No. 6 Florida vs Stetson (Sunday, 1 pm)

No. 6 Florida vs. Stetson

* When: Sunday, 1 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (12-0) / Stetson (2-10)
* TV: SEC Network+ (Kyle Crooks 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 / 7.6 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	5.5 pts / 6.8 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	14.0 pts / 5.3 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-2 / 195	Graduate	14.9 pts / 5.9 reb / 3.2 ast
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	17.6 pts / 3.3 reb / 3.5 ast

Stetson	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Jordan Wood	F	6-10 / NA	Senior	12.2 pts / 3.1 reb
Josh Massey	F	6-6 / NA	Senior	10.8 pts / 5.2 reb
Abramo Canka	G	6-6 / NA	Junior	10.8 pts / 5.2 reb
Tristan Goss	G	6-6 / NA	Sophomore	7.7 pts / 3.7 reb
Mehki Ellison	G	6-0 / NA	Junior	14.2 pts / 1.5 reb / 2.5 ast

The Breakdown

SETUP: No. 6 Florida and Stetson square off in the first post-holiday game for both teams. The unbeaten Gators, who moved up one spot into the Associated Press Top 25 poll and have equaled their highest ranking of the post-Billy Donovan era, are coming off a 99-45 demolition of North Florida on Dec. 21 and remain one of only four teams (along with Tennessee, Oklahoma and Drake) left in Division I without a loss. Stetson's last outing also was Dec. 21, a 103-77 win against Fort Lauderdale, a program classed in the National Christian College Athletic Association. The Hatters, who play in the Atlantic Sun Conference, snapped a 10-game losing streak.

SERIES: The Gators lead 54-14, including a run of 19 consecutive victories dating to 1984. The last meeting came Dec. 4, 2022, just a month into Coach Todd Golden's first season, as the Gators won 89-51, with five players finishing in double-figure scoring, led by sophomore Will Richard's 14 points on 4-for-4 shooting from the 3-point line. Sophomore wing Kowacie Reeves had 12 points and fifth-year guard Myron Jones had a complete game of eight points, six rebounds, five assists and no turnovers over 19 minutes. UF shot 53 percent as a team, made 11 of 22 from deep and defended the Hatters at 32 percent overall.

ETC: UF and Stetson met for the first time on an unknown date during the 1919-20 season. The Hatters actually won the first three meetings, until UF got in the victory column in 1922.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Stetson
87.6	Scoring	74.0
.470	Field-goal percentage	.442
.343	3-point percentage	.346
65.0	Scoring defense	83.3
.378	Field-goal percentage defense	.346
.279	3-point percentage defense	.388
7th	KenPom.com overall ranking	351st
6th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	316th
16th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	354th
84th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	156th
4th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	358th
140th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	245th

The Gators

One of Golden's goals heading into the season (and it was an ambitious one) was to be ranked in the top 20 in both offensive and defensive efficiency; quite an objective considering the Gators finished 94th in defense last season. Well, guess what? After suffocating UNF into 26.7-percent shooting overall and limiting one of the most prolific 3-point shooting teams in the country to only five 3s in the 54-point victory last week, the Gators are now one of just six teams in the country sitting in that dual top 20 Golden sought. Suffice to say, given Stetson's woeful struggles, those numbers could go up after Sunday, but that's why they play the games. UF also currently ranks No. 2 in offensive rebounding and is about to face an opponent that is 332nd on the defensive end.

Through 10 games, guard Walter Clayton Jr. was averaging 19.2 points per game, the highest by a player in the UF program that deep into a season this century. The last two games, however, Clayton was held to just 10.0 points a game on 7-for-21 from the floor and two of nine from deep. The Gators may not need the best version of Clayton against the Hatters, but the Southeastern Conference season starts next weekend (at Kentucky, no less). ... Fifth-year Alijah Martin hasn't exactly been on his offensive A-game the last two outings either, but like Clayton he made some huge (winning) plays in the win over North Carolina in the Jumpman Invitational. Martin had just eight points against UNF and is just 8-for-22 and 3-for-15 the last two games. That makes Clayton and Martin a combined 15 of 45 (33.3 percent) and 5-for-24 from the 3-point line (20.8 percent) over the previous two. ... As far as UF's three guards, that leaves Will Richard, who was terrific the last couple games in averaging 23.0 points on 17-for-22 shooting (that's 77.2 percent) and dropped eight of 13 long balls (61.5 percent). He also averaged 5.5 rebounds and 2.0 steals.

