Florida Gators

FLORIDA at LSU 

When: Tuesday, 7 p.m. (EST)
Where: Maravich Center, Baton Rouge, La.
Records: Florida (12-5, 4-1); LSU (13-4, 5-0)  
TV: SEC Network (Dave Neal and Daymeon Fishback) 
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (Mick Hubert and Bill Koss) 



THE BASICS  Florida and LSU face off in a game that could, in the long-term, have serious ramifications with regard to the Southeastern Conference race. In the short-term, a chunk of first place in the league standings is in the balance. ... The Gators are coming off their best all-around performance of the season in a 69-47 thumping of fourth-ranked Auburn in Gainesville, an outcome that marked UF's first defeat of a top-five foe since 2009. The Gators hit 50 percent from the floor and limited the league's No. 2 shooting team to just 25.6 percent. ... The Tigers won their sixth straight Saturday night in come-from-behind fashion on the road, rallying from six down inside eight minutes remaining to beat Ole Miss and remain perfect in conference play. LSU did not shoot well in the first half, but upped its marksmanship (from the floor, 3-point line and free-throw stripe) after the break to close one out on the road. ... The Tigers lead the all-time series, 64-48, but the Gators have won four of the previous five, including a thrilling 76-73 victory in the quarterfinals of the 2019 SEC Tournament last March 15 at Nashville, Tenn. The two teams faced off twice in the regular season, with both winning in overtime on the opponent's home floor. Then came the tournament, when the Gators erased a 13-point deficit and eliminated the regular-season league champs on freshman point guard Andrew Nembhard's 3-pointer with one second left. Nembhard had 20 points, six assists and no turnovers that day in leading five teammates into double-figure scoring, including 16 points and 10 rebounds from freshman forward Keyontae Johnson. ... UF coach Mike White is 5-2 against LSU, including 2-1 on the road. 

STARTERS (Probable Lineups)

Florida	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Keyontae Johnson	F	6-5	225	Sophomore	12.5 pts / 6.6 reb
Kerry Blackshear Jr.	F	6-10	232	G-Transfer	14.8 pts / 8.9 reb
Omar Payne	F	6-10	223	Freshman	5.2 pts / 4.5 reb
Noah Locke	G	6-2	193	Sophomore	10.2 pts / 3.1 reb
Andrew Nembhard	PG	6-5	191	Sophomore	10.8 pts / 2.9 reb / 5.9 ast

LSU	Pos.	Ht.	Wt.	Class	Per Game
Emmitt Williams	F	6-6	230	Sophomore	13.4 pts / 6.8 reb
Trendon Watford	F	6-9	235	Freshman	12.6 pts / 6.9 reb
Darius Days	F	6-6	240	Sophomore	11.9 pts / 8.1 reb
Skylar Mays	G	6-4	205	Senior	15.9 pts / 4.8 reb
DeVonte Smart	G	6-4	205	Sophomore	11.7 pts / 3.6 reb / 4.6 ast

ONE TO WATCH  
TEAM BREAKDOWNS    ABOUT THE GATORS: Their first signature victory of the season left little time for celebration, given the immediate meeting against the league-leading Tigers will be followed by this weekend's showdown against No. 2 Baylor in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at the O'Dome. First things first. ... White was right in his post-game remarks that Auburn was not at its best Saturday, but the end result still made for the fewest points by a top-five team against the Gators since UF beat No. 5 Tennessee 59-46 on Jan. 20, 1968. In holding the Tigers to 26 percent from the floor, the Gators improved their KenPom.com defensive efficiency digits to 41st. Offensively, UF

stands at 31st and 25th overall. ... Florida is scoring 73.5 points per game, shooting 44.7 overall and 33.0 from the 3-point line. The Gators are giving up 65.3 points, 39.7-percent shooting and 33.0 from deep. … Forward Omar Payne's 19-point, 11-rebound performance gained universal praise, as well it should have, especially after going a perfect 9-for-9 from the floor. That was four days after going 4-for-4 in a win over Ole Miss, so his 13 straight makes have Payne at 65.0 percent on the season. ... The UF front court combination of Payne in a more conventional "5" spot, Kerry Blackshear Jr. at the "4," and Keyontae Johnson at the "3" — which has started four of the first five SEC games — provides a different look than earlier in the season, as it allows Blackshear, an outstanding high post passer who commands attention at all sports on the floor, to roam the perimeter and let Payne clean up on missed shots. Payne had seven offensive rebounds against Auburn (converting all of them into baskets), and has 39 for the season (compared to 38 on the defensive end). … Shooting guard Noah Locke was hitting 22.7 percent from the 3-point line through the team's first four games. He heated up in the run to through the Charleston (S.C.) Classic by going 7-for-16, but through nine games was still at 31.4 for the season after setting the program record for 3s by a freshman with 81 last year. But over the last eight games, including his 14 points and 4-for-7 air raid against Auburn, Locke is on a blistering tear of 23-for-45. That's 51.1 percent. That spreads the floor. And that is a big reason why Johnson and point guard Andrew Nembhard are finding creases in defenses to drive the ball. … Speaking of Nembhard, his pace was outstanding last game, even though the lingering effects of a flu bug limited him to 19 minutes. He had just five assists to four turnovers, but the UF offense in the second half (41 points, 55 percent from the floor) was really good and in an excellent rhythm. ... Blackshear continues to stack up double-doubles (his eight ranks second in the SEC to Mississippi State's Reggie Perry), but his field-goal percentage has fallen off to 43.7 percent; just 37.9 in league play. Going 5-for-18 from the 3-point line has not helped, but Blackshear is also 17-for-40 (42.5 percent inside the arc). He's being doubled and fired constantly in the post and is tremendous at drawing fouls, for which he's answered in SEC games by going 32-for-40 from the free-throw line (80 percent). … Johnson played just eight first-half minutes against Auburn due to foul trouble and had no points or rebounds, but had five and four, plus a couple steals after the break. … Reserve wing Scottie Lewis had four points off the bench and hit both his free throws, making him 25-for-27 from the line the last seven games. … The backup freshmen guard duo of Ques Glover (5.4 ppg) and Tre Mann (5.2 ppg) had some good plays and some really difficult ones against the Tigers' pressure defense, but they're learning and figuring some things out on the fly. ... ABOUT THE TIGERS: It's Year 3 under Coach Will Wade and his tenure certainly has had its ups, downs and uncertainties. The Tigers are 59-26 under Wade. A small chunk of that mark (five games last March, including three in the NCAA Tournament) technically belong to assistant Tony Beneford, who went 3-2 as interim head coach while Wade served a suspension amid an investigation into possible NCAA rules violations involving then-freshman guard Javonte Smart, who served a one-

