No. 23 Florida vs Ohio State (Wednesday, 8:30 pm) - Florida Gators
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No. 23 Florida vs. Ohio State
* What: Fort Myers Tip-Off Championship Game * When: 8:30 p.m. * Where: Suncoast Credit Union Arena, Fort Myers, Fla.
* Records: Florida (4-0); Ohio State (4-1) * TV: FS1 Network (Brandon Gaudin and BillRaftery) * Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD (Mick Hubert and Lee Humphrey)
Projected Starters
UF guard Brandon McKissic (23) flashed his trademark grimace after a big defensive play in Monday night's win over California.
Reserves
Position
Height / Weight
Class
Statistics
Justin Ahrens
F
6-6 / 195
Senior
8.8 ppg / 2.6 rpg
E.J. Liddell
F
6-7 / 240
Junior
22.4 ppg / 6.4 rpg
Joey Brunk
C
6-11 / 255
Graduate
1.0 ppg / 1.6 rpg
Malaki Branham
G
6-5 / 180
Freshman
6.2 ppg / 3.4 rpg
Jamari Wheeler
G
6-1 / 170
Graduate
4.6 ppg / 3.2 rpg
The Breakdown
UF senior guard Myreon Jones (0) hit three consecutive 3-pointers late in the first half Monday to help the Gators rush to a 19-point lead at the break.
Setup / Series / Last Meeting
Florida and Ohio State will meet in the championship game of the Fort Myer's Tip-Off, a three-game tournament featuring four Power-5 conference teams. The Buckeyes beat 21st-ranked Seton Hall with a last-second 3-pointer in Monday night's tourney opener, while the Gators had little trouble in an 80-60 victory over California in the nightcap. ... UF and OSU have played 13 times, with the Buckeyes holding an 8-5 edge in the series. The most recent meeting came in the 2016 NIT, during Coach Mike White's first season with the Gators, when they went to Columbus and beat the Bucs 74-66 in second-round play. UF was led senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith's 16 points and 12 rebounds, while junior point guard Kasey Hill pitched in 15 points and five assists. The win, the only true road victory against a Big Ten opponent in UF basketball history, moved the Gators into the tournament quarterfinals, but their season ended three nights later with a loss at George Washington. ... Florida and Ohio State, of course, famously met in the 2007 NCAA championship game at Atlanta, where forward Al Horford's 18 points and 12 rebounds, plus 13 points and eight boards from forward Corey Brewer, and four 3-pointers by guard Lee Humphrey helped UF clinch a historic second straight national title. OSU was led that night by center Greg Oden's 25 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks. Oden, who was the No. 1 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft and ultimately had his career cut short by knee injuries, is a now an assistant with the Buckeyes.
Tale of the Tape
Florida
2021-22 Stats
Ohio State
76.5
Scoring (points per game)
76.3
.448
Field-goal percentage
.467
.350
3-point percentage
.391
53.7
Scoring defense
69.0
.358
Field-goal percentage defense
.406
.298
3-point percentage defense
.315
12th
KenPom.com overall ranking
21st
19th
KenPom.com offensive efficiency
8th
15th
KenPom.com defensive efficiency
49th
221st
KenPom.com adjusted tempo
266th
Team Snapshots
The Gators
They're off to a third 4-0 start in White's seven seasons. In each of the previous instances (2017 and '18), the Gators won their first first five games, as well. ... White's record at UF now stands at 127-75,
Colin Castleton (12)
for a winning percentage of .628. After whipping the Bears by 20 two nights ago, make that 17 wins over Power 5 opponents by at least 20 points in White's seven seasons, including nine in non-league play. ... UF got another top-shelf performance from forward Colin Castleton, who worked the Bears for 16 points, eight rebounds and three assists. He's become quite adept with his offensive moves in the post. UF will need much of the same, if not more, on the block in this game against some sizable, blue-collar Buckeye "bigs." Castleton is shooting 56.3 percent from the floor. ... Point guard Tyree Appleby had another decent floor game, especially in the second half when the Gators pushed the ball a little more. UF only had 10 assists against Cal (that was a season low), despite shooting nearly 52 percent for the game. ... After going 3-for-6 from distance against Cal, guard Myreon Jones is at 41.7 from distance for the season. ... Guard Brandon McKissic ranks sixth in scoring among UF's top six occupiers of minutes and has made just 34.6 percent of his shots, but his impact on the defensive end has been profound. Plus, he leads the Gators in attitude and scowls (and will for the rest of the season). ... Forward Anthony Duruji's energy, activity and bounce show up throughout the course of a game, but no one could have foreseen him leading the Gators in 3-point percentage (4 of 6, so far, for 66.6 percent), even this early in the season. ... After fighting a groin strain and nasty case of the flu, backup swingman Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (9.0 ppg, 2.8 rpg) has back-to-back double-figure scoring games. ... Reserve forward CJ Felder (3.3 ppg, 2.5 rpg) had his best all-around game against the Bears. He scored eight points, including a pair of 3-point makes, and grabbed three rebounds over 17 minutes. ... Freshman guard Elijah Kennedy, who would be playing his senior year in high school had he not reclassified to the 2021 signing class, continues to earn trust from the UF coaches. His last three games have shown 6, 6 and 9 minutes on the floor.
