No. 21 Florida vs Jacksonville (Thursday, 8 p.m.)

Florida vs. Jacksonville

* When: Thursday, 8:00 PM (ET)
* Where: Exactech Arena/O’Connell Center / Gainesville, Florida.
* Facts: Florida (1-0) / Jacksonville (1-0)
* Television: SEC Network+ (Kyle Crooks And Mark Wise)
*Radio: Gator Sports Network from LEARFIELD / Station List
(of Sean Kelley, Lee Humphrey And Steve Egan)
* Ticket info

Projected starters

The breakdown

LINE-UP: Florida, ranked 21st in the first Associated press poll of the season, will take on the foe Jacksonville Dolphins in the home opener at the O’Dome. The Gators closed out the season Monday night with a 98-83 victory over South Florida on a neutral floor in Jacksonville. Their 98 points were the highest scored in program history in a season opener away from home. The Dolphins, meanwhile, opened their season in town with a 78-65 victory over Trinity Baptist, a local NAIA school that plays under the National Christian Athletic Association classification. The game will serve as the back end of a double-header, with the UF women taking on Florida A&M at 5 p.m.

SERIES: The Gators lead 32-5 and have won the last four meetings dating back to 2011. The two teams last played on December 22, 2015, with UF having to rally from an eight-point halftime deficit to post a sluggish 89-point victory -65 to achieve. into the Christmas holidays. Florida coach Mike White was so frustrated with his team’s performance that he started on the bench as a forward Dorian Finney-Smith And Devin Robinson during the break. Instead, he rode a trio of three guards KeVaughn Allen (career-high 15 points), along with sophomore guard Chris Chiozza and junior Kasey Hillwho combined for 16 points, 13 assists and just two turnovers. Center John Ebunu added 14 points, five rebounds and three blocked shots.

ETC: JU’s last win over Florida came on December 20, 2010 when the Dolphins handed the Gators a 71-68 loss. That UF team was coached by Billy Donovanled by 2011 Southeastern Conference Player of the Year Chandler Parsonswent on to win the regular season championship and reach the Elite Eight.

Story of the tape

The Gators

UF checked a few Coach Todd Golden‘S boxes in the win over the Bulls. They played hard and fast on their way to scoring 59 points in the second half, but the goal of taking a big step on defense fell short as USF made a dozen three-pointers and shot 48 percent from beyond the arc. . This game is about making progress on that end of the floor.

Senior guards Walter Clayton Jr. And Will Richard were excellent in the opener. Clayton had 29 points on 10-for-15 shooting, while Richard finished with a career-high 25 on 10-for-17 shooting and was the Gator who kept his team in the game with 13 points in the first half, including eight in a row during one stretch and a put-back jumper at the halftime buzzer that cut USF’s 13-point lead to just one. Clayton did most of his damage driving to the basket, although he did make two of five from deep. Richard, the team’s top shooter, went 2-for-7 from the 3-point line.

Fifth year guard Alijah Martinthe transfer from Florida Atlantic, did not have his touch from the outside (0 of 6 of 3), but was aggressively driven to the basket and managed to score 13 points, using 7-of-10 from the free throw line, to go with six rebounds, three assists and four steals. Martin has a career shooting 37 percent from deep.

Of UF’s two transfer “bigs,” starting center Rueben Chinyelu and backup forward Sam Alexisit was the latter that had the biggest impact in their Gator debut. Alexis, from Tennessee-Chattanooga, showed off his skills in the post with a pair of left jump hooks and finished with six points, four rebounds and a block in just 13 minutes. Chinyelu was defeated by USF 6-11, 275 pound center via Washington State Jamille Reynolds. He finished with just two points and four rebounds in 16 minutes, but played at his best when the Gators needed him most at forward. Alex Condon (13 points, 5 rebounds) picked up his fourth foul. Chinyelu, an active, athletic rim protector whose calling card since his arrival has been consistent effort and physical competitiveness, will be challenged by his coaches to pick things up against what will be an outmatched JU frontcourt.

Backup sophomore forward Thomas Haugh scored two points but played inspired defense and flashed the glass along the way, posting six boards, two assists and a steal in 30 minutes, the most among UF’s four frontcourt players. … Junior point guard Denzel Aberdeen had eight points, two rebounds, one assist and turnovers in his 16 minutes. …Guard Urban Klavzarthe freshman combine from Slovenia, remains ineligible for the Gators while the NCAA investigates his eligibility after playing professionally abroad for the past three years.

The dolphins

They are in their fourth season under Jordan Mincythe former UF assistant who accompanied White from Louisiana Tech in 2015 and was a popular, pivotal member of the staff who went to four of the five NCAA tournaments contested during his six seasons with the Gators. Mincy attended JU in 2022 and was an immediate success. He went 21-10 in his first season, reached the Atlantic Sun Conference Tournament title game for the first time since 2009 and remained undefeated at home (15-0) for the first time since 1972. -73. The Dolphins couldn’t match that success the next two years, going 13-16 and 16-17 respectively, with the ’24-25 squad projected to finish somewhere in the middle of the A-Sun pack.

JU’s win over Trinity Baptist was probably closer than the Dolphins would have liked, given the difference in the schedules and their respective classifications. Jacksonville built a 10-point halftime lead by limiting the Eagles to just 31 percent from the floor, but defended at a 54 percent clip after the break as TB erased a 20-point JU advantage and pulled the Dolphins within played three points. the second half. Jacksonville shot 41 percent for the game, made eight of 25 from the three-point line, enjoyed a 51-34 advantage on the glass and had 18 assists.

The Dolphins’ best player is guard Robert McCraya junior in his second season since transferring from Wake Forest. He had a bad Monday when he scored just nine points in 23 minutes. That’s half the 18.4 points he averaged during a third-team All-ASUN sophomore season, when he also recorded 4.2 rebounds and 2.9 assists. McCray finished the ’23-24 season by scoring a conference tournament record 91 points over the Dolphins’ three postseason games, including a career-high 36 against Stetson. He shot 35.3 percent from 3 last season.

Come on Stephen Payne posted a double-double of 18 points and 13 rebounds to open his second JU season since transferring from Incarnate Word. He thinks he has his hands full in the post (on both sides), whether he faces Chinyelu, Condon or Alexis.

Numbers of note

* 1,000 —Shooting percentage from the free throw line by the Clayton/Richard duo against USF, based on a combined 10-of-10. Clayton, who led the nation in free throw shooting two seasons ago at Iona and hit 87.7 in his first UF season, went 7-for-7, while Richard dropped all three of his attempts.

*3 Where the 13-point deficit ranks among the biggest comebacks during Golden’s three UF seasons, equaling the margin wiped out along the way in a 77-67 win at Georgia in 2023 thanks to 24 points from native Richard in Peach State. The Gators’ biggest golden comeback wins to date: 19 at Florida State in ’22 and 18 against Texas A&M in the SEC Tournament last March.

*12 —Assist for Florida in the opener. Missing all those threes and switching to a rim-attack strategy certainly contributed to that low number, but the Gators need to get back to the sharp and quick sharing of the ball that was demonstrated throughout the preseason.

*34.7 —Average minutes played on Monday by UF’s starting guards (Clayton, Richard and Martin), a number that was probably a bit high for all three, but also necessary given the circumstances. Look for Aberdeen to absorb some minutes against JU and down the stretch.

* 1960 —The year Florida and Jacksonville first met. The date was December 28. The event was the Gator Bowl tournament (hosted in conjunction with the football game), where the Gators defeated the Dolphins 82-68.

In short

Let’s see how excited the home crowd will be for an opener with a ranked team and big expectations.

Email Chris Harry at [email protected]