game suspension. Wade eventually was cleared after an internal inquiry, but the NCAA may not be done with the Tigers. In the meantime, Wade and his program can claim an impressive 41-11 record the last two seasons, including 21-2 in SEC play (with the Gators responsible for one of those losses), plus the school's only league crown of the last 10 years. … LSU is averaging 79.9 points on 48.1-percent shooting (first in the SEC) and 31.8 from the 3-point line. Defensively, the Tigers give up 71.0 per game, 40-percent shooting and are somewhat generous from deep at 34.0. … KenPom puts LSU at No. 33 overall, but with an offense that is a blistering fourth nationally, versus the 128th defense. … The Tigers' three losses came at Virginia Commonwealth, against Utah State on a neutral floor (ala Florida), home against East Tennessee State and against Southern Cal at a semi-neutral site Los Angeles. … It's common knowledge that power forward Emmitt Williams, by way of IMG, was dying to play at Florida, but circumstances did not work out for the McDonald's All-American and the Gators. He's doing just fine at LSU, shooting nearly 61 percent from the floor and rebounding with abandon. If a teammate shoots, he's coming. No one on the floor will play harder. Williams also gets to the line a bunch, where he's converting at 81.8 percent. … Forward Darius Days (fifth in the SEC at 8.1 rebounds per game) has a lot in common with Williams, as far as prowess on the glass, what with 36.4 percent of his rebounds on the offensive end. A lot of those boards are deposited back in the basket (51.7 percent from the floor). … Freshman Trendon Watford, from Birmingham, Ala., was one of the most sought-after bigs in the South. He fashions himself as an inside-out guy, but Watford is just 10-for-36 from the 3-point line, though is shooting 45.6 percent overall. … Smart has a terrific all-around offensive game and will remind whoever is defending him about it the entire 40 minutes. Though currently at just below 30 percent from 3, Smart is coming off one of his best games of the season: 20 points, 4-for-8 from 3 and six rebounds. ... The Tigers aren't very deep, with six guys averaging at least 23.3 minutes, which makes their effort level and prowess on the glass (nearly 40 percent of their missed shots are offensive-rebounded) all the more impressive. One of those six, reserve junior guard Charles Manning Jr. (8.0 ppg, 3.1 rpg) is out for a month after undergoing foot surgery last week, which will test the LSU depth even more. Manning was making 51 percent of his shots, with 41 percent from the 3-point line. 


NUMBERS WORTH NOTING   * .610 — White's winning percentage in SEC play five games into his fifth season at Florida, based on a 47-30 record. For comparison, Billy Donovan's winning percentage in SEC play five games into his fifth season was .507, based on a 35-34 record.

* plus-3 — UF's points edge in regulation through three bare-knuckle, nail-biting matchups against LSU last season, based on the Gators' combined 212-209 edge. Both of the regular-season meetings went to overtime (UF won at LSU 82-77, but lost at home two weeks later 79-78). 

* 101 — Victories for White in his five seasons at Florida (2015-20), which matches his win total in four seasons at Louisiana Tech (2011-15).

* 500 — Career points milestone passed by both Locke and Johnson during the Auburn game. Locke now has 511 points to Johnson's 503. Nembhard, their classmate/roommate, needs 28 to get there. 

* 1947 —The first year, remarkably, Florida and LSU played in basketball. That was nearly 15 years after the conference was formed in 1932. The Tigers won, 60-45, in the SEC Tournament at Louisville, Ky. 


LAST WORD
Four members of the current UF rotation stared down the eventual league champions and their hostile home court at Maravich to steal an overtime win last season, so the prospect of going to Baton Rouge and winning won't be foreign to some key players on this team. Making shots (hardly a given with this bunch, though more encouraging of late) and contending with LSU's highly efficient offense will be the bigger challenge.