Florida Gators

Florida vs. LSU

 
* When: Tuesday, 8 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (16-7, 6-4) / LSU (12-11, 4-6)
* TV: SEC Network (Tom Hart and Dane Bradshaw)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Sean Kelley and Lee Humphrey) / Stations list
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Tyrese Samuel	F	6-10 / 239	Graduate	13.0 pts / 8.1 reb
Micah Handlogten	G	7-1/ 236	Sophomore	6.9 pts / 7.7 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Junior	11.2 pts / 3.9 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Junior	16.0 pts / 3.7 reb
Zyon Pullin	G	6-4 / 206	Graduate	15.6 pts / 3.8 reb / 4.9 ast

LSU	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Jalen Reed	F	6-10 / 226	Sophomore	8.0 pts / 4.6 reb
Will Baker	C	7-0 / 245	Senior	12.4 pts / 5.1 reb
Jordan Wright	F	6-6 / 230	Graduate	15.0 pts / 5.0 reb
Mike Williams III	G	6-3 / 180	Freshman	7.9 pts / 2.9 reb
Trae Hannibal	G	6-2 / 223	5th-Senior	5.0 pts / 3.0 reb

The Breakdown

Setup / Series / Last Meeting

Florida and LSU square off in a game between two Southeastern Conference teams heading in opposite directions. The Gators have won five of six after dominating No. 12 Auburn 81-65 at home Saturday in a game they led by as many as 29 early in the second half. The Tigers have dropped five of their previous six, including Saturday when No. 16 Alabama came to Baton Rouge and left with a 109-92 drubbing. ... UF currently sits in a three-way tie for fifth (with Kentucky and Texas A&M) in the SEC standings, one game behind fourth-place Tennessee. The top four teams at the end of the regular season get double-byes into the SEC Tournament. LSU rests in 10th place and is one of six league teams with a sub-.500 record in conference play. ...  LSU leads the all-time series 66-52, but UF has won the last two and four of the previous five. The teams met twice last year with the Gators sweeping the two games. The Gators won 67-56 on the road on Jan. 10, 2023 and 79-67 in the regular-season finale March 4 in Gainesville, where UF was celebrating "Senior Night" for fifth-year forward Colin Castleton, who was out for the season with a broken wrist. In that one, Florida fell behind by a dozen early in the second half before rallying behind freshman guard Riley Kugel, who scored 17 of his game-high 21 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the comeback. Kugel hit six of eight shots in the second half, going 4-for-5 from distance, to give him an eighth consecutive double-figure scoring output and matching the longest such streak for a freshman since Bradley Beal in 2012. Sophomore wing Will Richard posted 18 points, six rebounds, two assists and a pair of steals. Richard went 7-for-10 from the floor, with some huge buckets to keep his team in the game during the first half, and was three of six from the 3-point line. Fifth-year point guard Kyle Lofton, one of three UF players honored during pregame "Senior Night" ceremonies, had 16 points, five rebounds, five assists and two steals. ... Florida is 10-1 at home this season, while LSU is 1-5 on the road. 

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	LSU
84.7	Scoring	77.7
.453	Field-goal percentage	.460
.337	3-point percentage	.350
76.5	Scoring defense	74.5
.430	Field-goal percentage defense	.418
.326	3-point percentage defense	.342
26th	KenPom.com overall ranking	87th
11th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	90th
69th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	88th
30th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	50th
31st	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	94th
30th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	48th

Team Snapshots

The Gators

The victory over Auburn was the second in nine Quadrant 1 opportunities, per the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET). Their next Q1 game will be next week's trip to Alabama, but in between that

