
No. 7 Florida vs North Florida (Saturday, noon)
Friday, December 20, 2024 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
No. 7 Florida vs. North Florida

* When: Saturday, noon (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (11-0) / North Florida (7-5)
* TV: SEC Network (James Westling and Patric Young)
* 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 | 11.9 pts / 7.4 reb |
Rueben Chinyelu | C | 6-10 / 255 | Sophomore | 5.5 pts / 6.8 reb |
Will Richard | G | 6-4 / 206 | Senior | 12.9 pts / 5.3 reb |
Alijah Martin | G | 6-2 / 195 | Graduate | 15.5 pts / 6.2 reb / 3.2 |
Walter Clayton Jr. | G | 6-2 / 195 | Senior | 18.5 pts / 3.5 reb / 3.5 ast |
North Florida | Position | Height / Weight | Class | Statistics |
---|---|---|---|---|
Liam Murphy | F | 6-7 / 220 | Graduate | 12.3 pts / 2.3 reb |
Jasai Miles | G | 6-6 / 205 | Sophomore | 14.2 pts / 7.7 reb |
Nate Lliteras | G | 6-6 / 215 | Senior | 13.8 pts / 5.1 reb |
Oscar Berry | G | 6-5 / 200 | Senior | 3.6 pts / 2.9 reb |
Jaylen Smith | G | 5-11 / 175 | Sophomore | 12.0 pts / 2.1 reb / 6.3 ast |
The Breakdown

SERIES: The Gators lead 10-0, with that record including a pair of road wins at UNF's campus in Jacksonville. The two last met on Dec. 8, 2021, Florida's last season under Mike White, with the Gators prevailing 85-55. UF was ranked 20th at the time, but about to crater out of the Top 25 poll after losing consecutive games at Oklahoma and (ugh!) home against winless Texas Southern. Center Colin Castleton scored a career-high 26 points and pitched in for a defense that forced 28 turnovers converted to 33 points. The Gators shot just 44.6 percent (with 10 dunks, no less) and only 21.7 from the 3-point line, but were never challenged in building an 18-point halftime lead. Castleton finished nine of 17 from the floor, eight of 11 from the free-throw line and grabbed eight rebounds. Guard Myreon Jones and Tyree Appleby had 14 and 13 points, respectively.
ETC: UF's average margin of victory in the 10 games against UNF is 32.2, with the margin's fluctuating from 12 (in the season opener against the eventual unbeaten SEC champs of 2013-14 that won 36 games and went to the Final Four) to 51 (against the '07-08 team that followed the loss of the famed "04s").
Tale of the Tape
Florida | Statistics | North Florida |
---|---|---|
86.6 | Scoring | 87.9 |
.472 | Field-goal percentage | .459 |
.336 | 3-point percentage | .364 |
66.8 | Scoring defense | 82.7 |
.390 | Field-goal percentage defense | .459 |
.285 | 3-point percentage defense | .475 |
7th | KenPom.com overall ranking | 170th |
7th | KenPom.com offensive efficiency | 65th |
21st | KenPom.com defensive efficiency | 323rd |
83rd | KenPom.com adjusted tempo | 37th |
6th | NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking | 139th |
98th | Overall strength of schedule ranking | 61st |
The Gators

