The Bulldogs get back guard Justin Hill (8.6) and wing Jabri Abdur-Rahim, but will rely mostly on new blood, like former Niagara guard Noah Thomasson, who averaged a league-high 19.5 points on his way to first-team MAAC honors (making for another Clayton reunion), 7-foot, 275-pound center Russell Tchewa (South Florida) and incoming freshman guard Blue Cain, a Knoxville, Tenn., product out of IMG and a kid the Gators had for an official visit in the spring.

Jan. 31 – at Kentucky, TBD (ESPN or ESPN2)

UF swept Kentucky in their 2018 series (see Chiozza, Chris). Since then, the Wildcats have won nine of the last 10, with the Gators' lone win coming in a mostly empty Rupp Arena during the pandemic-marred 2021 league season when UK was on its way to just its first losing season since the NCAA probation-ravaged squad of 1988-89.

Feb. 3 – at Texas A&M, 4 pm (ESPN2)

Aggies point guard **Wade Taylor IV** is back to again be a thorn in the Gators' collective sides ... like the last two seasons.

It didn't happen right away for Buzz Williams, but he's got it going in College Station (like he got it going at Marquette and Virginia Tech before that). The Aggies went 15-3 in league play last season – beating UF twice in games that went down to the final possession – and finished just a game behind Alabama in the standings, only to lose in first-round NCAA play as a No. 7 seed. No rebuild here. In fact, the A&M roster (the best parts of it) returns mostly intact (not one Aggie transferred out), including four of the top five scorers, led by first-team All-SEC point guard Wade Taylor IV (16.3 ppg, 3.9 apg) and talented wing Tyrece Radford (13.3 ppg, 5.3 rpg, 2.4 apg). Also back is the up-front muscle Julian Marble (9.1 ppg, 4.1 rpg), who came from Michigan State last season, and Henry Coleman (9.0 ppg, 5.7 rpg), who came from Duke the season before that. The Aggies will have a handful of role players engrained in Williams' system to choose from, plus a trio of incoming transfers: forwards Jace Carter (16.6 ppg, 7.0 rpg at Illinois-Chicago) and Wildens Leveque (5.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg at UMass), plus guard Eli Lawrence (12.2 ppg, 4.1 rpg at Middle Tennessee). A&M will be among the preseason favorites to win the conference.

Feb. 6 and 7 – Mid-week bye

SEC teams have not had a bye week in the league schedule since 2016, which coincided with the first year of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge being played in January.

Feb. 10 – Auburn, 3:30 (SEC Network)

Coach **Todd Golden's** first game as a SEC head coach pitted him against **Bruce Pearl**, who gave Golden his first power conference assistant job. This year, Golden the two meet at the O'Dome.

After a strong first half of the season, the Tigers petered out by dropping six of their last nine in SEC play, losing their first game of the SEC Tournament, then exiting in the second round of the NCAA Tournament. There's no question, though, that Bruce Pearl has turned the Tigers into a perennial conference contender (at least), averaging nearly 24 wins over the last six seasons, with two SEC regular-season titles, one league tournament crown, four NCAA berths and the only Final Four in program history. They'll be in the mix again in '23-24, given the return of a pair of outstanding front court players in 6-10, 235-pound All-SEC forward Johnie Broom (14.2 ppg, 8.4 rpg, 2.4 bpg) and 6-8, 230-pound Jaylin Williams (11.2 ppg, 4.7 rpg). Though Auburn said goodbye to logo-range guard Wendell Green Jr., his mercurial backcourt partner, K.D. Johnson (8.9 ppg), will be back to shoot his team either in or out of games. Guard Denver Jones (20.0 ppg, 35.7 percent from 3) transferred from Florida International, where was a first-team All-Conference USA selection as a sophomore, but the splash new guy figures to be freshman point guard Aden Holloway, a McDonald's All American from North Carolina.

Feb. 13 – LSU, 8 pm (SEC Network)

Sophomore forward **Jalen Reed** (13), once a Florida signee, figures to be a key foundational block in the Tigers' rebuild from a dreadful 2-16 record in league play.

