Gators Basketball Can't Look Past the Tigers Tonight

It’s Missouri and nobody, but nobody wants to be the team that ends the Tigers’ quest for a perfect

Southeastern Conference season in reverse. The Tigers are 0-14 in SEC play, but they have made life difficult for most every team they’ve played. Just ask South Carolina and Tennessee, both of whom came away with a win but feeling like they had been in a steel cage death match with The Four Horsemen.

For Florida’s 24th-ranked Gators (19-8, 9-5 SEC), on a quest of their own to get into the NCAA Tournament, the memory of a 79-67 win over Missouri in Columbia a few weeks ago shouldn’t be forgotten tonight in the rematch at the O-Dome (6:30 p.m., SEC Network). That game in January was a back-and-forth affair until just after the under-8 minute media timeout when a 3-pointer by Riley Kugel gave the Gators some breathing room.

Since that game the Gators have become one of the hotter teams in the Southeastern Conference while Mizzou’s season has continued to go south. In admitting the Gators will have to be prepared to play well to beat Missouri, Florida coach Todd Golden said that while the Gators are good, they aren’t at the point where they can take for granted any Southeastern Conference opponent.  

“Every team in this league is really good,” Golden said Tuesday. “Obviously, they haven’t had a lot of success in terms of wins and losses, but a week ago [they’re] playing Tennessee, a top 10 team in the country, and they’re within a bucket or two with like a minute or two to go in the game. So I think it would be really, really silly for us, as a program, to feel like Missouri walking in here is an easy game.

“We’re not there yet. We’re obviously having a good year, but we’re by no means at a place where we can just show up and get on the court and be okay. I’m going to do everything I can to make sure our guys don’t do that. I don’t think they will. We have a lot of respect for Missouri. We don’t fear them, but we have respect for them and we’re going to make sure we prepare the right way to go out and compete against them. But I’ll be super, super disappointed if we’re talking on Friday and our team wasn’t ready to play.” 

The Gators started the SEC portion of their schedule 1-3 when they faced Missouri the first time. That win righted Florida’s ship and sparked a run in which the Gators have won eight of the last ten games. From a team that looked like it would struggle to finish with a winning record in conference play, the Gators are now assured of no worse than break even in the SEC. The Gators are just two games behind league co-leaders Tennessee and Alabama, so they are still mathematically alive for the SEC championship.

With four regular season games to go, the a game away from the all-important 20/10 mark (20 regular season, 10 SEC wins) that all but assures every SEC team a punched ticket to the NCAA Tournament. Florida is also on track for the best season since 2017 when the Gators went 24-6 in the regular season, 14-4 in SEC play. That team made it to the Elite Eight game in the NCAA Tournament.

Tournament bids are more than two weeks away so for now the most important thing the Gators can do is take care of Missouri. Tyrese Samuel, who played in the NCAA Tournament two times in four years at Seton Hall before transferring to Florida, knows what is at stake with Mizzou since it gets the Gators to the 20/10 threshold.  

“It’s really important I think once you get 20 wins you kind of solidify yourself as far as the tournament,” Samuel said Tuesday. “That’s one thing but I just think that getting those 20 wins shows that we kind of started out kind of slow, kind of like in the middle at first but now we show that we’re a good team and we can pack up wins especially late in the season.”

Anticipated starting lineups

FLORIDA (19-8, 9-5 SEC): 6-10 Tyrese Samuel (13 points, 7.8 rebounds); 7-1 Micah Handlogten (6.2 points, 7.4 rebounds); 6-4 Will Richard (11.7 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6-2 Walter Clayton Jr. (16.9 points, 3.8 rebounds); 6-4 Zyon Pullin (15 points, 3.9 rebounds, 4.9 assists)

MISSOURI (8-19, 0-14 SEC): 7-0 Jordan Butler (2.1 points, 1.9 rebounds); 6-6 Noah Carter (11.7 points, 5.2 rebounds); 6-5 Tamar Bates (13.6 points, 2.8 rebounds); 6-3 Sean East II (17 points, 3.4 rebounds, 4.1 assists); 5-10 Nick Hunter (10.9 points, 1.9 rebounds)

