No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State (Tuesday, 7 pm)

No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State

* When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Humphrey Coliseum / Starkville, Fla.
* Records: Florida (20-3, 7-3) / Mississippi State (17-6, 5-5)
* TV: ESPN2 Network (Tom Hart, Dane Bradshaw and Alyssa Lang)
* 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	11.0 pts / 8.1 reb
Rueben Chinyelu	C	6-10 / 255	Sophomore	5.1 pts / 6.6 reb
Will Richard	G	6-4 / 206	Senior	13.3 pts / 5.0 reb
Alijah Martin	G	6-5 / 190	Graduate	15.3 pts / 4.9 reb
Walter Clayton Jr.	G	6-2 / 195	Senior	15.7 pts / 3.5 reb / 4.0 ast

Mississippi State	Position	Height / Weight	Class	Statistics
Cameron Matthews	F	6-7 / 235	5th-Senior	7.4 pts / 6.7 reb
Michael Nwoko	F	6-10 / 245	Sophomore	6.7 pts / 4.8 reb
RJ Melendez	G/F	6-7 / 210	Senior	8.5 pts / 4.1 reb
Claudel Harris	G	6-4 / 200	Senior	10.2 pts / 3.1 reb
Josh Hubbard	G	5-11 / 190	Sophomore	17.5 pts / 2.1 reb / 3.1 ast

The Breakdown

Humphrey Coliseum (aka "The Hump") in Starkville, Miss.

SETUP: Third-ranked Florida travels to 22nd-ranked Mississippi State for a crucial Southeastern Conference game for both teams jockeying for position in the conference standings. The Gators are coming off one of the greatest regular-season wins in program history, a 90-81 upset of top-ranked Auburn that marked their first road win over a No. 1 team. The Bulldogs, meanwhile, snapped a two-game losing skid (both of the losses coming at home) by stealing a 76-75 win at Georgia. UF sits in a two-way tie with Texas A&M for third place in the SEC standings, a half-game up on three other teams. The Bulldogs are in a three-way for eighth place. Bet on another hornet's-nest type environment at "The Hump" (maybe not as vicious as "The Jungle"), as the Gators are now officially among the so-called hunted in all of college basketball.

SERIES: UF leads 68-53, with wins in three of the previous four meetings, but a 1-2 mark in the last three on the road. The teams met once last season, with the Gators prevailing 79-70 at Exactech Arena/O'Connell Center on Jan. 24, 2024. Junior guard Will Richard scored 23 points, grabbed nine rebounds, carded two steals and a pair of blocks in one of his best games in a UF uniform, but it was fifth-year grad point guard Zyon Pullin, junior guard Walter Clayton Jr. and freshman reserve forward Alex Condon who sealed the game by combining to go 10-for-11 at the free-throw line over the final minute and a half. The ending was notable because the Gators came into the game shooting just 67.0 percent from the free-throw line and needed the conversions after the Bulldogs cut a 17-point UF lead to six inside two minutes remaining. Both Pullin and Clayton finished with 15 points.

ETC: The Gators enter their 10th consecutive week in the Associated Press Top 10, the program's longest such streak since 2014.

Tale of the Tape

Florida	Statistics	Mississippi State
83.7	Scoring	79.7
.466	Field-goal percentage	.460
.342	3-point percentage	.320
66.4	Scoring defense	71.3
.387	Field-goal percentage defense	.431
.282	3-point percentage defense	.360
5th	KenPom.com overall ranking	31st
4th	KenPom.com offensive efficiency	19th
9th	KenPom.com defensive efficiency	52nd
90th	KenPom.com adjusted tempo	201st
5th	NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET) ranking	29th
27th	Overall strength of schedule ranking	18th