The Buckeyes
They're in the fifth season under Chris Holtmann, who is 91-44 to date (.674) with NCAA tournament berths in each season (like he had his three seasons at Butler before that). Holtmann has yet to get
E.J. Liddell
OSU past the first weekend, though. The Buckeyes were a 2-seed last year, but were upset in first-round play by 15-seed Oral Roberts, which followed that (of course) with an upset of seventh-seeded Florida to become just the second 15-seed to reach the "Sweet 16." ... OSU avoided what would have been a massive upset in its season opener, beating Akron 67-66 at the buzzer at home. The Buckeyes then defeated Niagara and Bowling Green, also at home, before losing on the road at Xavier, then bouncing back with Thursday night's big win over the Hall. In that one, 2021 All-America forward E.J. Liddell went for 28 points and six rebounds. Liddell is a beast down low who earns his points and will be a handful for (likely) Duruji and/or Castleton. Against the Pirates, he went 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. He's shooting 54.8 percent from the floor and can step out and make 3s, as well (8 of 21). ... OSU's second-, third- and fourth-leading scorers come off the bench. Forward Zed Key (9.8 ppg, 5.0 rpg) is a banger who isn't leaving the paint (zero 3-point attempts this season), with 40 percent of his rebounds coming on the offensive end. Forward Kyle Young (9.3 ppg, 6.5 rpg) is shooting 55 percent from the floor and nearly 93 from the free-throw line. ... Point guard Jamari Wheeler is a transfer from Penn State, where he teamed in the Nittany Lions backcourt alongside UF's Jones the last couple years. Wheeler is from Live Oak, Fla., and was a teammate of former UF star Kevarrius Hayes at Suwanee High. ... Guard Meechie Johnson Jr. (9.2 ppg) buried the game-winning 3-pointer Monday with 2.2 seconds left to beat the Pirates. He's one of a handful of Buckeyes who need to be accounted for on the perimeter. They shoot nearly 40 percent as a team. ... How well the UF defense closes out on sniper Justin Ahrens may just be the key to this game. Ahrens, a sweet-stroking lefty, is shooting 52.2 percent from the 3-point line after going 5-for-8 against the Hall. If the Gators play to their 3-point defending identity (29.8 percent allowed), they'll have a much better chance ... Guard Malaki Branham was a top-20 national recruit, joining Liddell as the lone Bucs on the roster with such credentials. ... Big man and grad-transfer Joey Brunk, who started his first game of the season Monday, played against the Gators twice while at Butler, then transferred to Indiana for two seasons.
Numbers of Note
Tyree Appleby's attack mode got him to the line 12 times against Cal.
* .796 — UF's free-throw percentage over the last three games, based on 39-for-49 against Florida State, Milwaukee and Cal. The Gators opened the season a woeful 16 of 29 (.552) against Elon.
* 1.000 — Appleby's percentage from the free-throw line this season, based on 12-for-12 to date.
* 28 — Consecutive free throws made by Appleby, dating back to the '20-21 season, which marks the longest such streak since Egor Koulechov made 32 straight during the '17-18 season.
* 40.3 — Rebounds per game for the Gators, who own a plus-7.3 margin against their four opponents. That's a testament to the team's desire and willingness to hit the glass, given the lack of size on the roster. Ohio State currently sits at plus-1.0 in rebounding margin.
* 1977 — The last year the Gators won a second consecutive holiday tournament. UF defeated Holy Cross and host Jacksonville to win the 1976 Gator Bowl Tournament, then the next year defeated George Washington and Vermont in the Vermont Classic. Florida won the three-game 2019 Charleston Classic, its last holiday event, by beating St. Joseph's, Miami and Xavier.
Bottom Line
A third high-major in the season's first five games for the Gators, but the Buckeyes may be the best. If the FSU game (and win) was a litmus test, this is every bit of one, if not more, given the neutral-site venue. And, frankly, if Monday night was an indication, the crowd may very well be pro-Ohio State. Those fans traveled.
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