Gators look for third straight SEC win over No. 20 Missouri
GAINESVILLE, Fla. — The Florida Gators (9-7, 2-2 SEC) are set to host the No. 20 Missouri Tigers (13-3, 2-2 SEC) on Saturday afternoon.
The matchup features two first-year SEC head coaches in UF’s Todd Golden and Mizzou’s Dennis Gates, who the Tigers hired from Cleveland State following last season. It’s Florida’s third consecutive matchup featuring two head coaches who are in year one with their current stop.
The Gators lead the all-time series 8-4 and are 4-1 against the Tigers at home. In the last matchup, UF took down Missouri on the Tigers’ home floor 66-65.
According to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi, Missouri is slated as a 7-seed if the NCAA Tournament were to start this week. However, the Gators are not in the tournament picture as it stands.
With that, a win over the Tigers would mean three straight SEC wins, getting over .500 in conference play and a Quad 2 win would certainly boost Florida’s resume.
“This is what’s great about being in this slate,” Golden told Gators Online and others Friday. “You have great opportunities and challenges every night. A great team like Arkansas is 1-3 in the league right now. And, you look at A&M, and people though we’re struggling in conference. Well, they’re 3-0. They just beat Missouri comfortably at home.
“This is going to be an awesome game. It’s going to be a great crowd. Both teams kind of right on the precipice of putting themselves in a great spot heading into the middle portion of the SEC schedule. Obviously, we’re feeling good, and we feel like we’re getting better. We feel like we have a great opportunity in front of us. Missouri’s going to be coming in feeling like they need to win. I feel like it should be a pretty good battle tomorrow.”
Missouri’s players to watch
As the Tigers are averaging 85.7 points per game, they have four players scoring in double figures.
Missouri and Cleveland State transfer guard D’Moi Hodge leads the way with 15.5 points per game. He’s tied for fourth in the country with 2.8 steals per game.
In the frontcourt is Kobe Brown, who stands at 6-foot-8, 250 pounds. The senior had added to his game since Gates arrived on campus. He is right behind Hodge in points with 15.3 per game and leads the team with 5.6 rebounds per game.
Guard DeAndre Gholston (10.8) and forward Noah Carter (10.6) are Missouri’s other double digit scorers. Keep an eye on Nick Honor, who is leading the Tigers with 3.6 assists and will likely run the floor for Mizzou on Saturday.
Just about everybody on this team can shoot from three, and it may be at its best when moving at a fast pace.
How Florida gets third straight SEC win
For the first time in SEC play, the Gators will be taking on a team with a better KenPom adjusted tempo rating.
The focus for the UF defense is playing well in transition defense with Missouri being ranked No. 31 in adjusted tempo, per KenPom.
“We’ve made some adjustments,” Golden said. “We’re not as aggressively crashing the offensive glass which has hurt our ability to get second chance points, no solutions, just trade offs. But we’ve proven over the last month that we are a very good half court team when we get teams in that situation so willing to trade a little bit of that. Again [Saturday] will be a great test for us because if we can get that team in the halfcourt, we can get probably pretty much any team on our schedule that we have in the halfcourt.”
However, the Tigers have a few vulnerabilities of their own. The defense is allowing 44.7 percent of field goals and 35.6 percent of 3-point shots to fall.
Considering the way Florida has played in its last couple of games, it can absolutely take advantage of this.
That means it’s time to see Will Richard, Trey Bonham, Kowacie Reeves and Myreon Jones find consistent success from beyond the arc. CJ Felder will be unavailable for the Gators.
Colin Castleton and company will have to block some shots on Saturday as Missouri’s going to push the basket. The Gators rank No. 3 in the country with 6.1 blocked shots per game.
Being at home, the Gators can certainly control this one, but opening, closing and playing 40 minutes of basketball is the key.
Stay tuned to Gators Online.
WHO: No. 20 Missouri Tigers (13-3, 2-2 SEC) at Florida Gators (9-7, 2-2 SEC)
WHEN: Saturday, January 14, 3:30 p.m. ET
WHERE: Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center
WATCH: SEC Network or ESPN App; Play-by-Play: Mike Morgan; Color: Daymeon Fishback
RADIO: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (SiriusXM 385, SXM App 975); Play-by-Play: Sean Kelley; Analyst: Lee Humphrey
BETTING LINES: UF (-5.5); Over/Under: 149.5