How 'bout those three double doubles last game? The Gators bombarded the Ospreys 65-25 on the glass, including 26-7 on the offensive end. Backup forward Sam Alexis (7.0 ppg, 4.6 rpg) posted career highs of 14 points and 12 rebounds, with super-sub Thomas Haugh (7.6 ppg, 5.8 rpg) finishing with 10 and 10. Sophomore forward Alex Condon had 10 points and 12 boards. ... UF is currently grabbing 42.2 percent of its missed shots, which ranks second in the nation -- but behind Texas A&M (44.5 percent) in the SEC. What a league. ... Forward Rueben Chinyelu has grabbed at least six rebounds in seven of the last eight games, and at least three offensive rebounds in half those eight.

Backup guard Denzel Aberdeen (7.0 ppg) had a season-low two points against North Florida, but had season highs of six rebounds and four assists in 21 minutes. ... It's confounding that reserve guard Urban Klavzar (2.7 ppg) continues to struggle with his jump shot, which is deadly daily in the practice gym. Klavzar, the Slovenian sophomore, is eight of 28 overall (28.6 percent) and just 1-for-13 from the 3-point line (7.7 percent). ... Freshman wing Isaiah Brown (3.3 ppg, 2.2 rpg) had a career-best seven points against the Ospreys, plus four rebounds and a steal.

The Hatters

They're in the sixth season under Donnie Jones, who won two national championships as an assistant alongside Donovan in 2006 and '07, then bolted for the top job at his alma mater of Marshall. After three seasons there, Jones was hired at UCF, where he spent the next six years, then later took assistant posts at Wichita State and Dayton before the Hatters came calling in 2019. Jones made history at the school last season, by winning the A-Sun Tournament and clinching the program's first NCAA Tournament berth. The Hatters, however, got a No. 16 seed and were paired against defending national champion (and eventual two-time NCAA champ) Connecticut and lost 92-51 in first-round play. After its milestone season, Stetson was gutted by the transfer portal, with its top four scorers spraying out across the country (to Miami, UC-Santa Barbara, Utah State and Middle Tennessee State), leaving Jones to rebuild basically from scratch. Oh, and the program signed no transfers to the current roster.

By analytics, the Hatters rank near the bottom of all Division I teams in net rating, including ninth from the bottom in defensive efficiency. They rank 314th or worse in seven different defensive categories and not much better when it comes to offense. Their two wins have both come against non-D1 opponents, including a season-opening victory against New College of Florida, an NAIA school in Sarasota. Stetson lost by 22 at The Citadel, by 21 at Oklahoma and by 46 at LSU. They lost by two at South Florida and again by six in overtime at home against Mercer.

Guard Mehki Ellison, a junior college convert, is shooting 50 percent from the floor and a robust 43.1 from distance on 51 attempts. He scored 23 and 25 in consecutive games against Mercer and Florida International, respectively. Ellison is the primary ball-handler for the Hatters, but has more turnovers (36) than assists (31). ... Forward Jordan Wood, at 6-10, is the height UF must contend with in the starting lineup, though the Hatters will get some minutes from 7-footer Treyton Thompson (3.3 ppg, 3.6 rpg). ... Guard Jamie Phillips Jr. (10.9 ppg, 5.4 rpg) started the first seven games of the season, but has not played since Nov. 24 when he had 12 points and seven rebounds in a loss to LaSalle.

Numbers of Note

UF guard Will Richard's 3-point shot is coming around.

* 2 — Non-conference opponents the Gators have played more than the 68 times they've faced Stetson: Florida State (75) and Miami (71)

* 3 — SEC teams ranked ahead of sixth-ranked Florida in the AP top 25 poll: 1) Tennessee, 2) Auburn, 5) Alabama. Unreal.

* 33.3 — Richard's current 3-point shooting percentage. Heading into the UNC game less than two weeks ago, he was at 25.0 percent.

* 57.5 — Points per game of their '23-24 team the Hatters lost to the transfer portal (or 74.9 percent of an offense that averaged 76.8 points), led by guard Jalen Blackmon, who took his 21.3 points to Miami, where he's now at 10.2 per game.

* 1983 —The last year Stetson defeated Florida. The date was Nov. 26. The place was the O'Dome. It was the season opener for the Gators, who would go on to post a 16-13 record, including an 11-7 mark in the SEC (their most wins in the conference in 14 years), to finish third in the final league standings.

Bottom Line

After this game, the season gets brutally real.

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu

Gators Calendar

No. 6 Florida vs Stetson (Sunday, 1 pm)

No. 6 Florida vs. Stetson

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Hatters

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Isaiah Brown

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Urban Klavzar

Alijah Martin

Will Richard

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No. 6 Florida vs Stetson (Sunday, 1 pm)

No. 6 Florida vs. Stetson

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Hatters

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Isaiah Brown

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Urban Klavzar

Alijah Martin

Will Richard

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