Florida, the opponent for UVA Basketball in the SEC/ACC Challenge on Wednesday night, is a perfect 8-0 on the season, with two wins over ACC teams, and a 37-point win over a one-loss Wichita State.
UVA and Florida met, you may remember, in a neutral-court game in Charlotte early last season, in a game that the ‘Hoos won, 73-70, without any help from UVA Basketball alum Cory Alexander, who talked the refs into a replay of an out-of-bounds call that ended up going the Gators’ way.
Cory won’t be working this one, for what that’s worth.
Neither will Tony Bennett, who you may remember had to be restrained (by Ryan Dunn, now an NBA rookie) from going at Alexander after the call was overturned.
Get to know Florida
Todd Golden, in his third year in Gainesville, has three transfers and a freshman in his nine-man rotation.
The guy that stood out to me in last year’s game was point guard Walter Clayton (17.4 ppg, 3.8 assists/g, 47.1% FG, 36.5% 3FG), who had 12 points and five assists in the 73-70 UVA win last November.
Alijah Martin, a 6’2” grad transfer from Florida Atlantic, is putting up nice numbers (15.1 ppg, 5.9 rebounds/g, 45.6% FG, 38.0% 3FG) in the three-guard lineup alongside Clayton and 6’4” senior Will Richard (12.4 ppg, 5.6 rebounds/g, 44.7% FG, 24.4% 3FG).
Alex Condon, a 6’11” sophomore (12.3 ppg, 6.9 rebounds/g, 54.5% FG, 41.7% 3FG), starts in the frontcourt alongside 6’10” sophomore Rueben Chinyelu (6.3 ppg, 6.8 rebounds/g, 71.9% FG), a Washington State transfer.
Style points
The Gators will shoot a ton of threes (averaging 29.6 attempts per game, 35th nationally), not necessarily make a lot of them (32.9 percent, 204th nationally).
They hit the offensive boards (15.4 per game, ninth nationally), which is a key to this team’s success on offense (1.202 points per possession, ninth nationally).
On defense, they force extra passes (18.1 seconds per possession on D, 303rd nationally), and protect the rim (5.9 blocks per game, 14th nationally).
How UVA matches up
Ron Sanchez has been using a three-guard lineup of late, and with success, though that success came in guarantee games with Manhattan and Holy Cross.
The matchup at point between Clayton and UVA sophomore Dai Dai Ames (9.1 ppg, 44.7% FG, 52.9% 3FG) should be a fun watch.
And remember, 6’11” sophomore Blake Buchanan (6.6 ppg, 5.4 rebounds/g, 52.8% FG) had a career night in the win over Florida last year, with 18 points and seven rebounds off the bench to key the winning effort.
Forecast
- EvanMiya: Florida 77-60, 94% win probability
- KenPom: Florida 74-59, 91% win probability
- ESPN Analytics: Florida +16.5, 90% win probability
- BartTorvik: Florida 70-60, 87% win probability
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Chris Graham
