OGT- Florida vs. LSU 2/13/2024 8

Florida 16-7/6-4 SEC vs. LSU 12-11/4-6 SEC 8:00 SECN
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Billy Donovan Court

Florida 16-7/6-4 SEC vs. LSU 12-11/4-6 SEC
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Billy Donovan Court
Gainesville, Fla. | Game 24 | Feb. 13, 2024 | 8 p.m.

Florida 16-7/6-4 SEC vs. LSU 12-11/4-6 SEC
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151) | Billy Donovan Court
Gainesville, Fla. | Game 24 | Feb. 13, 2024 | 8 p.m.

BROADCAST INFO
SEC Network | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Tom Hart
Analyst: Dane Bradshaw

Gators Sports Network from LEARFIELD
Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley
Analyst: Lee Humphrey
Producer/Engineer: Steve Egan
Gainesville, Fla. | Game 24 | Feb. 13, 2024 | 8 p.m.

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
4 Tyrese Samuel F 6-10 239 Gr. 27.5 13.0 8.1 1.2 stl
3 Micah Handlogten C 7-1 235 So. 20.1 6.9 7.7 .670 fg%
0 Zyon Pullin G 6-4 206 Gr. 32.4 15.6 3.8 5.0 ast
1 Walter Clayton Jr. G 6-2 195 Jr. 30.5 16.0 3.7 2.4 3fg
5 Will Richard G 6-4 206 Jr. 28.8 11.2 3.9 1.9 3fg

LSU POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
13 Jalen Reed F 6-10 226 So. 23.0 8.0 4.6 1.0 blk
9 Will Baker C 7-0 245 Gr. 24.5 12.4 5.1 1.0 ast
0 Trae Hannibal G 6-2 221 5th 19.0 5.0 3.0 2.5 ast
2 Mike Williams III G 6-3 181 Fr. 20.1 7.9 2.2 1.4 ast
6 Jordan Wright G 6-6 230 Gr. 30.9 15.0 5.0 2.7 as

 

HEAD COACHES
Todd Golden
32-24 | 2nd season at UF
89-60 | 5th season overall

Matt McMahon
26-30 | 2nd season at LSU
180-97 | 9th season overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 52-66
All-Time Home: 32-22
Series under Golden: 2-0
Home under Golden: 1-0
Last Meeting: W, 79-67, 3/4/23 (Home)

 

NOVEMBER
6 Loyola Maryland SEC+ W 93-73
10 vs. RV Virginia (Charlotte) ACC Net. L 70-73
14 Florida A&M SEC+ W 89-68
17 Florida State SEC Net. W 89-68
22 vs. Pitt (Brooklyn) ESPN2 W 86-71
24 vs. #13/12 Baylor (Brooklyn) ESPN L 91-95
29 at Wake Forest ESPNU L 71-82
DECEMBER
5 Merrimack SEC+ W 77-57
9 vs. Richmond (Sunrise) SEC Net. W 87-76
14 vs. ECU (Lakeland) SEC Net. W 70-65
19 vs. Michigan (Charlotte) ESPN W/2OT 106-101
22 Grambling State SEC+ W 96-57
30 Quinnipiac ESPNU W 97-72
JANUARY
6 #6 Kentucky ESPN L 85-87
10 at RV/#23 Ole Miss SEC Net. L 85-103
13 Arkansas ESPN W 90-68
16 at #6/7 Tennessee ESPN L 66-85
20 at Missouri ESPNU W 79-67
24 Mississippi State SEC Net. W 79-70
27 Georgia ESPN2 W/OT 102-98
31 at #10/8 Kentucky ESPN W/OT 94-91
FEBRUARY
3 at Texas A&M ESPN2 L 66-67
10 #12/11 Auburn SEC Net. W 81-65
13 LSU SEC Net. 8 p.m.
17 at Georgia SEC Net. 1 p.m.
21 at #15 Alabama ESPN2 7 p.m.
24 Vanderbilt SEC Net. 1 p.m.
28 Missouri SEC Net. 6:30 p.m.
MARCH
2 at #11 South Carolina SEC Net. 1 p.m.
5 #15 Alabama ESPN/2 9 p.m.
9 at Vanderbilt SEC Net. 4:30 p.m.
13-17 SEC Tournament (Nashville)

 

NUMBERS OF NOTE
7​

Florida committed just seven turnovers in Saturday’s win vs. #12
Auburn, matching its season low (1/24 vs. MSU). The Gators have
had single-digit turnovers in four of their last six outings.

56​

Florida picked up its fourth top-25 win in the team’s 56th game under
Todd Golden. Golden became the second-quickest UF coach to get
his fourth ranked win, only trailing Tommy Bartlett (30, hired in 1966).

