OGT-Mississippi State @ Florida Jan. 19, 2022 | 6:30 p.m SEC TV

Florida (10-6/1-3 SEC) vs. Mississippi State (12-4/3-1 SEC)
Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center (10,151)
Gainesville, Fla. | Game 17 | Jan. 19, 2022 | 6:30 p.m

BROADCAST INFO
SEC Network | ESPN App
Play-by-Play: Roy Philpott
Analyst: Mark Wise

Gators Sports Network
Play-by-Play: Mick Hubert
Analyst: Lee Humphrey

 

HEAD COACHES
Mike White
133-81 | 7th season at UF
234-121 | 11th season overall

Ben Howland
128-86 | 7th season at Miss. State
529-292 | 26th season overall

MATCHUP BASICS
All-Time Series: 65-52
All-Time/Home: 40-13
Series under White: 3-3
Home/under White: 2-1
Last Meeting:
L, 69-72, 1/16/21 (Away)

 

FLORIDA POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
4 Anthony Duruji F 6-7 220 Sr. 24.7 8.8 4.3 1.0 stl
12 Colin Castleton F 6-11 231 Sr. 27.9 15.4 9.1 2.8 blk
14 Kowacie Reeves G 6-6 182 Fr. 11.7 3.8 1.2 0.7 stl
23 Brandon McKissic G 6-3 185 Gr. 27.0 6.4 3.3 1.4 stl
24 Phlandrous Fleming Jr. G 6-5 205 Gr. 23.8 10.9 3.5 1.3 stl

Miss State POSSIBLE STARTERS
# Name Pos. Ht. Wt. Cl. Min. Pts. Reb. Misc.
10 Garrison Brooks F 6-9 230 Gr. 29.2 11.1 6.9 0.8 blk
13 D.J. Jeffries F 6-7 215 Jr. 27.4 10.4 4.9 2.3 ast
35 Tolu Smith F 6-11 245 RJr. 25.5 12.8 7.2 .627 fg%
1 Iverson Molinar G 6-3 190 Jr. 32.9 17.9 3.6 4.4 ast
3 Shakeel Moore G 6-1 185 So. 29.3 10.8 3.2 2.1 stl

 

NUMBERS OF NOTE​

14​

Kowacie Reeves is coming off a breakout performance when he matched
his jersey number with 14 points in the win at South Carolina. Reeves
was efficient, hitting 4-for-6 from the floor, 2-for-3 from 3, and 4-for-5 from
the free-throw line.

8​

Colin Castleton matched his career-high with eight blocked shots in the
last outing at South Carolina, one shy of the UF record. It marks his seventh
career game with at least five blocks.

1​

Since the SEC’s 1991 expansion, Florida and Mississippi State have
met just once in the regular season every year but one. The lone home-
and-home series came in 2012-13, the first season the SEC moved away from
divisional scheduling, which was in place 1991-92 through 2011-12.

 

2021-22 AT A GLANCE​

• Florida welcomes Mississippi State to Gainesville for the lone regular-season meeting with both teams entering the game off a weekend win. The game opens a stretch of five games in 11 days for the Gators.

• Florida looks to build on the victory at South Carolina, which was highlighted by Kowacie Reeves’ breakout performance with 14 points in his second career start. Phlandrous Fleming added 14 and Colin Castleton had
10 points and eight blocked shots.

• The Gators met three straight-ranked SEC foes to start its SEC slate. It marked just the fourth three-game stretch vs. ranked SEC teams in UF history and the first since Feb. 2001. Florida had never before opened its SEC slate with three consecutive contests vs. top-25 opponents, and its first three league opponents brought
a combined 37-5 record into their meetings against the Gators.

• Despite the Gators’ challenging stretch to open the SEC slate, Colin Castleton has been a problem in conference play, averaging 17.5 points, 8.3 rebounds, 3.5 blocked shots and shooting .610 from the field. The 6-foot-11 Castleton has drawn 28 fouls, shooting 20-for-26 (.769) from the free-throw line. He induced foul-outs from
both of LSU’s big men in a combined 20 minutes of action.

