No. 21 Florida vs Jacksonville (Thursday, 8 pm)

Florida vs. Jacksonville

* When: Thursday, 8 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (1-0) / Jacksonville (1-0)
* TV: SEC Network+ (Kyle Crooks and Mark Wise)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
(with Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey and Steve Egan)
* Ticket info

Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Sophomore	13.0 pts / 5.0 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	2.0 pts / 4.0 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	25.0 pts / 6.0 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-2 / 195	Graduate	13.0 pts / 6.0 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	29.0 pts / 4.0 reb

Jackonville	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Zimi Nwokeji	F	6-7 / 210	Senior	7.0 pts / 5.0 reb
Stephon Payne	F	6-9 / 220	Junior	18.0 pts / 13.0 reb
Chris Arias	G	6-6 / 205	Freshman	2.0 pts / 4.0 reb
Zach Bell	G	6-2 / 180	Junior	11.0 pts
Robert McCray	G	6-4 / 186	Junior	9.0 pts / 2.0 reb / 4.0 ast

The Breakdown

SETUP: Florida, ranked 21st in the first Associated Press poll of the season, takes on the upstate foe Jacksonville Dolphins in the home opener at the O'Dome. The Gators tipped off the season Monday night with 98-83 victory over South Florida on a neutral floor in Jacksonville. Their 98 points were the highest scored in program history in a season opener away from home. The Dolphins, meanwhile, were opening their season across town with a 78-65 win over Trinity Baptist, a local NAIA school that plays out of the National Christian Athletic Association classification. The game will serve as the back end of a double-header, with the UF women taking on Florida A&M at 5 p.m.

SERIES: The Gators lead 32-5 and have won the last four meetings, dating to 2011. The two teams last played on Dec. 22, 2015, with UF needing to rally from an eight-point halftime deficit to take a sluggish 89-65 victory into the Christmas break. Florida coach Mike White was so frustrated with his team's performance that he benched starting forwards Dorian Finney-Smith and Devin Robinson at the break. Instead, he rode a three-guard trio of KeVaughn Allen (career-high 15 points), along with sophomore guard Chris Chiozza and junior Kasey Hill, who combined for 16 points, 13 assists and just two turnovers. Center John Egbunu added 14 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

ETC: JU's last win over Florida came on Dec. 20, 2010 when the Dolphins handed the Gators a 71-68 defeat. That UF team was coached by Billy Donovan, led by 2011 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Chandler Parsons, went on to win the league regular-season championship and reach the Elite Eight.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Opponent
98.0	Scoring	78.0
.524	Field-goal percentage	.397
.200	3-point percentage	.188
83.0	Scoring defense	65.0
.444	Field-goal percentage defense	.411
.481	3-point percentage defense	.320
23rd	KenPom.com overall ranking	182nd
11th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	211th
51st	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	152nd
20th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	337th
N/A	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	N/A
95th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	233rd

The Gators

UF checked a couple of Coach Todd Golden's boxes in the win over the Bulls. They played hard and played fast on the way to putting 59 second-half points on the board, but the goal of taking a big step on the defensive end fell short, as USF nailed a dozen 3-pointers and shot 48 percent from the arc. This game will about making headway on that end of the floor.

Senior guards Walter Clayton Jr. and Will Richard were outstanding in the opener. Clayton had 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, while Richard finished with a career-high 25 on 10-for-17 shooting and was the Gator who kept his team in the game with 13 first-half points, including eight in a row during one stretch and a step-back jumper at the halftime buzzer that cut USF's 13-point lead to just one. Clayton did most of his damage driving to the basket, though he did make two of five from deep. Richard, the team's best shooting, was 2-for-7 from the 3-point line.

Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin, the transfer from Florida Atlantic, didn't have his touch from the outside (0 of 6 from 3), but got aggressive driving to the basket and managed to score 13 points, with the help of 7-for-10 from the free-throw line, to go with six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Martin is a career 37-percent shooting from deep.