1,000​

Will Richard stands at 990 career points, 10 away from the 1,000-
point milestone. He scored 399 in one season at Belmont and has 591
as a Gator.

 

THE TIP-OFF​

• Florida welcomes LSU for the only regular season meeting between the teams. UF enters with five wins in its last six games and boasts a 10-1 home record this season, most recently besting 12th-ranked Auburn, 81-65, in a game the Gators led by as many as 29.

• Zyon Pullin leads the SEC in assist/turnover ratio both overall (4.1) and in conference play (4.5), and his 5.0 assists per game rank second in the SEC. Pullin has scored 10+ points in every appearance this season, and his 20-game double-figure scoring streak is the fifth-longest by a Gator since 1996-97.

• Florida has two of the top three offensive rebounders in the SEC in Micah Handlogten (3.3) and Tyrese Samuel (3.1), and UF’s 39.8% offensive rebounding rate is second-highest in the nation. Samuel has nine double-
doubles with three 20/10 outings, including his 22-point, 13-rebound effort in the win at #10 Kentucky.

2023-24 HIGHLIGHTS​

• Florida’s win vs. #12 Auburn marked the Gators’ 15th in a row at home vs. the Tigers. Riley Kugel’s 22 points led the Gators, along with 20 points from Walter Clayton Jr. and 19 by Zyon Pullin, while the Gators matched a season low with just seven turnovers.

• The Gators notched a big resume win in their victory at 10th-ranked Kentucky, led by a trio of 20-point scorers in Walter Clayton Jr. (23), Tyrese Samuel (22) and Zyon Pullin (21). Clayton’s 3-pointer with 3.0 seconds left in
regulation forced overtime and another with 1:42 left in overtime put the Gators ahead for good.

• Micah Handlogten posted 23 points and 17 rebounds in the win vs. Georgia, while Zyon Pullin scored seven of his 20 points in the overtime period. andlogten is just the fifth SEC player over the last 10 seasons to post 23 and 17 in a conference game, joining Oscar Tshiebwe, Sindarius Thornwell, Ben Simmons & Jordan Mickey.

• Will Richard led the Gators with 23 points and nine rebounds in the win vs. Mississippi State as Florida committed a season-low seven turnovers. Zyon Pullin and Walter Clayton Jr. each added 15 points.

• Five Gators scored in double figures in the victory at Mizzou, led by Tyrese Samuel’s 17, while Micah Handlogten posted a 10-point, 13-rebound double-double.

• Five Gators in double figures highlighted UF’s win vs. Arkansas, as Riley Kugel scored 20 points off the bench to lead the way and Tyrese Samuel added a double-double with 17 points and 11 rebounds.

• 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.

• 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.

 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT​

• LSU opened SEC play with a win at Texas A&M and has added home victories against Vanderbilt, Ole Miss and Arkansas. The Tigers’ nonconference slate was highlighted by a pair of neutral-site wins vs. Wake Forest and North Texas.

• Jalen Cook leads LSU with 15.9 points per game, starting nine of his 12
appearances since becoming available as a two-time transfer.

• Jordan Wright adds 15.0 points per game and leads the team with39
3-point field goals, 61 assists and 43 steals.

• Seven-footer Will Baker rounds out the double-figure scorers at 12.4 points and leads the team with 5.1 rebounds per game, while Jalen Reed tops the team with 22 blocked shots.

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES
Jan. 24 at Georgia L 66-68
Jan. 27 at Alabama L 88-109
Feb. 3 Arkansas W 95-74
Feb. 7 at Tennessee L 68-88
Feb. 10 Alabama L 92-109
lt
Feb. 17 at South Carolina
Feb. 21 Kentucky
Feb. 24 Mississippi State
Feb. 27 Georgia
March 2 at
Vanderbilt
LAST 20 VS. LSU (14-6)
Feb. 20, 2011 A W 68-61
Jan. 21, 2012 H W 76-64
Jan. 12, 2013 A W 74-52
March 15, 2013 SEC W 80-58
March 1, 2014 H W 79-61
Jan. 20, 2015 H L 61-79
Feb. 21, 2015 A L 63-70
Jan. 9, 2016 H W 68-62
Feb. 27, 2016 A L 91-96
Feb. 25, 2017 A W 106-71
Feb. 7, 2018 H W 73-64
Feb. 20, 2019 A W/OT 82-77
March 6, 2019 H L/OT 78-79
March 15, 2019 SEC W 76-73
Jan. 21, 2020 A L 82-84
Feb. 26, 2020 H W 81-66
Jan. 2, 2021 H W 83-79
Jan. 12, 2022 H L 58-64
Jan. 10, 2023 A W 67-56
March 4, 2023 H W 79-67