Sunday, January 18
Gainesville, FL
2 p.m.
Florida Gators
vs
Missouri
Gators Return Home For Sunday TIlt vs. Missouri
Friday, January 16, 2026 | Women's Basketball
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Women's Basketball Team returns to Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center this Sunday for a 2 p.m. EST tip against the Missouri Tigers (13-7, 1-4). The game is being broadcast on SECN+.
Although the Gators (12-8, 0-5) are still searching for their first conference victory of the season, they have been knocking on the door of a number of big wins, including their most recent result at No. 7/9 Kentucky Thursday evening. Florida trailed by as many as 17 in the first quarter to the Wildcats, but over the next two periods they pushed Kentucky back on its collective heels, with the Gators taking their first lead of the game late in the third. Unfortunately, the Wildcats scored eight of the last 10 points of the evening to secure the 94-89 win.
Me'Arah O'Neal scored 23 points on six of 12 shooting in the loss, while Liv McGill added a 20-point, 11-assist double-double. Those 11 assists, tied McGill's career high. Jade Weathersby added a season-high 18 points, and Alexia Dizeko and Laila Reynolds poured in 12 and 11 respectively.
It was one of the best offensive performances of the season for the Gators as their 89 points were their second highest output of the year. Florida also made 57.1 percent of its field goal attempts on the night, which is its second-best shooting effort of the season.
The Gators defense remains its calling card as they have held 15 of 20 foes below 70 points this season, and seven teams below 60 points. Florida's field goal percentage allowed (.380) is the 26th lowest in the country among major conference institutions, and its three-point field goal percentage allowed (.273) is the 13th lowest among that group.
McGill's 20 points increased her career total to 1,028, and pulled her to within 11 and 13 points respectively of Talatha Bingham '99 (1,039 points) and Nina Rickards '23 (1,041) in 27th and 26th place on the Gators career scoring chart.
McGill has also put herself in the running for the Nancy Lieberman Award presented annually to the Division I Women's Basketball player who exemplifies the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Nancy Lieberman during her career. The sophomore was left off the 20-player preseason list, but the mid-season watch list is due to come out at the end of the month. McGill is averaging 23.2 points, 5.8 assists and 3.00 steals per game, while the 20 players on the preseason list are averaging a collective 14.3 points, 5.3 assists and 2.17 steals.
Missouri picked up its first SEC win of the season Thursday in a 94-69 victory over Arkansas. That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tigers who finished non-conference play with a 12-3 mark.
Missouri makes quite a bit of its living from beyond the arc as the Tigers are connecting on 38.3 percent of their three-point field goal attempts on the season, which is the sixth highest percentage in the country. They are making an average of 9.0 threes per game which are tied for 21st in the nation. Missouri also ranks seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.801).
Junior guard Grace Slaughter is the Tigers' leading scorer at 18.5 points per game, and she connects on 39.2 percent of her field goal attempts. She is also Missouri's leading rebounder at 7.7 per contest. junior guard Shannon Dowell (15.5 ppg) and senior forward Jordana Reisma (10.6) are also averaging double figures in scoring on the year.
Florida is 6-11 all-time against Missouri, but has won four straight in the series including a 93-67 road victory on January 12 of last year. Liv McGill recorded the program's fourth triple double in the win (21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), while Jeriah Warren scored a game-high 27 points. Warren connected on six of nine from three-point range, as the Gators made 12 of 23 as a team on the night.
Missouri (13-7, 1-4)
PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS
GATOR BITES
TIGERS QUICK HITS
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Although the Gators (12-8, 0-5) are still searching for their first conference victory of the season, they have been knocking on the door of a number of big wins, including their most recent result at No. 7/9 Kentucky Thursday evening. Florida trailed by as many as 17 in the first quarter to the Wildcats, but over the next two periods they pushed Kentucky back on its collective heels, with the Gators taking their first lead of the game late in the third. Unfortunately, the Wildcats scored eight of the last 10 points of the evening to secure the 94-89 win.
