OGT-MBB-Florida vs. Oklahoma 12/20 9:30 pm ESPN2

Florida (7-4/0-0 SEC) vs. Oklahoma (8-3/0-0 Big 12)
Spectrum Center (19,000) | Charlotte, N.C.
Jumpman Invitational | Game 12 | Dec. 20, 2022 | 9:30 p.m.

BROADCAST INFO
ESPN2 | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Jon Sciambi
Analyst: Jay Bilas
Reporter: Angel Gray
Gator Sports Network
from LEARFIELD
SiriusXM 158/190 | SXM App 961
Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Lee Humphrey

 

HEAD COACHES
Todd Golden
7-4 | 1st season at UF
64-40 | 4th season overall

Porter Moser
27-19 | 2nd season at Oklahoma
320-261 | 19th season overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 2-2
All-Time/Neutral: 1-1
All-Time vs. Big 12: 26-20
vs. Big 12 under Golden: 0-1
Last Meeting:
L, 74-67, 12/1/21 (Away)

 

1994​

The Gators return to Charlotte for the first time since competing in the
program’s first Final Four in 1994.

4​

Four Gators are averaging double-figure scoring over the Gators’ last
four games: Kowacie Reeves (14.5), Alex Fudge (13.3), Trey Bonham
(12.3) and Colin Castleton (10.0).

5​

Florida’s associate head coach Carlin Hartman spent five seasons
at Oklahoma coaching on Lon Kruger’s staff (2015-21). He was
on the Sooners’ bench for a pair of Florida-Oklahoma contests, which
the teams split (2017 and 2018).

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
3 Alex Fudge F 6-9 200 So. 22.5 8.9 5.4 1.1 blk
12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 250 Gr. 28.4 15.2 7.5 2.6 blk
2 Trey Bonham G 6-0 170 Jr. 18.3 9.8 2.7 2.0 ast
5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 So. 27.3 11.2 4.1 1.7 3fg
11 Kyle Lofton G 6-3 188 Gr. 29.0 9.1 2.8 4.1 ast

OKLAHOMA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
1 Jalen Hill F 6-6 232 Sr. 31.0 7.7 4.6 .828 ft%
34 Jacob Groves F 6-9 216 Sr. 26.3 10.1 2.7 1.5 3fg
35 Tanner Groves F 6-10 240 Sr. 25.5 10.9 6.6 1.2 blk
12 Milos Uzan G 6-4 183 Fr. 21.6 4.9 1.4 3.2 ast
25 Grant Sherfield G 6-2 201 Sr. 33.5 17.6 2.8 .553 3fg%

 

GATORS AT A GLANCE​

• The Gators return to Charlotte for the first time since the team’s Final Four appearance in 1994 as Florida and Oklahoma meet in the Jumpman Invitational.

• It marks the fourth meeting in the seven seasons between UF and OU, ramping up for the schools’ forthcoming Southeastern Conference rivalry. The Gators topped the Sooners in a Jan. 2017 road meeting as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, while OU won the Nov. 2018 Battle 4 Atlantis contest. Oklahoma also took last season’s game in Norman, with a meeting in Gainesville slated for the 2023-24 nonconference schedule to complete the home-and-home series.

• Prior to the recent flurry of showdowns between the Gators and Sooners, Florida won the only previous meeting, a Dec. 1995 overtime victory in Oklahoma City during Lon Kruger’s final season at UF.

• Kowacie Reeves exploded for 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting vs. Ohio, including 4-for-7 from 3-point range, to lead the Gators’ rout in Tampa. Both of Reeves’ collegiate 20-point games have come at Amalie Arena, as his career-high 21 points was vs. Texas A&M at the 2022 SEC Tournament held there.

• Alex Fudge has averaged 13.3 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds over the Gators’ past four games, shooting 18-for-32 (.563) from the field, 3-for-6 from 3-point range, and hitting 14 of 15 free throw attempts (.933). Fudge has a pair of double-doubles over that span, posting 16 and 10 vs. FAMU and 13 and 10 vs. Ohio.

• Florida posted a pair of wins vs. in-state foes (FAMU, Stetson) that saw five Gators score in double figures in both games, led by Trey Bonham’s 23 points vs. Florida A&M and Will Richard’s 14 against Stetson.

• Will Richard has provided efficient scoring from the wing, tallying at least 13 points in seven of his 10 appearances while shooting .567 from the field, .531 from 3-point range and .905 from the free throw line.

• Riley Kugel made his first career start vs. Florida A&M, marking six straight seasons and 15 of the last 16 in which a freshman started at least one game for UF (every season since 2007-08 except 2016-17). Kugel co-led the Gators with 13 points vs. UConn.

• Colin Castleton’s double-double vs. Xavier (11 points, 10 rebounds) marked his 15th as a Gator, tying him with Joakim Noah and Chandler Parsons for fifth-most by a Gator since the 1996-97 season.

• UF’s 19-point rally at Florida State marked the fourth-largest in team history and the largest on the road since a 22-point comeback at South Carolina on Feb. 24, 1993. Castleton scored 19 of his 25 points in the second half.

• Colin Castleton opened the season on fire and posted back-to-back 30-point outings, notching a career-best 33 vs. Kennesaw State and 30 vs. FAU. An individual has recorded back-to-back 30-point games nine times in UF history and Castleton is the seventh different player to accomplish the feat (see page 6 for full list).

