Florida (9-7/2-2 SEC) vs. #20 Missouri (13-3/2-2 SEC) Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Billy Donovan Court Gainesville, Fla. | Game 17 | Jan. 14, 2023 | 3:30 p.m. Watch Listen Live Stats Roster Card Tickets BROADCAST INFO SEC Network | ESPN App Play-by-Play: Mike Morgan Analyst: Daymeon Fishback Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD SiriusXM 381 | SXM App 971 Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley Analyst: Lee Humphrey
HEAD COACHES Todd Golden 9-7 | 1st season at UF 66-43 | 4th season overall Dennis Gates 13-3 | 1st season at Missouri 63-43 | 4th season overall MATCHUP BASICS All-Time Series: 8-4 All-Time/Home: 4-1 Series under Golden: 0-0 Home under Golden: 0-0 Last Meeting: W, 66-65, 2/2/22 (Away
GATORS AT A GLANCE • Florida squares off against a top-20 Missouri team that brings a 13-3 overall record into Gainesville. The Gators are looking to build off back-to-back SEC wins. • The Florida defense and Colin Castleton’s 18-point, five-block performance powered Tuesday’s win at LSU, which snapped the Tigers’ 13-game home winning streak. As they made their second-half run, the Gators got timely 3-pointers from Myreon Jones and Riley Kugel, each of whom assisted on the other’s big basket. • The Gators had five players in double figures in their win vs. UGA, led by Kyle Lofton’s season-high 18. Colin Castleton posted 12 points, eight rebounds, seven blocked shots and five assists, while Will Richard added 14 points and nine rebounds. Myreon Jones (season-high 13 points) and Kowacie Reeves (12) both added a scoring spark off the bench, as UF enjoyed a 35-17 bench scoring edge. • Colin Castleton leads UF in scoring (14.9), rebounding (7.4), blocked shots (50), free throws made (68) and co-leads in steals (16). Kyle Lofton has a team-high 46 assists, and Trey Bonham’s 24 3-point field goals are UF’s most. • As a team, the Gators’ 6.1 blocked shots per game rank third in the NCAA. Individually, Castleton’s 3.12 swats per game also rate third the nation. • 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. Reeves also came back from the holiday break strong, leading UF with 15 points at Auburn. • Alex Fudge had a four-game stretch from Nov. 30-Dec. 14 when averaged 13.3 points and a team-high 8.3 rebounds, 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 had a pair of double-doubles over that span, posting 16 and 10 vs. FAMU and 13 and 10 vs. Ohio. • Through Will Richard’s first seven appearances of the season, he displayed impressive efficiency scoring 13+ points six times while shooting .607 from the field, .586 from 3-point range and .947 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). • Colin Castleton’s double-double vs. Xavier (11 points, 10 rebounds) was the 15th of his career, 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. • 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.
FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 3 Alex Fudge F 6-9 200 So. 22.8 7.5 5.2 0.9 blk 12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 250 Gr. 30.2 14.9 7.4 3.1 blk 2 Trey Bonham G 6-0 170 Jr. 19.4 9.5 2.8 1.8 ast 5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 So. 26.8 9.8 4.4 1.4 3fg 11 Kyle Lofton G 6-3 188 Gr. 30.0 9.1 2.4 3.3 ast OPPONENT POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 13 Ronnie DeGray III F 6-6 225 Jr. 10.4 2.4 1.8 0.5 blk 24 Kobe Brown F 6-8 250 Sr. 24.9 15.3 5.6 2.4 ast 2 Tre Gomillion G 6-4 210 Gr. 18.8 5.2 2.8 2.1 ast 5 D’Moi Hodge G 6-4 188 Gr. 27.2 15.5 3.9 2.9 3fg 10 Nick Honor G 5-10 200 Gr. 29.8 9.6 1.9 3.6 ast
NUMBERS OF NOTE 11Colin Castleton sits 11 points from his 1,000th as a Gator, poised to be UF’s 55th member of the 1,000-point club and the first addition since Chris Chiozza in 2018. He would join Dorian Finney-Smith (1,220; 2013-16) as the only transfers to tally 1,000 for UF. 20Colin Castleton has taken his shot blocking to a new level in SEC play, swatting 20 over the first four SEC games with four or more in all four contests. 1stThis marks the Gators’ third straight game that features first-year head coaches at their current stop, with Florida and Todd Golden getting the best of Georgia and LSU over the last two games.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT • Missouri #20 in the AP poll in its first season under head coach Dennis Gates, who came to Mizzou from Cleveland State. Mizzou leads the SEC (all games) with 85.7 points per game, a .494 field goal percent- age, a +7.3 turnover margin, 18.6 assists and 11.6 steals per game. • The Tigers earned a road win at Wichita State and neutral-site victo- ries vs. UCF and Illinois during nonconference play before routing Kentucky to open SEC action. • Cleveland State transfer D’Moi Hodge leads Mizzou with 15.5 points per game, making 2.9 3-pointers per game at a .402 clip (47-for-117). Hodge also has a team-leading 44 steals. • All-SEC performer Kobe Brown averages 15.3 points and a team-high 5.6 rebounds. Brown posted 31 points vs. Illinois and 30 against Kentucky to lead the Tigers. • DeAndre Gholston (10.8 ppg) and Noah Carter (10.6) have both started 10 gaems, but more recently have been coming off the bench. • Nick Honor (57 assists) and Sean East II (51) both average more than three assists per game OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES Dec. 22 vs. Illinois W 93-71 Dec. 28 Kentucky W 89-75 Jan. 4 at Arkansas L 68-74 Jan. 7 Vanderbilt W 85-82 Jan. 11 at Texas A&M L 64-82 OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES Jan. 18 Arkansas Jan. 21 Alabama Jan. 24 at Ole Miss Jan. 28 Iowa State Feb. 1 LSU ALL-TIME SERIES (8-4) Jan. 19, 2013 H W 83-52 Feb. 19, 2013 A L 60-63 Feb. 4, 2014 H W 68-58 March 14, 2014 SEC W 72-49 Feb. 24, 2015 A L 52-64 March 5, 2016 A W 82-72 Feb. 2, 2017 H W 93-54 Jan. 6, 2018 A W 77-75 Feb. 23, 2019 H W 64-60 Jan. 11, 2020 A L 75-91 March 3, 2021 H L 70-72 Feb. 2, 2022 A W 66-65
So last night they got blown out at A&M? Interesting, 3 guard lineup with one starter at 5-10. No true big. CC might have a chance to keep his block numbers up. Looks like the starters don't have average a ton of minutes.
We're improving as a team and this is a great opportunity to keep the growth going and get a big win. I hope to see better 3-point shooting. Doesn't have to be great; merely average shooting would make us a tough team to beat.
Mizzou is 8th in the country in 2 point field goal percentage at almost 60%. They're also 7th in assists and #1 in steals. Very well-balanced squad and will be a great test for us.
If we hit a decent percentage of our 3 point shots we can win this one, but that is a big ask. You can copy and paste that for all of our games. LOL.
Interesting points. Makes me worry about fouls. If the wrong people rack some up, the game could get out of reach fast.
"Inside Gators Basketball" with Todd Golden on right now on Bally Sports Florida, channel 50 Central Fla. Spectrum.....
Pretty interesting. Missouri seems to be a different beast with the small lineup approach. What's a comparable for a team we've played?
Florida Atlantic, perhaps? They've quietly gone 15-1 and have a higher kenpom than us. They killed us with quickness and 3s. But we defend the 3 a lot better now than we did then.
Watching a Patric Young video ranking Top 5 in SEC, he put Missouri third. He also put UT second but said "you have to be worried with their scoring droughts." Which appears to have happened today, so way to go, Big Pat.