Me'Arah O'Neal scored 23 points on six of 12 shooting in the loss, while Liv McGill added a 20-point, 11-assist double-double. Those 11 assists, tied McGill's career high. Jade Weathersby added a season-high 18 points, and Alexia Dizeko and Laila Reynolds poured in 12 and 11 respectively.
It was one of the best offensive performances of the season for the Gators as their 89 points were their second highest output of the year. Florida also made 57.1 percent of its field goal attempts on the night, which is its second-best shooting effort of the season.
The Gators defense remains its calling card as they have held 15 of 20 foes below 70 points this season, and seven teams below 60 points. Florida's field goal percentage allowed (.380) is the 26th lowest in the country among major conference institutions, and its three-point field goal percentage allowed (.273) is the 13th lowest among that group.
McGill's 20 points increased her career total to 1,028, and pulled her to within 11 and 13 points respectively of Talatha Bingham '99 (1,039 points) and Nina Rickards '23 (1,041) in 27th and 26th place on the Gators career scoring chart.
McGill has also put herself in the running for the Nancy Lieberman Award presented annually to the Division I Women's Basketball player who exemplifies the floor leadership, play-making and ball-handling skills that personified Nancy Lieberman during her career. The sophomore was left off the 20-player preseason list, but the mid-season watch list is due to come out at the end of the month. McGill is averaging 23.2 points, 5.8 assists and 3.00 steals per game, while the 20 players on the preseason list are averaging a collective 14.3 points, 5.3 assists and 2.17 steals.
Missouri picked up its first SEC win of the season Thursday in a 94-69 victory over Arkansas. That snapped a four-game losing streak for the Tigers who finished non-conference play with a 12-3 mark.
Missouri makes quite a bit of its living from beyond the arc as the Tigers are connecting on 38.3 percent of their three-point field goal attempts on the season, which is the sixth highest percentage in the country. They are making an average of 9.0 threes per game which are tied for 21st in the nation. Missouri also ranks seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.801).
Junior guard Grace Slaughter is the Tigers' leading scorer at 18.5 points per game, and she connects on 39.2 percent of her field goal attempts. She is also Missouri's leading rebounder at 7.7 per contest. junior guard Shannon Dowell (15.5 ppg) and senior forward Jordana Reisma (10.6) are also averaging double figures in scoring on the year.
Florida is 6-11 all-time against Missouri, but has won four straight in the series including a 93-67 road victory on January 12 of last year. Liv McGill recorded the program's fourth triple double in the win (21 points, 11 rebounds, 10 assists), while Jeriah Warren scored a game-high 27 points. Warren connected on six of nine from three-point range, as the Gators made 12 of 23 as a team on the night.
Missouri (13-7, 1-4)
- Date: Sunday, Jan. 18
- Time: 2 p.m. EST
- Site: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
- Listen: WRUF 98.1 FM / 850 AM
- Watch: SECN+
- Live stats: FloridaGators.com
- Improve the Gators' record to 13-8 on the year, and 1-5 in the SEC.
- Improve Florida's record to 10-3 at home on the season.
- Be the Gators fifth straight victory over Missouri.
- Improve Florida's records against Missouri to 7-11 overall and 4-5 at home.