one are two games the Gators will be favored to win after shooting up 10 spots in the NET. Florida's resume needs more wins of any kind, while continuing to avoid bad losses. The Gators are 14-0 in Quad 2-4 games. ... UF thoroughly outplayed Auburn on both ends of the floor, especially over the game's first 32 minutes. Facing a defense that ranked first in the nation in guarding the 2-point area (allowing just 42.5 percent) and 20th defending the 3 (just 29.9 percent), the Gators shot 48.2 percent from 2 and just shy of 39 from 3 before missing their final 10 field-goal attempts over the game's last nine-plus minutes. By then, though, Florida led by 29 so the cold spell didn't matter. Defensively, UF held Auburn to just 32 percent in the first half to build a 16-point lead at the break, but surrendered 54 percent in the second half. They also took care of the basketball, committing only seven turnovers against a defense that was forcing nearly 14 per game, which was yet another testament to the steady and stellar play of point guard Zyon Pullin, who over 37 minutes against ferocious defenders had just one turnover. Pullin, who finished with 19 points, six rebounds and three assists in the game, continues to lead the SEC in assist-to-turnover ratio (99 to 24). ... Florida's three guards were sensational in the Auburn game, as backup sophomore Riley Kugel (11.0 ppg, 3.7 rpg), plus the starting duo of Walter Clayton Jr. and Pullin combined to score 61 of the team's 81 points, shot a collective 18 of 43 from the floor, 7-for-17 from distance and had just two of the seven turnovers. Kugel poured in a game-high 22 points, hitting seven of 16 shots, including three of seven 3s, and all five of his free throws over 29 minutes. The output was his highest since scoring 24 in a loss at Wake Forest on Nov. 30. Clayton had 20 points, banged three of six 3s, and grabbed six rebounds. ... Center Micah Handlogten two weeks earlier totaled 23 points and 17 rebounds in an overtime win over Georgia, but his all-around game against Auburn was every bit as impressive in the physical nature with wich he took on the challenge. Handlogten finished with four points, nine rebounds, four blocks and three steals over 26 minutes banging against the Tigers' formidable frontcourt. ... Forward Tyrese Samuel had just eight points and two boards over 25 minutes, far below his season averages. Wing Will Richard had just two points and three rebounds. The lower productivity from those two spoke to this team's identity. It's different guys every night. Opponents can't take just one or two players away. Others will step up. ... Backup forwards Alex Condon (7.3 ppg, 6.7 rpg) and Thomas Haugh (3.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg) combined for six points and 10 rebounds, as the Gators called on just eight players in the game. 
 

The Tigers

They're in the second season under Coach Matt McMahon, who came to LSU after seven seasons at Murray State, where he won 121 games, three Ohio Valley Conference championships and

reached the NCAA Tournament three times his last five seasons. The Tigers' two-year record under McMahon, who was a finalist for the UF job that went to Golden, is 26-27, including 6-22 in SEC play. ... LSU has a couple bad losses on its resume, none worse than the 68-66 defeat to cross-state foe Nichols State. The Tigers, however, also have a couple wins that should raise the collective eyebrows of the Gators: they smashed Texas A&M 68-53 on the road to open the conference season. They also defeated Ole Miss, which blasted UF earlier this season. The last three losses have come against league powers Alabama (twice) and Tennessee by a combined 58 points. ... Statistically, the Tigers are a middling SEC team on both ends of the floor, though they do rank fourth in effective field-goal and 3-point shooting percentages. The Gators do not want to allow them to get comfortable on offense. ... The Tigers' leading scorer is 6-foot backup point guard Jalen Cook (15.9 ppg, 5.0 rpg, 2.6 apg), who played his freshman season at LSU, transferred to Tulane, and has come full circle in returning to the Tigers. Cook was a two-time first-team All-American Athletic Conference selection with the Green Wave, where he averaged 19 points over his two seasons and became the program's all-time assist leader. He's averaging 27 minutes a game and is capable of going off, with a couple career games of 30 points. ... Center Will Baker, who transferred from Nevada, is shooting 54 percent from the floor and nearly 36 percent from the 3-point line, so he'll be able to draw either Handlogten, Samuel or Condon away from the basket and open the floor. ... Forward Jordan Wright had some solid games against the Gators over his previous four seasons at Vanderbilt, including a double-double of 10 and 10 in the Commodores' win at the O'Dome last year. His 39 makes from deep top the team. ... Forward Jalen Reed signed with the Gators in the fall of '21, but opted out after the coaching change from Mike White to Golden. ... Guard Mike Williams III is having a solid rookie season at 42 percent from the floor and 38 from the arc (with 30 makes). ... Point guard Trae Hannibal, built like a football player, came with McMahon from Murray, but before that was at South Carolina and roughed up the Gators a couple times. He's only 6-foot, but is shooting 57 percent from the floor by using his body to muscle into position inside. His matchup against Pullin should make for quite a fight. ... Backup guard Tyrell Ward is another threat from deep with 29 makes at 39.2 percent. 
 

Numbers of Note

* 5 — Florida players this century to reach double-figure scoring in at least 20 consecutive games, a milestone achieved over the weekend by Pullin. He joined Anthony Roberson (29 straight), Castleton (24), Kenny Boynton (23) and Udonis Haslem (23) on that very short list. 

* 4 — Single-digit turnover games for the Gators over their past six outings (a run that followed 12 consecutive double-figure turnover games). When they protect the ball, good things happen. 

* 10 — Points needed by Richard to hit 1,000 for his college career, including a freshman season at Belmont when he scored 401. 

* plus-37 — Pullin's assists versus turnovers in SEC play, based on 49 of the former and just 11 of the latter. 

* 2017 — The last time the Gators were 10 games over .500 in the month of February, something they have a chance to do with a victory Tuesday. 
 

Bottom Line

If the Gators protect their home floor (which means winning this game, plus three more after that), they'll be in the NCAA Tournament. No question.