The Gators

What a week for Florida. Three days after being bludgeoned by 20 on the road at Tennessee, the Gators defeated Vanderbilt at home without their point guard and leading scorer Walter Clayton Jr. (ankle). Four days later, without fifth-year guard Alijah Martin (hip pointer), they took control of their match-up against the No. 1 Tigers, built a 21-point lead and closed out the biggest road win in program history. ... In holding Auburn and the nation's No. 1 team in offensive efficiency to 43 percent overall and seven of 22 from deep (31.8 percent), the Gators moved into the top 10 nationally in offensive and defensive efficiency. They're one of three teams who can make that claim, along with No. 3 Duke (5th and 4th) and No. 6 Houston (8th and 3rd). ... UF is third nationally in effective field-goal defense, fourth in guarding the 3-point line (28.2 percent), 16th defending the 2-point area (44.9 percent) and fourth in offensive rebounding percentage (39.8). ... The Gators improved to 1-11 all-time in match-ups of top-10 teams on the road. ... In the two games since shooting 24.5 percent overall and 14.8 from 3 in the 64-44 loss at Tennessee, Florida has combined to make 54.2 percent of its shots, 42.6 of its 3 (on 23 makes) and posted 42 assists, including league-bests in each of the last two games. ... UF coach Todd Golden now has wins this season over Rick Barnes, John Calipari and Bruce Pearl. ... Florida is 4-4 in Quadrant 1 games, per the NCAA Evaluation Tool (NET), but are gunning for a second straight Q1 victory on the road.

Martin is expected to be available for the game, Golden said Monday, but the team will want to be sure and probably take the decision to pregame warm-ups. He's listed as"questionable." The Gators, obviously, could use his defense, experience and all-around outstanding game in another tough road environment, but the team circled the wagons without him in amazing fashion at Auburn. Denzel Aberdeen (7.5 ppg_) replaced Martin at the off-guard spot in the starting lineup, four days after replacing Clayton's point guard role in scoring 13 points with three assists in a career-high 35 minutes in the win over Vanderbilt. At Auburn, Aberdeen got off to a shaky start, missing his first five shots, but went 4-for-6 the rest of the way with two huge 3-pointers in the second half when the Tigers were trying to mount a comeback. ... Clayton looked like one of the best players in the country, absolutely dominating the Tigers on the way to 19 points and a career-high nine assists in furthering his case for All-America honors. ... Will Richard scored 12 points, grabbed five rebounds and played 31 minutes, despite being called for two fouls less than three minutes into the game. ... Backup guard Urban Klavzar (2.7 ppg) went 3-for-3 from the 3-point line for nine points and was a plus-17 (second-best on the team to Haugh's plus-19) on his on-court score. He's got 15 points the last two games after scoring none through the first eight SEC games.

The sophomore frontcourt tandem of Alex Condon and backup forward Thomas Haugh may have been the best duo in the country Saturday. Condon was so good he was named SEC Player of the Week for the second time this season after making 14 of his 16 shots from the 2-point area and grabbing 19 rebounds in the two games. Against Auburn -- and SEC PoY favorite Johni Broome -- "Condo" posted his fifth double-double of the season with 17 points, 10 rebounds and four assists over 33 minutes. Haugh (8.3 ppg, 6.3 rpg) had 16 points, went 7-for-8 from the free-throw line, grabbed nine rebounds, with three assists, three blocks and numerous hustle/tip plays in his 28 minutes. Haugh was a team-best plus-19. ... Backup forward Sam Alexis (5.0 ppg, 3.6 rpg) had a second consecutive game with a 3-pointer after going 13 straight without one.

The Bulldogs

Mississippi State guard **Josh Hubbard** (12)

They're in the third season under Chris Jans, who came to Starkville from New Mexico State, where he did impressive things in averaging 27.5 wins during his four seasons that were not impacted by Covid. Jans got his first two Mississippi State teams to the NCAA Tournament, both with 8-10 league records, and has this one headed in that direction, also. His teams have a reputation for scrappy play, especially on the defensive end, although the '24-25 Bulldogs are a top-20 offense and a little more generous than he'd like on defense. In four of MSU's five conference losses opponents have scored at least 88 points, but the five losses also have come against five of the best teams in the SEC (Kentucky, Alabama and Missouri at home; Auburn and Tennessee on the road). ... The Bulldogs opened the season with 14 wins in their first 15, including a 2-0 start in conference play, but are 3-5 since, with UF, No. 19 Ole Miss on the road and No. 8 Texas A&M on the docket the next three games. ... This will mark the first time since 2020 that Florida will face Mississippi State without beastly forward Tolu Smith patrolling the paint.