| Florida | Missouri | |
| 75.0 | PPG | 75.1 |
| 62.6 | OPP PPG | 71.3 |
| +12.5 | SCORING MARGIN | +3.8 |
| 44.9 | FG % | 45.1 |
| 38.0 | OPP FG% | 39.8 |
| 26.3 | 3 FG% | 38.3 |
| 27.3 | OPP 3 FG% | 31.5 |
| 4.9 | 3FG/G | 9.0 |
| 70.7 | FT % | 80.1 |
| 39.7 | REBOUNDS/G | 38.6 |
| 37.0 | OPP REBOUNDS/G | 36.9 |
| +2.7 | REB MARGIN | +1.8 |
| 13.4 | ASSISTS/G | 13.9 |
| 16.8 | TURNOVER/G | 16.3 |
| +0.80 | A/TO RATIO | +0.85 |
| 10.6 | STEALS/G | 6.7 |
| 4.35 | BLOCKS/G | 3.65 |
PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS
| No. | Ht. | Pos. | Class | Hometown/Previous School | |
| Me'Arah O'Neal | 8 | 6-4 | F | So | Houston Texas |
| Emilija Dakic | 7 | 5-10 | G | Fr. | Melbourne, Australia |
| Laila Reynolds | 13 | 6-1 | G | Jr. | PG County, Md. |
| Caterina Piatti | 14 | 6-4 | F | Fr. | Scandiano, Italy |
| Liv McGill | 23 | 5-9 | G | So | Minneapolis, Minn. |
GATOR BITES
- Through games of Saturday, Jan. 17, Florida is … 12th in the SEC this season in points per game (75.0) ... 13th in scoring defense (62.5) ... 12th in scoring margin (+12.5) ... 12th in field goal percentage (.449) ... 9th in field goal percentage defense (.380) ... 16th in three-point field goal percentage (.263) ... 5th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.273) ... 10th in offensive rebound percentage (.360) ... 15th in defensive rebound percentage (.663) ... 14th in assists (13.4) ... 7th in steals (10.6) ... 11th in blocked shots (4.35).
- The Gators have held 15 of 20 opponents below 70 points this season.
- Florida is ranked 34th in the nation in free throws made per game (15.1), and 32nd in free throw attempts per game (21.4) through games of Thursday, January 15.
- Florida's NET rating, which helps determine which teams make the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Championship, is No. 58 through games of Thursday, Jan. 15.
- Liv McGill and Me'Arah O'Neal have each earned SEC Player of the Week honors this season.
- Liv McGill became the 28th player in Florida Women's Basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career when she connected on a free throw line jumper in the second quarter, Jan. 11 at Auburn. She is 11 points back of Talatha Bingham '99 (1,039 points) in 27th place, and 13 points back of Nina Rickards '23 (1,041) in 27th place.
- Liv McGill became the first player in Gators women's basketball history to be named a US Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 11. She averaged 27.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.00 steals while connecting on 40.9 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in Florida's three wins. She also was named the SEC Player of the Week for her performance during that same stretch of games.
- Liv McGill was named the most outstanding player of the Grand Cayman Classic over Thanksgiving weekend when she averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
- Liv McGill has three games this season of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. The other 4,500-+ players competing in women's basketball at the Division I level have seven 25-5-5-5 games … combined.
| No. | Ht. | Pos. | Class | Hometown / Previous Schools | |
| Grace Slaughter | 0 | 6-2 | G | Jr. | Grain Valley, Mo. / |
| Shannon Dowell | 1 | 5-10 | G | Jr. | O'Fallon, Ill. / Illinois State |
| Jordana Reisma | 10 | 6-3 | F | Sr. | Brown Deer, Wis. / Cleveland State |
| Chloe Sotell | 22 | 6-0 | G | So. | Stamford, Conn. / Pepperdine |
| Abbey Schreacke | 23 | 6-0 | G | Jr. | Quincy, Ill. / |
TIGERS QUICK HITS
- Members of the media and league coaches picked Missouri to finished 13th in the SEC this season.
- The Tigers are 2-2 on the road this season with both losses coming in SEC competition.
- Missouri is ranked sixth in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (.383).
- The Tigers are making an average of 9.0 threes per game which is tied for 21st in the nation.
- Missouri ranks seventh in the nation in free throw percentage (.801).
- The Tigers are allowing 71.3 points per game on the season which is the second highest average in the SEC.
- Opponents are connecting on 39.8 percent of their field goal attempts against Missouri, which is the 15th highest figure in the conference.
- Missouri is averaging 6.65 steals per game which is the second lowest figure in the SEC.
- Grace Slaughter is averaging the second most minutes played in the conference (35.8) behind Florida's Liv McGill (36.4).
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Players Mentioned
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