Of UF's two transfer "bigs," starting center Rueben Chinyelu and backup forward Sam Alexis, it was the latter who had the biggest impact in their Gator debuts. Alexis, from Tennessee-Chattanooga, flashed his skill in the post, with a couple lefty jump hooks and finished with six points, four rebounds and a block over just 13 minutes. Chinyelu, by way of Washington State, was outplayed by USF 6-11, 275-pound center Jamille Reynolds. He finished with just two points and four rebounds over 16 minutes, but played his best down the stretch when the Gators needed him most after forward Alex Condon (13 points, 5 rebouunds) picked up his fourth foul. Chinyelu, an active, athletic rim-protector whose calling card since arriving has been consistent effort and physical competitiveness, will be challenged by his coaches to pick things up against what will be an outmanned JU frontcourt.

Backup sophomore forward Thomas Haugh scored two points, but played some inspired defense and flashed on the glass on his way posting six boards, two assists and a steal over 30 minutes, the most by UF's four frontcourt players. ... Junior point guard Denzel Aberdeen had eight points, two rebounds, one assist and a turnover in his 16 minutes. ... Guard Urban Klavzar, the freshman combo from Slovenia, remains ineligible to suit up for the Gators as the NCAA explores his eligibility after playing professionally the last three years overseas.

The Dolphins

JU coach and former UF assistant coach **Jordan Mincy.**

They're in the fourth season under Jordan Mincy, the former UF assistant who accompanied White from Louisiana Tech in 2015 and was a popular, pivotal member of a staff that went to four of the five NCAA tournaments contested over his six seasons with the Gators. Mincy bolted for JU in 2022 and was an instant success, going 21-10 his first season, reaching the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament title game for the first time since 2009 and going undefeated (15-0) at home for the first time since 1972-73. The Dolphins did not match that success the next two years, going 13-16 and 16-17, respectively, with the '24-25 squad projected to finish somewhere in the middle of the A-Sun pack.

JU's victory over Trinity Baptist was probably closer than the Dolphins would have liked, given the difference in the programs and their respective classifications. Jacksonville built a 10-point lead at halftime by limiting the Eagles to just 31 percent from the floor, but defended at a 54-percent clip after the break, as TB erased a 20-point JU advantage and played the Dolphins within three points in the second half. Jacksonville shot 41 percent for the game, made eight of 25 from the 3-point line, enjoyed a 51-34 advantage on the glass and had 18 assists.

The Dolphins' best player is guard Robert McCray, a junior in his second season since transferring from Wake Forest. He had an off-night Monday in scoring just nine points over 23 minutes. That's half of the 18.4 points he averaged during a third-team All-ASUN sophomore season, when he also posted 4.2 rebounds and dished 2.9 assists. McCray finished the '23-24 season by scoring a conference-tournament record 91 points over the Dolphins three postseason games, including a career-high 36 against Stetson. He shot 35.3 percent from 3 last season.

Forward Stephon Payne posted a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds to open his second JU season since transferring from Incarnate Word. He figures to have his hands full in the post (on both ends), whether facing Chinyelu, Condon or Alexis.

Numbers of Note

**Will Richard's** previous career high (before ripping USF for 25 in Monday's comeback) was the 24 he put on Georgia in what also was a rally from 13 points down in 2023 at Athens.

* 1.000 —Shooting percentage from the free-throw line by the Clayton/Richard duo against USF, based on a combined 10-or-10. Clayton, who two seasons ago at Iona led the nation in free-throw shooting and hit 87.7 in his first UF season, went 7-for-7, while Richard dropped all three of his attempts.

* 3 —Where the 13-point deficit ranks on the list of largest comebacks during Golden's three UF seasons, equaling the margin erased on the road in a 77-67 win at Georgia in 2023, thanks to 24 points from Richard, the Peach State native. The Gators' biggest Golden comeback victories to date: 19 at Florida State in '22 and 18 against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament last March.

* 12 —Assists by Florida in the opener. Missing all those 3s and turning to a rim-attack strategy certainly contributed to that low number, but the Gators need to get back to the crisp and rapid sharing of the ball demonstrated throughout the preseason.

* 34.7 —Average minutes played Monday by UF's starting guards (Clayton, Richard and Martin), a number that probably was a little high for all three, but also necessary, given the circumstances. Look for Aberdeen to absorb some minutes from each against JU and down the line.

* 1960 —The year Florida and Jacksonville met for the first time. The date was Dec. 28. The event was the Gator Bowl Tournament (staged in conjunction with the football game), with the Gators defeating the Dolphins 82-68.

Bottom Line

Let's see how amped up the home crowd will be for an opener with a ranked team and big expectations.

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu

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