The Tigers opened the Matt McMahon era by winning 11 of their first 12 games (albeit against the second-easiest non-conference schedule in the league), then beat Arkansas to start SEC play. After that, the roof caved in. As in 14 straight losses on the way to finishing dead-last in the conference standings. It was quite the comedown for a coach who averaged more than 24 wins his previous five seasons at Murray State and claimed five Ohio Valley crowns over seven years. The offseason rebuild, of course, was extensive. LSU lost its top three scorers, including all-league forward KJ Williams (17.7 ppg, 7.7 rpg), but return forward Derek Fountain (8.0 ppg, 5.5 rpg), physical guard Trae Hannibal (6.8 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 2.3 apg) and promising forward Jalen Reed (3.7 ppg, 3.2 rpg). Highlighting the half-dozen transfers are guard Jalen Cook, who actually started his college career (and played sparingly) at LSU, then blew up over two All-American Athletic Conference seasons at Tulane, where he averaged 19.0 points. Cook figures to be paired in the backcourt with Santa Clara transfer Carlos Stewart (15.2 ppg, 40.3 percent from 3). Front court help arrived in 7-foot Will Baker (13.6 ppg, 5.2 rebounds at Nevada), 6-10 Hunter Dean (8.7 ppg, 6.1 rpg, 64 percent at George Washington) and Jordan Wright, with his nearly 1,200 points and 600 rebounds (a bunch against UF) over four seasons at Vandy. A pair of four-star incoming freshmen, point guard Mike Williams and forward Corey Chest, bear watching.

Feb. 17 – at Georgia, 1 pm (SEC Network)

A faction of obsessed (some deranged) Florida fans will try to keep the White-vs.-Florida storyline alive, but both sides are well passed the "We've moved on" phase, with the only White-acquired Gator players left on the UF roster a pair of walk-ons (Alex Klatsky and Jack May).

Feb. 21 – at Alabama, 7 pm (ESPN2 or ESPNU)

The Crimson Tide have averaged 25.3 wins and captured a bunch of hardware the last three seasons under red-hot Coach Nate Oats.

Nate Oats has it going in Tuscaloosa, what with 76 wins, two regular-season conference titles, two SEC tournament titles and three straight NCAA berths over the last three seasons. The '22-23 squad was his best Bama team by far, what with 31 wins, a brief visit to No. 1 in the rankings and a No. 1 NCAA seed, but the Tide underwent massive roster turnover. First-team All-America forward and 2023 SEC Player of the Year Brandon Miller was the third overall pick to the Charlotte Hornets and forward Noah Clowney, a first-rounder by the Brooklyn Nets). Center and defensive specialist Charles Bediaiko turned pro, plus two guards transferred; Jaden Bradley (Arizona) and Jahvon Quinerly (Memphis), who surprisingly made his jump in June. That's a lot of production to replace. Bama gets back All-SEC guard Mark Sears (12.5 ppg, 4.5 rpg) and landed a trio of transfers who were all-league at their mid-majors, each of whom should make huge impacts. Forward Grant Nelson (from North Dakota State) averaged 19.9 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.7 blocks and 1.1 steals. Guard Aaron Estrada (20.2 ppg, 5.5 rpg, 4.2 apg at Hofstra) was 2023 Colonial Athletic Association Player of the Year, while guard Latrell Wrightsell Jr. (16.3 ppg, 4.5 rpg, 38 percent from 3) brings all-star cred from Cal State Fullerton and the Big West Conference. The Tide's incoming freshman class was ranked 10^th in the nation, led by freshman forward Sam Walters, who played at The Villages (Fla.).

Feb. 24 – Vanderbilt, 1 pm (SEC Network)

Vandy point guard **Tyrin Lawrence** (0) is smothered by teammates after his buzzer-beating jumper upset rival Tennessee.