Guard Will Richard had 22 points against UNC, his second-highest output of the season. He went eight of 10 and 3-for-5 from deep to go with six rebounds, including a huge one on the offensive end followed by a go-ahead basket and lead the Gators never gave back. After going four straight games (and six of seven) with only one 3-point make, he's got five the last two games and has inched his percentage up to 27.9. That's still about 10 percent from where Richard (and his coaches) believe he could be. ... Good thing Richard had it going against the Tar Heels because scoring leader Walter Clayton Jr. did not. Clayton managed only 12 points, though he did have a pair of key late old-time 3-point finishes, yet was just four of 15, 1-for-7 from deep, with four turnovers, after averaging 23.0 points his previous four games. ... Guard Alijah Martin had a poor shooting night as well (5-17 and 2-12), but made some big buckets and got to the line when his team needed it on the way to 19 points, six rebounds, four assists and also four turnovers. ... So for emphasis: Clayton and Martin combined to go nine of 32 from the floor (28.1 percent), 3-for-19 from the arc (15.8 percent) and the Gators still scored 90 points and beat the blue-blood Tar Heels.
Forward Alex Condon was a mixed bag with nine points (two 3s), 10 rebounds and five assists vs. UNC, but struggled with the Heels' ball-screen action, like a lot of his teammates did. The result was too many easy drives to the basket, as Carolina shot 19-for-23 inside the 3-point line (82.6 percent). ... Center Rueben Chinyelu had four points, nine rebounds, a pair of steals and created some lanes with duck-ins off ball-screen action his teammates took advantage of. ... Backup sophomore forward Thomas Haugh (7.4 ppg, 5.5 rpg) also had some tough defensive moments in the halfcourt, but continues to make plays that directly impact winning. Like his offensive rebound and two free throws with 7.9 seconds left to push a two-point lead to four. Haugh finished with nine points, six boards and a mind-bending plus-22 on-court score in just 20 minutes. ... Junior reserve point guard Denzel Aberdeen (7.5 ppg) popped off the bench to make five of six shots, both his 3s, and score 12 points. ... Junior reserve forward Sam Alexis (6.3 ppg, 3.9) was only on the floor for six minutes, which was something of an outlier.
The Ospreys


Just how much of a fight UNF can put up may have everything to do with the availability of freshman forward Josh Harris, who started the first 11 games of the season but went down with an ankle injury in a win last Saturday against UNC Greensboro and did not play in the loss at Asheville. Harris, 6-foot-8, 210-pounder out of Penbroke Pines (Fla.), was averaging a team-high 16.4 points on 64.7 percent from the floor, including 53.8 from deep, plus 7.0 rebounds. ... Harris is one of three starters averaging at least 41 percent from the arc. Next-best is forward Liam Murphy, a transfer from Columbia, at 44.4 percent, followed by guard/forward Nate Lliteras at 41.0 percent. Lliteras also makes 50 percent overall... Four more players in the rotation shoot between 34.2 and and 35.3 from deep. ... No. 2 scorer and leading rebounder Jasai Miles has nice percentages in live action, but is just 20 of 42 from the free-throw line. ... Point guard Jaylen Smith has 76 assists to just 30 turnovers.
Numbers of Note
* 73.7 — What North Florida shot from 2-point range in its upset of Georgia Tech, based on 28 of 38 inside the arc. So the Ospreys are capable of doing it closer to the basket, if allowed.
* 78.6 — Haugh's free-throw percentage this season (which ranks fourth in the main rotation of eight players), based on his 22-for-28 at the line. The number is significant, given his activity around the basket and on the offensive glass, as Haugh made just 21 of 46 free throws (45.7 percent) as a freshman last season.
* 85.7 — Condon's 3-point percentage over the previous four games, based on his six of seven marksmanship, including six consecutive makes at one point. For the season, he's 8-for-16 (50.0 percent) after going 11-for-38 (28.9 percent) as a freshman.
* 2016 —The year Florida had to play a "home" NIT game at North Florida because of the start to the O'Connell Center renovation. The Gators wore their home white jerseys and beat the Ospreys at their own game, bombarding the sellout crowd at UNF Arena for a season-high 16 treys on the way to a 98-69 shellacking. Senior Dorian Finney-Smith led the way with 15 points and nine rebounds, as seven different Gators hit 3s, including four from KeVaughn Allen.
Bottom Line
Gators' goal: A merry, still-unbeaten Christmas.Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu
Players Mentioned
Alex Lloyd Media Availability 10-7-25
Tuesday, October 07
CJ Ingram Media Availability 10-7-25
Tuesday, October 07
Urban Klavzar Media Availability 10-7-25
Tuesday, October 07
Rueben Chinyelu Media Availability 9-30-25
Tuesday, September 30