MBB-Florida vs Florida Atlantic Nov 14 (Mon) 7 PM SECN

Nov 14 (Mon) 7 PM
Florida
vs
Florida Atlantic
Gainesville, FL Exactech Arena at Stephen C. O'Connell Center
Radio: Gators Sports Network from LEARFIELD

BROADCAST INFO
SEC Network | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Roy Philpott
Analyst: Mark Wise

Gators Sports Network
from LEARFIELD
SiriusXM 191 | SXM App 962
Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Lee Humphrey

• Listen
• Roster Card
• Tickets

 

HEAD COACHES
Todd Golden
2-0 | 1st season at UF
59-36 | 4th season overall

Dusty May
68-57 | 5th season at FAU/overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 3-0
All-Time vs. C-USA: 21-5
Last Meeting:
11/23/10, W, 79-66 (Home)

 

NUMBERS OF NOTE​

800​

Colin Castleton enters Monday’s game four points shy of 800 as a Gator. He looks to join Dorian Finney-Smith and Jalen Hudson as the only transfers to reach 800 points at UF.

33​

Colin Castleton added nine rebounds and three blocked shots to his career-high 33-point outing vs. Kennesaw State. He’s the only Gator since 1996 (the start of Billy Donovan’s tenure) to hit those three numbers in a game.

.667​

Will Richard has scored 29 points with just 15 field goal attempts (.667 fg%) through the first two games, shooting 7-for-9 from 2-point range and 3-for-6 on
3-pointers to go along with 6-for-6 from the free-throw line

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS​

# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
1 CJ Felder F 6-7 240 Sr. 17.0 5.5 5.5 1.5 stl
12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 250 5th 30.1 23.0 7.0 3.5 blk
5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 So. 26.2 14.5 2.5 1.5 3fg
11 Kyle Lofton G 6-3 188 Gr. 23.4 8.0 3.0 3.0 ast
14 Kowacie Reeves G 6-6 192 So. 21.0 9.5 3.5 2.0 3fg

OPPONENT POSSIBLE STARTERS​

# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
50 Vladislav Goldin F 7-1 240 So. 22.0 13.5 6.0 .684 fg%
1 Johnell Davis G 6-4 203 So. 23.5 12.5 4.0 2.0 stl
2 Nick Boyd G 6-3 175 R-Fr. 23.5 6.5 3.5 4.5 ast
4 Bryan Greenlee G 6-0 190 Jr. 27.5 6.0 4.0 3.5 ast
15 Alijah Martin G 6-2 210 So. 27.0 12.5 5.5 2.0 3f

 

GATORS AT A GLANCE​

• Florida squares off against its first in-state foe of the season to wrap up a three-game homestand, looking to keep its unbeaten record intact. Florida Atlantic comes in led by former Florida assistant coach Dusty May (2015-18).

• Florida head coach Todd Golden takes the lead of the Gators program after three seasons as head coach at San Francisco. He compiled a 57-36 record with the Dons and led them to their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998 and their first at-large selection since 1982.

• The Gators have topped 80 points in the first two games of the season for just the second time since 2009 (also did so in 2017-18). UF is shooting at a .509 clip from the field, including .389 from 3-point range.

• Colin Castleton exploded for a career-best 33 points vs. Kennesaw State, adding nine rebounds, three assists, three blocked shots and two steals. Those numbers have all been matched in a game by just one other SEC player over the past decade (Ben Simmons, LSU). Castleton is also the first Gator since Joakim Noah to post at least 30 points and eight rebounds in a game (37 & 11, 3/1/06 vs. Georgia).

• Castleton’s 33 points on Friday mark the most scored in a game by a power conference player through the opening week of the college basketball season, ahead of Hunter Dickinson (Michigan) and Michael Jones (Stanford), who both have a 31-point game under their belts.

• Will Richard has been a model of offensive efficiency early on, scoring 14 points with five field goal attempts in the opener vs. Stony Brook and adding 15 points on 10 attempts vs. Kennesaw State.

• Alex Fudge posted a career-high 16 points off the bench in his debut for the Gators.

• Kowacie Reeves has opened the season in the starting five, and he stepped up with a pair of late 3-pointers in the win vs. Kennesaw State. Reeves is looking to build off a strong postseason, when he averaged 16.3 points over the Gators’ three tournament games, including a career-best 21 vs. Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament.

• Grad point guard Kyle Lofton (Saint Bonaventure), a three-time All-A-10 player who scored 1,613 points in four seasons with the Bonnies, came to Florida via the transfer portal. UF also brings in a trio of transfers who all have three years of eligibility remaining: junior Trey Bonham (VMI), sophomore Alex Fudge (LSU), and sophomore Will Richard (Belmont).