The Commodores were one of the hottest teams in the SEC at end of the season. Ask the Gators. They were swept by Vandy for the first time since '16-17, as Coach Jerry Stackhouse, in his fourth season, guided the team to a 12-3 mark over the final 15 games, with five of those wins coming against eventual NCAA Tournament teams, including two against Kentucky. Stackhouse's first winning season, however, got him just a second consecutive NIT bid. He managed to convince guard Tyrin Lawrence (13.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 50 percent floor, 36 percent from the arc) to return from a flirtation in the portal. Diminutive point guard Ezra Manjon (10.5 ppg, 3.8 apg) also is back, but the Commodores lost 7-0 center Liam Robbins to graduation and a pair of starters to SEC rivals in forward Jordan Wright (LSU) and 3-pointer specialist Myles Stute (South Carolina). Vandy's best portal acquisitions were guard Evan Taylor, a two-time all Patriot League performer at Lehigh, where he averaged 14.2 points, 6.5 boards and shot 41 percent over four seasons from 3, plus 6.8, 240-pound forward Tasos Kamateros (12.5 ppg, 6.2 rpg) from South Dakota. The Commodores got a four-star shooting guard prospect out of Virginia in Jason Rivera-Torres.

Feb. 28 – Missouri, 6:30 pm (SEC Network)

The Tigers have one win at the O'Dome in five trips since joining the league for the 2012-13 season.

March 2 – at South Carolina, 3:30 pm (SEC Network)

**B.J. Mack**, a 6-8, 270-pound load, brought his big body cross state from Wofford to South Carolina and figures to be among the top impact transfers in the league.

The Gamecocks played their first season in a decade without Frank Martin on the sidelines. Lamont Paris, by way of Tennessee-Chattanooga, did not inherit much and went 11-21, including 4-14 in league play, in his first SEC go – and that was with forward GG Jackson (15.4 ppg, 4.4 rpg, 32 percent from 3), the No. 1-rated prospect in the '24 cycle, decommitting from North Carolina, reclassifying to '23 and signing with USC. Jackson was supposed to be a NBA lottery pick and probably needed that extra year of development, though he was selected in Round 2 (45^th overall) by Memphis. The Gamecocks get back point guard Meechie Johnson (12.7 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 3.6 apg) and guard Jacobi Wright (7.3 ppg). After that, it's a rebuild fueled – what else – by transfers, headlined by 6-8, 270 forward B.J. Mack (15.6 ppg, 5.6 rpg, 49 percent floor at Wofford last season), 6-8 forward Stephen Clark (16.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg at The Citadel) and Stute, via Vandy.

March 5 – Alabama, 9 pm (ESPN or ESPN2)

UF basically had its way with Bama for two decades, going 26-5 in the series from 1999 to 2020, but the Tide has definitely turned, what with three straight double-digit wins, including last season's 28-point massacre at Tuscaloosa. The Gators' lone victory over Oats came in the 2020 SEC opener when they staged an epic comeback from 21 down to win 104-98 in double-overtime. This one will serve as "Senior Day," a celebration that (around the country) has taken on a different, probably lesser meaning, given the portal. UF's lone senior to come through the program will be Klatsky, the fifth year, but grad-transfers Tyrese Samuel, Zyon Pullin, EJ Jarvis and Julian Rishwain will have a chance to take their bows, too.

March 9 – at Vanderbilt, 4:30 pm (SEC Network)

It's generally accepted around the SEC that Stackhouse, the 17-year NBA veteran and former G League Coach of the Year, runs some of the most sophisticated offense in the league. It looks even more sophisticated with better players, as the Gators found out last season when the Commodores snapped a nine-game losing skid in the series, dating to the 2019 season. This one will end the regular-season slate, but the team will go back to Gainesville and be right back in Nashville (albeit at a different venue) for its next game.

March 13-17
SEC Tournament (Nashville, Tenn.)

The SEC Tournament returns to Nashville in '24 ... and will be there for a long time.

It's Year 2 of a contract that has the SEC Tournament locked into Bridgestone Arena – and the Music City – through 2030, with an option to extend the deal through 2035. Exactly no one is complaining about it. It's an ideal venue for a conference's marquee basketball event. The tournament was first staged at the arena (then known as the Gaylord Entertainment Center, home to the NHL Nashville Predators) in 2001, with '24 being the ninth time hosting the event.