Florida Gators

No. 5 Florida vs. Missouri

 
* When: Tuesday, 9 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center / Gainesville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (15-1, 2-1) / Missouri (13-3, 2-1)
* TV: ESPNU (Mike Morgan and Pat Bradley)
* Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Stations list
  (with Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey and Steve Egan) 
* Ticket info

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Projected Starters

Florida	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Alex Condon	F	6-11 / 230	Sophomore	11.0 pts / 8.1 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	5.3 pts / 7.3 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	13.3 pts / 5.2 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-2 / 195	Graduate	15.9 pts / 5.6 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	17.2 pts / 3.3 reb / 4.0 ast

Missouri	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Mark Mitchell	F	6-9 / 230	Junior	13.5 pts / 4.8 reb
Trent Pierce	F	6-10 / 220	Sophomore	8.4 pts / 2.9 reb
Tamar Bates	G	6-5 / 195	Senior	13.0 pts / 3.0 reb
Tony Perkins	G	6-4 / 200	Senior	8.0 pts / 2.2 reb
Anthony Robinson II	G	6-3 / 180	Sophomore	10.6 pts / 3.5 reb / 4.0 ast

The Breakdown

SETUP: No. 5 Florida and Missouri meet in a match-up of two of the seven teams currently tied for second place of the Southeastern Conference standings (a game behind three teams sitting unbeaten at 3-0). The Gators are coming off one of the best weeks in all of college basketball, after smashing No. 1 Tennessee 73-43 at home and following that up with a very business-like 71-63 road win Saturday at Arkansas. The Tigers also went 2-for-2 last week, defeating LSU 83-67 and Vanderbilt 75-66, both at home. UF has won 16 consecutive home games, dating to back to January 2024.

SERIES: The Gators lead 11-4, with four consecutive victories dating to 2022, as well as a sweep of their home-and-home in 2024 when the Tigers became just the second team in SEC history to go 0-18 in conference play. UF, after losing three of its first four in league play, claimed a must-win 79-67 at Columbia on Jan. 20. Five weeks later, though, Mizzou threw a scare into Florida and its home crowd. Leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. fouled out, courtesy of a technical, with nearly 15 minutes to play. With five minutes left, the Gators offense was struggling against the Tigers' zone and led by just one point when grad transfers Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin came up with some timely, clutch buckets that pushed their team to an 83-74 win. Samuel finished with a career-high 28 points, with Pullin adding 21. The two combined for 23 of UF's final 25 points. Sophomore center Micah Handlogten had 12 points and 12 rebounds, as the Gators reached the 20-win threshold.  

ETC: UF is 6-1 at home against Mizzou, with the lone loss a 72-70 last-second defeat in the final home game of the 2021 season. 

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Missouri
86.3	Scoring	85.1
.467	Field-goal percentage	.497
.340	3-point percentage	.372
64.8	Scoring defense	68.5
.369	Field-goal percentage defense	.416
.367	3-point percentage defense	.352
5th	KenPom.com overall ranking	41st
8th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	28th
14th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	71st
80th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	176th
5th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	34th
64th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	134th

The Gators

Coach Todd Golden has 112 career victories in six seasons as head coach at San Francisco and Florida. Last week, he defeated two coaches (one already in the Naismith Hall of Fame, the other nominated for induction this year) with more than 800 wins each. His current team is rated in the top 14 in both offensive and defensive efficiency. As Golden has pointed out, every national champion since 2015 has finished in the top 20 in both. ... UF's high KenPom offensive numbers exist despite a 2-point offense that is 49th nationally and 3-point offense that is 148th (eighth in the SEC). The Gators' defense counters with the seventh in 2-point percentage surrendered (42.8) and third in 3-point (27.0). ... Florida remains one of the best rebounding teams in the country. The Gators' rebounding margin of plus-12.7 ranks first in the SEC, while their 41.4-percent offensive rebounding ranks third in the country. It's that offensive rebounding, and subsequent second-chance points, that greatly lift the efficiency numbers on offense. ... UF has yet to play beyond its main eight-man rotation in the team's three SEC games. 

Fifth-year guard Alijah Martin, who led the team with 14 points and hit four 3s at Arkansas, has averaged 19.0 points over the last four games, shot 48.3 percent from the floor and banged 13 3s to go with nine steals. He went five of 11 and four of seven from the arc last game before fouling out with just under four minutes to play. ... Over his last six games, guard Walter Clayton Jr. has scored more than 12 points only once. That was at Kentucky, where he equaled his career-high of 33, but the Gators lost. In the other five, Clayton has averaged 10.2 points and is five of 24 from the 3-point line, but also with 22 assists. Fear not, however. When Clayton's scoring rhythm returns, the points will come in bunches. ... Will Richard had just one point in the first half against the Razorbacks, but finished with 12 points, eight rebounds, two steals and made one of the biggest "winning" plays of the SEC season thus far, when he saved a ball while falling out of bounds by directing it back to forward Alex Condon, who was fouled and hit two late free throws.