SEC BASKETBALL

Tuesday’s scores: No. 16 Kentucky (20-8, 10-5 SEC) 91, Mississippi State (19-9, 8-7 SEC) 89; LSU (15-13, 7-8 SEC) 67, Georgia (15-13, 5-10 SEC) 66; Vanderbilt (8-20, 3-12 SEC) 85, Arkansas (14-14, 5-10 SEC) 82

Wednesday’s games: Missouri (8-19, 0-14 SEC) at No. 24 FLORIDA (19-8, 9-5 SEC); No, 14 Auburn (21-6, 10-4 SEC) at No. 5 Tennessee (21-6, 11-3 SEC); NO. 13 Alabama (19-8, 11-3 SEC) at Ole Miss (19-8, 6-8 SEC); No. 20 South Carolina (22-5, 10-4 SEC) at Texas A&M (15-12, 6-8 SEC)

UF BASEBALL: Stetson takes down Gators, 7-4

Stetson (5-3) scored five runs in the bottom of the first inning and went on to take down 4th-ranked Florida (5-2), 7-4, in DeLand Tuesday night. It was the first career start for freshman Luke McNellie, who couldn’t get through the first inning. McNellie faced nine batters, giving up four hits, a walk and two hit batters before Ryan Slater came on to put out the fire.

The Gators scored all four of their runs in the third on a 2-run homer by Luke Heyman and a 2-run homer by Ty Evans. Stetson added two insurance runs in the eighth off Florida closer Brandon Neely.

Florida coach Kevin O’Sullivan was disappointed with the Gators’ performance, starting with the top of the first inning when Michael Robertson led off the game with a double and advanced to third on a passed ball, but was left stranded.

“We ended up having Mikey (Robertson) at third with nobody out and with the top of the order coming up, and we weren't able to push him across. That kind of set the tone. We had back-to-back strikeouts there to end the first and then we did not get the start that we thought from Luke (McNeillie). Maybe it was his first start on the road and that type of thing. Obviously, he's going to be much better than that moving forward. We got off to a tough start and honestly, three of our first five innings we had plenty of opportunities to score, not just the first. We had Armando (Albert) at second with nobody out and the top of the order coming up. We hit a weak fly ball to left that didn't move him. We don't score that inning. We missed a sign on a steal. We got hit by a pitch to start the inning and we miss a sign. Next guy walks. First and second, nobody out it should have been there. Three of the first five innings were not very good. We struck out more times tonight than we probably should have. We struck out 11 times. It felt like we were not getting off really good swings on 2-0, 2-1, 3-1 counts the entire night. We didn't hit with runners in scoring position. It was a collective group ... Hopefully, it's a learning experience for them about being on the road. It just was not a good night."

The Gators return home tonight to face Bethune-Cookman (6:30 p.m., SEC Network+).

UF GYMNASTICS: Wong, Pilgrim earn SEC honors

Leanne Wong, whose perfect 10 gave the 5th-ranked Gators a win over 2nd-ranked LSU, was named Southeastern Conference Gymnast of the Week. Wong’s 39.875 all-around score is the highest in the nation so far this season.

Anya Pilgrim, who scored a 39.650 all-around against LSU, was named SEC Freshman of the Week for the third straight week and the fourth time this season. Pilgrim’s all-around score is the highest of any freshman in the country this season. Of the top 12 all-around scores by freshmen this year, six belong to Pilgrim.

The Gators (10-1, 5-1 SEC) have clinched at least a tie for the SEC championship. They can win the title outright Friday night when they travel to Lexington to face 6th-ranked Kentucky.

UF SOFTBALL: Gators move up to No. 13

The Gators moved up one spot to No. 13 in the USA Today/NFCA Coaches top 25 poll. The Gators, who have won seven straight games, will play Cal State-Fullerton and Long Beach State Thursday in Palm Springs, California in the annual Judy Garmin Classic. The Gators will face UCLA and DePaul on Friday and Michigan on Saturday.