• Bonham averaged 11.3 points over two seasons at VMI, and Richard averaged 12.1 per game during his freshman campaign at Belmont. Jacksonville native Alex Fudge looks to make a jump after limited opportunities during his freshman season at LSU

• UF also added a pair of freshmen who shared a backcourt at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips High School in Denzel Aberdeen and Riley Kugel, along with big man Aleks Szymczyk out of Frankfurt, Germany.

• Carlin Hartman joins the Florida staff as associate head coach, bringing 22 years of collegiate coaching experience including five seasons on Lon Kruger’s staff at Oklahoma. Korey McCray also comes to UF as associate head coach, bringing experience at Mississippi State, LSU, and UCLA to the Gators. Assistant coach Kevin Hovde rounds out the coaching staff, coming from his alma mater Richmond after coaching five seasons with Golden at San Francisco

 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT

• The Owls feature an experienced and deep team, returning four out of five starters and their top six scorers from 2021-22.

• FAU head coach Dusty May, who was an assistant coach at Florida from 2015-18, has led the Owls to four consecutive winning seasons, which
is an FAU school record.

• Last season, the Owls displayed a high-flying offense with single-season school-records in points (2,519), 3-pointers made (299), and field goals made (907).

• Through FAU’s first two games this season, the 7-foot-1 Vladislav Goldin leads the way with 13.5 points and 6.0 rebounds per game.Johnell Davis (12.5) and Alijah Martin (12.5) are both averaging double-figure scoring, as well.

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES​

March 9 *vs. Southern Miss W 86-59
March 10 *vs. UAB L 66-80
March 20 ^vs. Northern Colorado L 71-74
Nov. 7 Lynn W 81-46
Nov. 11 at Ole Miss L 67-80
*C-USA Tournament; ^CBI

ALL-TIME SERIES (3-0)​

Nov. 27, 2000 H W 100-42
Nov. 23, 2004 H W 90-45
Nov. 23, 2010 H W 79-66

UF VS. CURRENT C-USA TEAMS (13-0) Since 2000​

Nov. 27, 2000 Florida Atlantic W 100-42
March 16, 2001 *vs. Western Kentucky W 69-56
Dec. 15, 2001 vs. Charlotte W 73-52
Nov. 19, 2002 Louisiana Tech W 76-55
Nov. 23, 2004 Florida Atlantic W 90-45
Nov. 24, 2006 vs. Western Kentucky W 101-68
Dec. 30, 2006 UAB W 75-70
Nov. 23, 2010 Florida Atlantic W 79-66
Jan. 3, 2012 UAB W 79-61
Nov. 18, 2012 vs. Middle Tennessee W 66-45
Nov. 21, 2013 Middle Tennessee W 79-59
Nov. 27, 2014 vs. UAB W 56-47
Dec. 17, 2016 vs. Charlotte W 87-46
*NCAA Tournament

UF VS. FORMER ASSISTANTS (19-2) Since 2000​

Dec. 22, 2001 New Orleans (Towe) W 76-60
Feb. 17, 2003 New Orleans (Towe) W 77-48
March 16, 2006 *vs. S. Alabama (Pelphrey) W 76-50
Feb. 2, 2008 at Arkansas (Pelphrey) L 61-80
Jan. 17, 2009 Arkansas (Pelphrey) W 80-65
March 12, 2009 ^vs. Arkansas (Pelphrey) W 73-58
Jan. 21, 2010 at Arkansas (Pelphrey) W 71-66
Feb. 4, 2010 at Alabama (Grant) W 66-65
Dec. 1, 2010 vs. UCF (Jones) L 54-57
Jan. 22, 2011 Arkansas (Pelphrey) W 75-43
March 1, 2011 Alabama (Grant) W 78-51
Feb. 14, 2012 at Alabama (Grant) W 61-52
March 9, 2012 ^vs. Alabama (Grant) W 66-63
Nov. 23, 2012 UCF (Jones) W 79-66
March 2, 2013 Alabama (Grant) W 64-52
March 16, 2013 ^vs. Alabama (Grant) W 61-51
Jan. 23, 2014 at Alabama (Grant) W 68-62
Feb. 8, 2014 Alabama (Grant) W 78-69
Jan. 27, 2015 at Alabama (Grant) W 52-50
March 12, 2015 ^vs. Alabama (Grant) W 69-61
Dec. 6, 2020 Stetson (Jones) W 86-40
*NCAA Tournament; ^SEC Tournament
Alabama: Anthony Grant
UCF/Stetson: Donnie Jones
South Alabama/Arkansas: John Pelphrey
New Orleans: Monty Towe