• UF’s 3-point defense has been strong in the Gators’ wins, limiting opponents to .261 shooting (43-for-165) from beyond the arc in those games. Florida’s foes are averaging 4.3 made 3-pointers in its victories, including four games with just two 3-pointers allowed.

• Florida is among the SEC leaders in blocked shots (second, 6.1), 3-point field goal percentage defense (fourth, .305), offensive rebounds (fourth, 12.8), and scoring defense (fourth, 63.4). Individually, Colin Castleton ranks second in rebounding (9.1), offensive rebounds (3.3), field goal percentage (.536), and blocked shots (2.8).

• Florida battled back from a double-digit deficit to knock off Ohio State on Tyree Appleby’s buzzer-beating 3-pointer to win the Fort Myers Tip-Off. Phlandrous Fleming led the Florida attack with 19 points and four steals, supported by Colin Castleton’s double-double with 11 points and 13 rebounds.

• The Gators used a 13-0 second-half run to spark the win against 20th-ranked FSU, and Colin Castleton earned SEC Player of the Week honors with a 15-point, 16-rebound, six-blocked shot performance.

• After playing with no seniors on their roster last season, the Gators have six senior or graduate players on the active roster this season.

• The Gators are one of six teams nationally with a win in each of the past four tournaments and the only Southeastern Conference team to reach every NCAA Tournament in that span (since 2017).

• The Gators’ quartet of veteran impact transfers combined for 3,882 career points scored at their previous schools. Brandon McKissic (UMKC) and Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Charleston Southern) both bring conference defensive player of the year and first-team all-conference credentials to Gainesville as graduate transfers. The Gators also added Myreon Jones (Penn State) and CJ Felder (Boston College). Jones led the Nittany Lions in scoring last season with 15.3 points per game, while Felder averaged 9.7 points and 5.9 rebounds last season.

• The Gators’ regular-season slate includes 10 games against preseason AP top 25 opponents, including nonconference battles vs. Florida State, Ohio State, and Maryland.

 

ABOUT THE OPPONENT​

• Mississippi State has won six of seven and is coming off its best win of
the season, with wins vs. Arkansas and Georgia in that stretch, as well.
The Bulldogs non-conference season was highlighted by a neutral-
site an overtime win vs. Richmond and a victory vs. Furman.

• All five starters are averaging double-figure scoring, led by Iverson
Molinar (17.9 ppg), who has also dished 71 assists and is shooting
.886 from the stripe while taking almost five free throws per game
(70-for-79).

• Tolu Smith has played just six games due to injuries but has returned
to the starting lineup and is averaging 12.8 points and 7.2 rebounds
per game.

• Shakeel Moore (10.8 ppg) has a team-high 33 steals and leads the
team in 3-point shooting (.356, 26-for-73). Garrison Brooks (11.1 ppg)
and D.J. Jefferies (10.4 ppg) round out the starting five.

OPPONENT’S LAST 5 GAMES
Dec. 21 vs. Winthrop W 84-63
Dec. 29 Arkansas W 81-68
Jan. 8 at Ole Miss L 72-82
Jan. 12 Georgia W 88-72
Jan. 15 Alabama W 78-76

OPPONENT’S NEXT 5 GAMES
Jan. 22 Ole Miss
Jan. 25 at Kentucky
Jan. 29 at Texas Tech
Feb. 1 South Carolina
Feb. 5 at Arkansas

SERIES UNDER WHITE (3-3)
Jan. 19, 2016 H W 81-78
Feb. 18, 2017 A W 57-52
Jan. 10, 2018 H W 71-54
Jan. 15, 2019 A L 68-71
Jan. 28, 2020 H L 71-78
Jan. 16, 2021 A L 69-7