USA Today/NFCA Coaches top 25: 1. Oklahoma 14-0; 2. Texas 12-1; 3. Oklahoma State 13-2; 4. LSU 13-0; 5. Georgia 12-1; 6. Washington 12-2; 7. Duke 13-1; 8. Clemson 11-2; 9. Tennessee 8-4; 10. Alabama 16-0; 11. Stanford 10-4; 12. Florida State 11-3; 13. FLORIDA 15-2; 14. Missouri 13-2; 15. Arkansas 13-3; 16. Kentucky 11-2; 17. Texas A&M 14-1; 18. UCLA 7-5; 19. Arizona 16-1; 20. California 15-1; 21. Baylor 8-3; 22. South Carolina 13-2; 23. Virginia Tech 12-3-1; 24. Mississippi State 11-3; 25. Oregon 9-7

ESPN/USA Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 14-0; 2. Texas 12-1; 3. Georgia 12-1; 4. Washington 12-2; 5. LSU 13-0; 6. (TIE) Duke 13-1 and Oklahoma State 13-2; 8. Tennessee 8-4; 9. Clemson 11-2; 10. Stanford 10-4; 11. Alabama 16-0; 12. Florida State 11-3; 13. Missouri 13-2; 14. Kentucky 11-2; 15. FLORIDA 15-2; 16. Arkansas 13-3; 17. Baylor 8-3; 18. Texas A&M 14-1; 19. UCLA 7-5; 20. Virginia Tech 12-3-1; 21. Arizona 16-1; 22. South Carolina 13-2; 23. Mississippi State 11-3; 24. California 15-1; 25. Auburn 7-2-1

D1Softball top 25: 1. Oklahoma 14-0; 2. Texas 12-1; 3. LSU 13-0; 4. Georgia 12-1; 5. Duke 13-1; 6. Oklahoma State 13-2; 7. Stanford 10-4; 8. Washington 12-2; 9. Tennessee 8-4; 10. Baylor 8-3; 11. Clemson 11-2; 12. Alabama 16-0; 13. Florida State 11-3; 14. Kentucky 11-2; 15. Missouri 13-2; 16. Arkansas 13-3; 17. Arizona; 18. (TIE) FLORIDA 15-2 and Virginia Tech 12-3-1; 20. UCLA 7-5; 21. (TIE) Texas A&M 14-1 and Mississippi State 11-3; 23. South Carolina 13-2; 24. California 15-1; 25. Boston University 13-1

UF MEN’S GOLF: Gilligan wins Southern Highlands Tournament

Ian Gilligan, who won second team All-America honors last season at Long Beach State, won his first tournament as a Gator, taking the Southern Highlands Tournament with an 8-under par 208. The Gators finished fourth in the tournament with a 3-day total of 868, 4-over par and 12 strokes off the pace of tournament champion Oklahoma.

ONE FINAL PITHY THOUGHT: It seems obvious that Billy Napier is planning a revamp of his offense this fall. First, he named tight ends coach Russ Callaway the co-offensive coordinator. Tuesday, he hired former Central Michigan head coach Dan Enos, who has served as an offensive coordinator at Miami, Arkansas and Maryland as well as quarterbacks coach for Nick Saban at Alabama.

Enos was hired in an analyst role, but he could play a significant role in designing an offense of the future that will center around 5-star freshman quarterback DJ Lagway. Lagway won’t be the starter in 2024, but he’s expected to have a significant role while backing up Graham Mertz.

The quarterback during the four years Enos was head coach at Central Michigan (2006-09) was Dan Lefevour, who accounted for 149 touchdowns (102 passing, 47 rushing). Lefevour threw for 12,905 yards and ran for 2,948 yards. Lefevour’s best year was 2007 when he threw for 3,652 yards and 27 touchdowns and ran for 1,122 and 19 more TDs.