Once Upon A Time In Las Vegas – Championship Sunday
An exciting lineup of matchups is on tap this Saturday as the Big 12/SEC challenge gets underway. One quality matchup will pit the Florida Gators out of the SEC traveling to Manhattan, KS to take on the #5 Kansas State Wildcats. Florida comes into this non-league matchup at 11-8 overall and 4-3 in the SEC. Kansas State, meanwhile, is 17-3 on the season and 6-1 in the highly competitive Big 12. The opening tap is scheduled for 6:00 pm EST.
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The Florida Gators are certainly in the conversation as a potential NCAA Tournament team but the Gators will need to make a move soon. Florida has only one quality win this season, a 73-64 victory over #20 Missouri two weeks ago. With 11 wins in a power-five conference, Florida has a chance to make a push for a spot but they will have to start putting together wins now. On Wednesday night, Florida took down South Carolina 81-60 to pick up its 11th win of the season. The Gators shot 47% from the floor and had a season-high 21 assists. Myeron Jones led Florida with a near triple-double of nine points, 10 rebounds and eight assists. Colin Castleton led the Gators with 18 points.
“Playing [Myreon] and Kyle has been really helpful for both those guys. They take pressure off each other as playmakers,” Florida head coach Todd Golden said. “Just for [Myreon], now, knowing he's going to be out there for a long time gives h im a little more freedom and confidence to go out and make plays. But that secondary ball-hander, I think, was something we were missing earlier in the season and I probably should have done a better job figuring that out. Credit for him, though, for playing so well. It's hard to keep him off the court right now.”
steal & slam ??
?? https://t.co/Yr2yYFUVdV#GoGators pic.twitter.com/Wygcw7q45f
— Florida Gators Men's Basketball (@GatorsMBK) January 26, 2023
Florida comes into this matchup with the 124th-ranked scoring offense in the country. The Gators are 183rd in field goal percentage and 194th in 3pt shooting. They have been effective at protecting the basketball, ranked 90th in the nation in fewest turnovers per game. Florida is 61st in the country in scoring defense. On the perimeter, Florida has been very good with the 66th-ranked 3pt defense. The Gators are 102nd in the nation in total rebounding.
Key Injuries: Reserver forward Alex Fudge is listed as questionable with a head injury.