Speaking of Condon. Wow. After becoming the first player in college basketball this century to post at least 12 points, 12 rebounds and four assists without a turnover against a No. 1-ranked team, he was huge at Arkansas with 12 points, 10 rebounds, four assists and three blocks. His 3-pointer with 1:23 to go -- his lone attempt from long range and making him 9-for-21 on the season (42.9 percent), basically put the game away. ... Center Rueben Chinyelu had another active performance on defense and the glass. He had seven rebounds, two blocks and fouled out after 20 minutes. ... Backup forward Thomas Haugh (7.8 ppg, 5.5 rpg) had eight points, seven rebounds, a block and steal off the bench, but also fouled out after 22 minutes. ... Reserve forward Sam Alexis (5.9 ppg, 4.9 rpg) had easily his best SEC performance, stepping into the mix with his all three of his front-court mates dealing with foul issues. Alexis scored six points and cleared seven rebounds in just 13 minutes. 
 

The Tigers

They're in the third season under Dennis Gates, the former Leonard Hamilton protege who was among a short list of candidates who interviewed for the vacant Florida job that eventually went to Golden in 2022. Gates is 46-37 with the Tigers, but that record is heavily tilted toward last season's 8-24 campaign that included 19 losses (18 in the regular, one in the SEC Tournament) against league foes. In Gates' first season, Mizzou went 25-10 and reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. His mostly rebuilt '24-25 team played one of the softest non-conference schedules in the country -- 356th out of 364 -- but crunched in those numbers was a 76-67 upset of top-ranked Kansas at Columbia, plus a narrow 80-77 neutral-site loss to Illinois, now ranked No. 13, so the Gators will underestimate the Tigers at their peril. Missouri opened SEC play with an 84-68 loss at second-ranked Auburn before winning its next two at home.

Mizzou is a solid offensive team that is efficient from both the 2- and 3-point areas, ranking 17th (58.4 percent) and 43rd (37.2) in those respective categories nationally. The Tigers also check in at No. 2 in free throws attempt vs. field goals attempted at a 51.1 percent, which means they attack, draw contact and get to the line. Missouri is a decent overall defensive club that forces turnovers on 22.5 percent of opponents' possessions (15th). They like to pack in around the paint, which makes them vulnerable from distance. And the Tigers are not a very good rebounding team (84th on the offensive end, 257th on defense), which should give the Gators an edge and opportunities in transition offense.  

Guard Tamar Bates is not among the league leaders in points in scoring (he doesn't even lead the Tigers in scoring), but check back in a few weeks. The Gators will vouch for him after he hung a career-high 38 in UF's win at Columbia last season. Bates is shooting 52.6 percent from the floor, including 38.6 beyond the arc, and is second in the league in free-throw percentage at 93.6 percent. He had 29 points and five steals in the Tigers' big win over the Jayhawks. ... Forward Mark Mitchell was a McDonald's All American out of Kansas City, Mo., signed with Duke and started 68 of 69 games for the Blue Devils the last two seasons, averaging 10.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and shooting 50.5 percent from the floor. Mitchell brought some serious pedigree (as far as talent and winning) to the Mizzou program. He had 17 points, four rebounds and three blocks against KU. ... Point guard Anthony Robinson II is the guy who makes the Tigers go. He's got five games of at least five assists, including eight in the win Saturday over Vandy, but also eight games with at least three steals, including six in one outing. ... Backup guard Marques Warrick (8.8 ppg) is in his fifth year after playing the last four at Northern Kentucky, where he scored a whopping 2,246 points. He averaged 15.8 points as a freshman and increased that number eveyr season, finishing at 19.9 as a senior. He made 306 3-pointers for the Norse and has made 28 at 46.7 percent in his half-season as a Tiger. ... Reserve guard Caleb Grill (11.3 ppg) is a sixth-year player who has transferred -- get this -- four times to three schools. He started at Iowa State, transferred to UNLV after one season, went back to Iowa State for two seasons, then to Missouri the last two. He played just nine games in '23-24, was granted a medical redshirt and returned for as sixth year. He's shooting at 51.9 percent overall and 46.7 from deep. 
 

Numbers of Note

* 0 — Florida players that fouled out in the first 15 games of the season. 

* 3 — Florida players that fouled in the 16th game of the season, making for the first time since Nov. 24, 2016 that a trio of Gators were disqualified. That instanced also ended in a win. UF defeated Seton Hall 81-76 in first-round play of the AdvoCare Invitational at ESPN Wide World of Sports. The fouled-out players were Chris Chiozza, Kasey Hill and Devin Robinson. 
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* 4 — Where the Gators rank in the SEC in offensive efficiency, despite ranking No. 8 in the country. They're behind Auburn (1st), Alabama (2nd) and Kentucky (3rd) in the league. 

* 66.7 —UF's free-throw percentage in their three SEC games, based on 48 of 72. Need to clean that up. The NCAA median is 71.9 percent, which is right where the Gators sit for the season (72.0) for their 16 games.

* 2013 — The first year Florida and Missouri played, which was also the Tigers' first season in the SEC. The date was Feb. 19. The place was the sold-out O'Dome, packed with more than 12,000. The Gators were ranked 10th, the Tigers 17th. The result was an 83-52 massacre for the home team. Junior point guard Scottie Wilbekin scored 13 points, tied his career high with 10 assists and was in the jersey of Mizzou counterpart Phll Pressey, forcing the SEC Preseason Player of the Year into a 1-for-7 shooting afternoon and a career-worst 10 turnovers. The Gators held the Tigers to 32.7-percent shooting for the game and scored 34 points off 21 turnovers. UF scored the game's first 11 points and led 40-23 at halftime. Senior forward Erik Murphy scored 15 points and grabbed five rebounds, while guard and classmate Kenny Boynton chipped in 15 more. 

Bottom Line

Rule No. 1 about SEC play: Protect home floor.

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu