Florida 10-4/0-1 SEC vs. RV/#23 Ole Miss 13-1/0-1 SEC SJB Pavilion at Ole Miss (9,500) | Oxford, Miss. Game 15 | Jan. 10, 2024 | 9 p.m. EST BROADCAST INFO SEC Network | ESPN App Play-by-Play: Kevin Fitzgerald Analyst: Richard Hendrix Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley Analyst: Lee Humphrey Producer/Engineer: Steve Egan
FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 4 Tyrese Samuel F 6-10 239 Gr. 27.5 13.5 8.7 1.5 stl 3 Micah Handlogten C 7-1 235 So. 17.7 6.8 7.5 .661 fg% 0 Zyon Pullin G 6-4 206 Gr. 29.5 14.9 3.5 4.8 ast 1 Walter Clayton Jr. G 6-2 195 Jr. 29.6 15.7 3.9 3.3 ast 5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 Jr. 29.1 11.1 3.6 1.9 3fg OPPONENT POSSIBLE STARTERS # Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc. 3 Jamarion Sharp F 7-5 235 Sr. 18.4 3.9 4.4 2.6 blk 4 Jaemyn Brakefield F 6-8 220 Sr. 28.1 11.6 5.7 2.1 ast 5 Jaylen Murray G 5-11 170 Jr. 31.2 14.4 2.5 2.2 3fg 7 Allen Flanigan G 6-6 215 Sr. 32.0 16.2 7.3 3.4 ast 11 Matthew Murrell G 6-4 200 Sr. 34.4 16.4 3.8 2.3 3fg
HEAD COACHESTodd Golden 26-21 | 2nd season at UF 83-57 | 5th season overall Chris Beard 13-1 | 1st season at Ole Miss 250-99 | 12th season overall MATCHUP BASICS All-Time Series: 70-48 All-Time Away: 23-32 Series under Golden: 1-0 Away under Golden: 0-0 Last Meeting: W, 79-64, 2/15/23 (Home)
NUMBERS OF NOTE 40%The Gators have the sixth-best offensive rebounding rate in the nation at 40.0 percent. Three players average multiple offensive rebounds, including Micah Handlogten (3.8), Tyrese Samuel (3.2) and Alex Condon (2.0). 3Florida has had three games this season with multiple 20-point scorers. The Gators had just one such game over the previous three seasons (2/26/22 at Georgia). 1,000Walter Clayton Jr. enters Wednesday’s game with 991 career points, nine away from the 1,000-point career mark. Clayton scored 771 over two seasons at Iona and has 220 this season at Florida.
THE TIP-OFF• Florida hits the road for its first SEC road contest looking to bounce back from a razor-close setback vs. sixth-ranked Kentucky in the league opener. The Gators look to snap a three-game skid in Oxford, where UF was the first visiting team to win in the SJB Pavilion in 2016 before dropping the next three visits. • UF has won six of its last seven games, as a 6-0 December accounted for its longest winning streak since another six-game streak in Nov. 2021. It also joins Nov. 2021 as UF’s only undefeated months of the past 10 seasons (since 2014-15). • Both Walter Clayton Jr. and Zyon Pullin posted 23 points in Saturday’s SEC opener vs. Kentucky. Pullin has scored in double figures in all 11 appearances this season and ranks second in the SEC with 4.8 assists per game. • Down low, Tyrese Samuel leads the SEC with 8.7 rebounds per game and a .646 field goal percentage and is one of three Gators averaging multiple offensive rebounds per game (3.2), along with Micah Handlogten (3.8) and Alex Condon (2.0). 2023-24 HIGHLIGHTS• Zyon Pullin scored 22 and Tyrese Samuel posted 21 points and 11 rebounds in the Gators’ double overtime victory vs. Michigan in Charlotte. Pullin’s 3-pointer with 8.9 seconds remaining in the first overtime forced the second extra session, where an 11-0 UF run put the game away. • In his homecoming game at Lakeland vs. East Carolina, Walter Clayton Jr. exploded for 20 first-half points on the way to a team-leading 22. Clayton scored 10 of the Gators’ first 12 points out of the gate playing just down the road from his hometown of Lake Wales. • Will Richard earned Orange Bowl Classic MVP honors as he scored 19 of his 21 points in the second half to lead the Gators vs. Richmond. Richard posted a solo 9-0 run as he hit three 3-pointers in a 90-second span that helped create separation vs. the Spiders. • Walter Clayton Jr. scored 21 of his 26 points vs. Merrimack in the second half. Freshman Alex Condon added his first career double-double with 12 points and 16 rebounds. Condon’s 16 boards were the most by a Florida freshman since Al Horford’s 18 vs. Alabama during the 2004-05 season. • Florida came up just short against 13th-ranked Baylor in the NIT Season Tip-Off championship game as Riley Kugel exploded for 25 points and nine rebounds, both career highs. Tyrese Samuel and Zyon Pullin earned All-Tournament Team honors, and Samuel added SEC Player of the Week recognition. • The Gators topped Pitt in the first game of the NIT Season Tip-Off behind 28 points from Walter Clayton Jr. on 6-for-8 shooting from 3-point range, a 20-point, 10-rebound performance from Tyrese Samuel and a 24-to-8 assist-to-turnover showing as a team. • Florida blitzed Florida State, leading 27-5 before taking a 52-22 advantage into halftime. The Gators shot .643 and held the Seminoles to .258 from the field during the first half. Walter Clayton Jr. led UF with 19 points, while Zyon Pullin and Tyrese Samuel added 15 each and Thomas Haugh grabbed 10 rebounds.
ABOUT THE OPPONENT• Ole Miss posted a 13-0 nonconference record in its first season under Chris Beard, including home wins vs. Memphis and North Carolina State and a road victory at UCF. • Returner Matthew Murrell leads the team at 16.4 points per game with 32 made 3-pointers (.386), adding 30 steals on the defensive end. • Auburn transfer Allen Flanigan scores 16.2 per game and is grabbing a team-high 7.3 rebounds per game. • Saint Peter’s transfer Jaylen Murray adds 14.4 points per game and has dished a team-high 51 assists and shoots .456 from 3-point range (31-for-68). • Returner Jaemyn Brakefield rounds out the double-figure scorers at 11.6 points per game. • The 7-foot-5 Jamarion Sharp, a Western Kentucky transfer, has blocked 36 shots, averaging an SEC-leading 2.57 swats per game. OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GADec. 16 vs. California W 88-78 Dec. 19 Troy W 74-53 Dec. 23 vs. Southern Miss W 89-72 Dec. 31 Bryant W 95-78 Jan. 6 at Tennessee L 64-90 OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES Jan. 13 Vanderbilt Jan. 17 at LSU Jan. 20 at Auburn Jan. 24 Arkansas Jan. 27 at Texas A&M LAST 20 VS. OLE MISS (14-6) Jan. 16, 2008 A L 87-89 Jan. 10, 2009 H W 78-68 Feb. 20, 2010 A W 64-61 Jan. 8, 2011 H W 77-71 Jan. 26, 2012 A W 64-60 Feb. 2, 2013 H W 78-64 March 17, 2013 SEC L 63-66 Feb. 22, 2014 A W 75-71 Jan. 24, 2015 A L 71-72 Feb. 12, 2015 H L 61-62 Jan. 16, 2016 A W 80-71 Feb. 9, 2016 H W 77-72 Jan. 3, 2017 H W 70-63 Jan. 13, 2018 A L 72-78 Jan. 30, 2019 H W/OT 90-86 Jan. 14, 2020 H W 71-55 Feb. 8, 2020 A L 51-68 Jan. 12, 2021 H W 72-63 Jan. 24, 2022 A L 54-70 Feb. 5, 2022 H W/OT 62-57 Feb. 15, 2023 H W 79-64
As crazy as it is, since it feels like the season just started, our time to turn into a clear NCAA tournament team is quickly running out. We are now actually out of the tournament, according to some. You at some point have to win the big games somewhat consistently or else you are going to be watching the NIT selection show on Selection Sunday. It pains me to think a team of this caliber won’t turn the corner and I really hope this is the game that is that corner. A win here gives you a huge confidence boost and sets you up with a home game against a floundering Arkansas team to get above .500 in SEC play before heading to Knoxville.
If we play well there are a ton of easier wins in the back half of the schedule, but not many that’ll impress the committee. Agree we need this one. Also likely a 1-3 SEC start with a loss here.
It’s a long conference season, so the idea our “time is running out” is pretty absurd. It’s fair to say you don’t want to start 0-2 and put yourself in a hole. Especially for a team that maybe has its sights on getting that double bye in the SECT. But either way, at some point as long as we stay in touch, running off a 4 or 5 game win streak puts us back in. I think all we need for the NCAA at the end of the day is 10 SEC wins with the conference being pretty strong overall, so not panic time yet. But it would be nice to see us reel off some wins to get off the perpetual bubble.
It’s really not and no offense to you, but that's what annoys me as the season goes. People pretend there is no urgency. Currently, we are 0-3 in Q1 games. We have ZERO wins. Now, yes, we have 7 opportunities currently left, but two of them (@ Kentucky and @ Tennessee) are going to be incredibly difficult to win. Which gets you down to 5 opportunities left. And you say it's absurd to pretend we are running out of time which probably indicates you think tonight isn't a must win, so with a loss tonight our opportunities are down to 4. That leaves us with @ Texas A&M (41), vs. Auburn (7), @ Alabama (6) and @ South Carolina (55). 3 road games. A place we have not shown much ability to win yet, but say we win vs. Auburn and @ South Carolina. Well USC has had a very easy schedule and is likely to topple out of the top 75 which would leave us with one Q1 win. Then you have to navigate the landmines that are the two Vanderbilt (239) games with your lone Q1 win. With our schedule left we could go 10-8 and have zero Q1 wins. We aren't getting in in that scenario. We just aren't. Some will always say we have plenty of time because technically we have at least 18 games left, but you could say the same if you start 0-4. "Well, we have 14 games left." Start 1-4? "Well, we have 13 games left." It's never over until it's over, but in a realistic scenario, this team needs to win and it needs to win now.