• Castleton became the first Gator with a 30-point double-double since Joakim Noah (37/11 vs. Georgia, 3/1/06) and the only SEC player since the 1996-97 season with 30 points, 12 rebounds and five blocked shots in a game, a stat line he accomplished vs. FAU.

• Golden compiled a 57-36 record over three seasons at San Francisco and led the Dons to their first NCAA Tournament bid since 1998 and their first at-large selection since 1982

 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT​

• Porter Moser leads Oklahoma in his second season at the helm of the
program. The Sooners posted a 19-16 mark and reached the second round of the NIT in his first season.

• Senior Grant Sherfield, a Nevada transfer who also played his freshman season at Wichita State, leads the Oklahoma attack. He enters Tuesday’s contest averaging 17.6 points and 4.2 assists while knocking down 31 of 56 3-point attempts (.554) and producing consistently at
the free throw line (35-for-39, .897).

• The Groves brothers are both averaging double-figure scoring, with
Tanner at 10.9 per game along with team-leading 6.6 rebounds and
13 blocked shots while Jacob scores 10.1 per game.
• Oklahoma is a contrast in tempo from the Gators, playing at KenPom’s
#336 adjusted tempo (64.0) compared to Florida’s #29 pace of play (72.6).

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES
Nov. 27 vs. Ole Miss W 59-55
Dec. 3 at Villanova L 66-70
Dec. 6 Kansas City W 75-53
Dec. 10 vs. Arkansas L 78-88
Dec. 17 Central Arkansas W 87-66

OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES
Dec. 31 Texas
Jan. 4 Iowa State
Jan. 7 at Texas Tech
Jan. 10 at Kansas
Jan. 14 West Virginia

ALL-TIME VS. OKLAHOMA (2-2)
Dec. 30, 1995 N W/OT 76-72
Jan. 28, 2017 A W 84-52
Nov. 21, 2018 N L 60-65
Dec. 1, 2021 A L 67-74

LAST 10 VS. BIG 12 (4-6)
Jan. 27, 2018 Baylor W 81-60
March 17, 2018 *vs. Texas Tech (Dallas) L 66-69
Nov. 21, 2018 vs. Oklahoma (Bahamas) L 60-65
Dec. 4, 2018 vs. West Virginia (NYC) W 66-56
Jan. 26, 2019 at TCU L 50-55
Jan. 25, 2020 Baylor L 61-72
Jan. 30, 2021 at West Virginia W 85-80
Dec. 1, 2021 at Oklahoma L 67-74
Jan. 29, 2022 Oklahoma State W 81-72
Nov. 27, 2022 vs. West Virginia (Portland) L 55-84
*NCAA Tournament; ^NIT

 

Will Castleton's Turnaround Be Sooner(s) or Later?
Defenses have marked fifth-year forward Colin Castleton since his scoring spree to start the season, but the Gators (and Castleton) see things turnaround soon. Preferably, Tuesday night in Charlotte against Oklahoma in the Jumpman Invitational.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Last month, Colin Castleton left his apartment and headed for the parking lot to hop in his car and head to campus for a workout.

His 2019 Dodge Durango was gone. Yes, stolen.

Local police were on the case the last three weeks and finally got a break over the weekend when authorities in Georgia got a hit on the vehicle and — get this — made an arrest Sunday after a high-speed chase through a couple counties that ended ended in a crash. No injuries, thankfully, but the Florida fifth-year senior standout will be driving his rental car a while longer while insurance companies sort things out.


Though his shots haven't fallen of late, Colin Castleton (12) has maintained a high level on the defensive end.

OK, so now that Castleton's car was found (such as it is), the next order of business is to find that level of play the 6-foot-11, 250-pound post man was enjoying about a month ago when he averaging 25.3 points (third in the country at the time) and shooting 55 percent from the floor over the season's first first four games. In the seven games since, three of them losses, Castleton's numbers have dropped to 9.4 points per game and 40.6 percent from the floor.

In last week's lopsided win over Ohio in Tampa, Castleton posted six points and eight rebounds, making three of eight shots, but was nonetheless active on both ends of the floor over his nearly 27 minutes. If he's been frustrated with his scoring fall-off, Castleton has done a pretty good job of fighting through it and keeping the team, rather than individual statistics, top of mind.

"Offensively, yeah, I've going through a little bit of a struggle, a little slump, but all good players — all great players — have these situations," Castleton said, adding that the keys to working through such times are staying with routine, staying positive and staying in the gym. "I know how good of a player I am. I feel like I'm getting to all my spots, which is what I've talked to the coaches about. I'm making good moves, but the shots haven't fallen. That's just basketball. And it always turns the other way when you put the work in."

That's exactly the approach Castleton has taken, with the next opportunity for things to turn coming late Tuesday night when the Gators (7-4) face Oklahoma (8-3) in the inaugural Jumpman Invitational at Spectrum Center, home to the NBA Charlotte Hornets. The notion that Castleton will rocket his numbers back to where they were early season is probably unrealistic, but this more polished and offensively versatile version of the UF "big" is certainly capable of posting the kinds of digits — 14.4 points a game — he did over 52 games the last two seasons with the Gators.

In fact, Castleton's current '22-23 average stands at 15.2, so maybe things are about to even out.