Feb 8 (Wed) 9 PM SEC Florida at Alabama Tuscaloosa, AL Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD Watch Listen Live Stats HEAD COACHES Todd Golden 13-10 | 1st season at UF 70-46 | 4th season overall Nate Oats 81-39 | 4th season at Alabama 177-82 | 8th season overall MATCHUP BASICS All-Time Series: 70-77 All-Time/Away: 22-48 Series under Golden: 0-0 Away under Golden: 0-0 vs. Top-5 under Golden: 1-1 All-Time vs. Top-5: 23-63 All-Time Away vs. Top-5: 2-31 Last Meeting: L, 70-83, 1/5/22 (Home)
FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 250 Gr. 31.2 15.6 7.7 3.1 blk 0 Myreon Jones G 6-3 177 Gr. 20.6 5.3 3.0 2.3 ast 5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 So. 27.7 10.3 4.6 1.7 3fg 11 Kyle Lofton G 6-3 188 Gr. 31.3 9.0 3.0 3.0 ast 24 Riley Kugel G 6-5 207 Fr. 18.9 6.6 2.5 0.9 stl OPPONENT POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 15 Noah Clowney F 6-10 210 Fr. 25.3 10.0 8.3 1.1 blk 24 Brandon Miller F 6-9 200 Fr. 33.0 18.8 8.2 3.1 3fg 14 Charles Bediako C 7-0 225 So. 20.0 5.5 5.3 1.5 blk 0 Jaden Bradley G 6-3 185 Fr. 21.8 7.7 2.9 3.3 ast 1 Mark Sears G 6-1 185 Jr. 30.7 13.7 3.8 2.0 3fg
NUMBERS OF NOTE 4Florida faces four different top-5 teams in a season for the first time in program history. Four total games vs. top-5 teams marks UF’s most since playing four in 2014-15, Billy Donovan’s final season. This also marks the first time since 1976-77 that the Gators square off against multiple different top-5 SEC opponents. 20With his performance at Kentucky, Colin Castleton became the first player since Dwyane Wade 20 years ago (3/8/03 vs. UK) to post 25 points, eight rebounds, five assists, three blocked shots and a steal against an SEC team.
GATORS AT A GLANCE• Florida visits Alabama to face another top-5 opponent after notching a win vs. #2 Tennessee last week in Gainesville. The Gators are looking for the first top-3 road win in program history, going 0-16 in such games entering Wednesday’s contest. • This marks the first time in program history that Florida plays three AP top-5 opponents in a four-game span. With two of those three on the road and the lone non-top-5 game a trip to Kentucky, the last two weeks make up the toughest four-game stretch in program history. • Florida ranks 10th in defensive efficiency and eighth in effective field goal percentage defense nationally (KenPom) as Florida has held SEC opponents to .372 from the field and .251 from 3-point range. • Colin Castleton leads UF in scoring (15.6), rebounding (7.7), blocked shots (71), free throws made (96), assists (63) and steals (22). Will Richard paces Florida with 37 made 3-pointers and a .411 3-point percentage. • As a team, the Gators’ 6.0 blocked shots per game rank third in the NCAA. Individually, Castleton’s 3.09 blocked shots per game rank fourth the nation. • Colin Castleton’s 20 points and nine rebounds led the Gators’ win vs. #2 Tennessee, along with Kyle Lofton’s 14 points and four rebounds. Both Lofton and Will Richard posted a +26 plus-minus. The win marked Florida’s sixth all-time top-2 win and matched the highest ranked home win in program history. • Florida turned in a complete performance vs. South Carolina, where Colin Castleton’s 18 points led five scorers in double figures and the Gators dished a season-high 21 assists vs. five turnovers. Myreon Jones flirted with a triple-double with 10 rebounds and eight assists -- both career highs -- to go along with nine points and zero turnovers. • UF built a 16-point first-half lead at Mississippi State, then staved off the Bulldogs’ rally, getting a stop on the final possession of the game to seal the win. Colin Castleton posted 13 points, while Will Richard added 12 on 4-for-5 shooting from 3-point range. Kyle Lofton and Myreon Jones combined for 11 assists and zero turnovers, and Lofton chipped in a season-high and team-leading eight rebounds. • Colin Castleton earned SEC Player of the Week honors on Jan. 16 behind two strong performances in the wins at LSU and vs. #20 Missouri. At LSU, Castleton posted 18 points and five blocks with a career night at the free throw line (12-for-15). He followed up with an all-around performance against Mizzou, tallying 16 points, 13 rebounds, a career-high six assists, three steals and two blocked shots. • The Gators’ win at LSU snapped the Tigers’ 13-game home winning streak. As UF made its 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. • 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.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT • Alabama is a perfect 11-0 at home this season and boasts a 10-0 SEC mark, led by projected top-5 NBA Draft prospect Brandon Miller. Miller is the SEC’s leading scorer (18.8 ppg) and 3-point shooter (.442, 72/163) at 6-foot-9. • Mark Sears scores 13.7 points per game and Noah Clowney adds 10.0. Clowney also grabs a team-leading 8.3 rebounds per game, followed closely by Miller’s 8.2. • Jaden Bradley has dished a team-leading 77 assists, while Charles Bediako has blocked 35 shots and Sears has 33 steals. OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES Jan. 21 at Missouri W 85-64 Jan. 25 Mississippi State W 66-63 Jan. 28 at Oklahoma L 69-93 Jan. 31 Vanderbilt W 101-44 Feb. 4 at LSU W 79-69 OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES Feb. 11 at Auburn Feb. 15 at Tennessee Feb. 18 Georgia Feb. 22 at South Carolina Feb. 25 Arkansas LAST 20 VS. ALABAMA (15-5) March 13, 2008 SEC L 69-80 Feb. 18, 2009 H W 83-74 Feb. 4, 2010 A W 66-65 March 1, 2011 H W 78-51 Feb. 14, 2012 A W 61-52 March 9, 2012 SEC W 66-63 March 2, 2013 H W 64-52 March 16, 2013 SEC W 61-51 Jan. 23, 2014 A W 68-62 Feb. 8, 2014 H W 78-69 Jan. 27, 2015 A W 52-50 March 12, 2015 SEC W 69-61 Feb. 13, 2016 H L 55-61 Jan. 10, 2017 A W 80-67 Feb. 3, 2018 H L 50-68 Feb. 27, 2018 A W 73-52 Feb. 16, 2019 A W 71-53 Jan. 4, 2020 H W/2OT 104-98 Jan. 5, 2021 A L 71-86 Jan. 5, 2022 H L 70-83 UF’S ALL-TIME TOP-3 WINS (12-37) Dec. 12, 1961 #3 Wake Forest W 71-65 Dec. 18, 1967 #3 Vanderbilt W 74-72 Jan. 17, 1984 #3 Kentucky W 69-57 March 24, 2000 *vs. #1 Duke (Syracuse) W 87-78 Nov. 29, 2002 vs. #2 Kansas (NYC) W 83-73 March 6, 2005 #3 Kentucky W 53-52 March 26, 2006 *vs. #3 Villanova W 75-62 Dec. 23, 2006 #3 Ohio State W 86-60 April 2, 2007 *vs. #1 Ohio State (Atlanta) W 84-75 Nov. 27, 2009 vs. #2 Mich. St. (Atlantic City) W 77-74 Feb. 19, 2022 #2 Auburn W 63-62 Feb. 1, 2023 #2 Tennessee W 67-54 *NCAA Tournament
Not a must win, but a loss here leaves us with just one Q1 opportunity left. Win this and we just need to finish decently well to be in the tourney. Huge huge opportunity. Let’s pray Miller gets in foul trouble, I’d put him in a tonnnn of ball screen situations.
Just like the last two games......a victory will depend on both D and 3 point shooting. Lofton had the hot hand last game (3 for 3) so I would try to get him the ball in outside shooting as much as possible at the start and see if he continues....
Probably the least likely game for us to win all season by Ken Pomeroy. But Bama lives by the 3 and we do a good job defending the arc. If they are having an off night and we hit all of our open shots we have a puncher's chance.
The success for Lofton comes from moving around and being fed the ball when he is wide open and has his feet set. Something Kowacie, Jones, Kugel and Richard all need to try to have the best chance at success when shooting threes.
Also, we matchup well physically with them. If CC has a good game scoring and feeding the ball to teammates and the guys around him don’t take bad threes as soon as they come in, I would say we have a good chance. The things we can’t control the refs have not been kind to us.
I'm not saying you're wrong about the matching up, but aren't we starting a 4-guard lineup against a team with 3 players 6'9" or taller? I think our edge against them is experience, if anything. They're probably starting 2 freshmen, good ones I'll admit, and a sophomore. My $.02.
I suspect bama will dominate the glass on both ends - which means we'll have to shoot well above our season average and maintain defensive intensity for 40 minutes.
Alabama is obviously really good, but in their 10-0 SEC record they’ve only played 3 teams with winning conference records. 5th place Kentucky, t7th place Mizzou, and t7th place Arkansas.
Yea that’s the not so great part. MSU went in there and almost beat them and I imagine even though they’re pulling great crowds, the Gators don’t bring the same excitement they used to on the road so maybe we’ll catch a sleepy crowd.