Point guard Josh Hubbard was one of the most electric players in the league as an All-SEC Freshman Team member last season. As a sophomore, he's No. 7 in the conference in scoring and second only to Tennessee's Chaz Lanier in made 3-pointers with 73 at a 36-percent clip. His range is Clayton-like, but he's also savvy at drawing fouls and getting to the line, where he converts at 86 percent. Hubbard has eight games with at least four 3s, two with at least five, and another two with six. In last week's home loss to Alabama, Hubbard dropped 38 points on the Tide. He had 26 against the Gators at the O'Dome last season. ... Former Florida guard Riley Kugel (9.7 ppg, 2.7 rpg) does not start for the Bulldogs, but averages 21 minutes per game -- slightly under the 23 he averaged as a sophomore with the Gators last season -- but is shooting 53 percent from the 2-point area and 35.5 percent of his 3s. One of his better games this season was 21-point outing in an overtime win against rival Ole Miss when he went 4-for-8 from distance. Kugel, of course, was a high school teammate of Aberdeen and won a Class 7A state championship at Orlando Dr. Phillips. ... If the name RJ Melendez sounds familiar it's because he came to the O'Dome last season as a Georgia Bulldog and dropped a career-high 35 in a 102-98 overtime win for the Gators. Melendez, on his third school in four years (two years at Illinois before UGA), hit six 3s in that game coming off the bench. He's shooting 28 from the arc this season.

Forward Cameron Matthews is a bruiser up front. He makes nearly 60 percent of his 2-point shots, with one of his better performances of '25 a 19-point, 10-rebound double-double in the loss to Kentucky. Matthews lead the team in assists. He had 11 rebounds against the Gators last season. ... Michael Nwoko starts in the post, but only goes about 16 minutes per. He was huge in the win at Georgia, going 5-for-5 from the floor. Nwoko, the transfer from Miami, will give way to 6-10, 230-pound junior KeShawn Murphy (10.1 ppg, 7.3 rpg), the team's top rebounder, for most low-post minutes. He's shooting 56 percent on the season, but like Nwoko is not a 3-point threat. ... Guard Claudell Harris, a transfer from Boston College by way of Charleston Southern, has the second-most 3s on the team with 49 (at nearly 35 percent). He's made at least one in all but one game this season.

Numbers of Note

Mississippi State guard **Riley Kugel** (2)

* 5 — Teams in the AP poll era (since 1948-49 season) to beat two No. 1 teams in the same season: Oklahoma '89-90 (Missouri, Kansas); Georgia Tech '92-93 (Duke, North Carolina); Arkansas '21-22 (Gonzaga, Auburn); Alabama '22-23 (North Carolina, Houston); Florida '24-25 (Tennessee, Auburn).

* 20 — Games under Golden, through his three seasons, the Gators have scored at least 90 points. Of the five other Florida coaches with at least 20 90-point games, all of them needed at least seven seasons to get there. The list: Billy Donovan (80 in 19 seasons); Norm Sloan (45 in 15 seasons); John Lotz (34 in seven seasons); Tommy Bartlett (28 in seven seasons).

* 833 — Career points from Kugel in his combined two seasons at Florida (620) and one at Mississippi State (213). He's averaged 9.6 points on 43-percent shooting (34.5 from distance), 3.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.0 steal over his 87 games (33 starts). He had 10 points, with a couple 3s, three rebounds and two steals in the Bulldogs' win Saturday at Georgia.

* 1,017 —Clayton's career point total in his two seasons as a Gator, after becoming the 57th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point milestone. For now, he sits at No. 55 (with Chris Chiozza next in line at 1,025), but with a minimum of 10 games to go we'll see where Clayton finishes on the list.

* 1,051 — Richard's career point total in his three seasons as a Gator, after becoming the 56th player in program history to hit the 1,000-point milestone two weeks ago. For now, he sits at No. 53 (one point behind Erik Murphy). We'll see where Richard eventually lands, also.

Bottom Line

The Gators went into this difficult four-game gauntlet of three games against ranked teams (and all four against Top 40 NET teams) figuring a 2-2 split would be aces. They have a chance to make it three of four. That would be a bonus and go a long way toward the quest for a top-four SEC Tournament seed and (very) high NCAA Tournament seed.

Email Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu

Gators Calendar

No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State (Tuesday, 7 pm)

No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Bulldogs

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Urban Klavzar

Riley Kugel

Alijah Martin

Zyon Pullin

Will Richard

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No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State (Tuesday, 7 pm)

No. 3 Florida at No. 22 Mississippi State

Projected Starters

The Breakdown

Tale of the Tape

The Gators

The Bulldogs

Numbers of Note

Bottom Line

Next Event

Players Mentioned

Denzel Aberdeen

Sam Alexis

Rueben Chinyelu

Walter Clayton Jr.

Alex Condon

Thomas Haugh

Urban Klavzar

Riley Kugel

Alijah Martin

Zyon Pullin

Will Richard

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