5 Things To Know About The Florida Gators

Tomorrow afternoon at 4 p.m., No. 5 Kentucky hosts the Florida Gators on ESPN. A few years ago, this would have been one of the bigger games on Kentucky’s schedule, but the Cats have owned the series as of late, winning five of the last six. What do you need to know about the 2021-22 Gators? We’ll have a thorough scouting report for you closer to game time, but until then, here’s a quick rundown.

Four-game winning streak

Florida is 16-8, 6-5 in the SEC. Four of those losses were to teams ranked in the AP Top 25 at the time: No. 15 Alabama (Jan. 5), No. 9 Auburn (Jan. 8), No. 12 LSU (Jan. 12), and No. 18 Tennessee (Jan. 26). The other loss was a 16-point drubbing at Ole Miss on Jan. 24. The Gators are riding a four-game winning streak, but those SEC wins are against the three worst teams in the league: Missouri, Ole Miss (in OT), and Georgia.

10+ threes in four of their last five games

Three-point shooting has been a key factor in the Gators’ winning streak. The Gators are averaging 10 threes in their last five games. In Wednesday’s 72-63 win over Georgia, they made 12. Myreon Jones hit seven of those, the most by a Florida player in three years. Jones is 14-23 (60.9%) from the outside over the last three games. Guard him!

Big guy back

Colin Castleton returned to Florida’s lineup last week after missing six games with a shoulder injury. The 6’11” 231 lbs. forward had 17 points, 7 rebounds, and 3 blocks in the overtime win over the Rebel Black Bear Landsharks and 13 points, 9 rebounds, and 4 blocks in the win over Georgia on Wednesday night. He leads Florida in scoring and rebounding with 15.4 points and 8.9 boards per game and is second in the SEC in blocks (2.8 per game) behind Walker Kessler. Prior to getting injured, Castleton had EIGHT blocks vs. South Carolina.

Transfer Portal Rebuild

Like Kentucky, Florida dipped into the transfer portal to build its roster. Four Gators were at different schools last year: grad transfers Brandon McKissic (UMKC), Phlandrous Fleming Jr. (Charleston Southern), Myreon Jones (Penn State), and CJ Felder (Boston College). Castleton transferred to Florida from Michigan in 2020 and Anthony Duruji from Louisiana Tech and Tyree Appleby from Cleveland State in 2019.

NCAA Tournament Bubble

Florida is No. 51 in KenPom, No. 47 in the NET Rankings, and the first team out of Joe Lunardi’s latest NCAA Tournament projections. If you look at their team sheet, the Gators are 1-5 in Quad 1 games with four Quad 1 games remaining. Two of those are against Kentucky, one against Auburn, and the other at Texas A&M. To make their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament, the Gators need quality wins. On Kentucky’s side, tomorrow’s game will be in Quad 2, meaning a loss would do some damage to the resume.

A fun fact from the Florida game notes: the Gators are one of six teams with a win in each of the past four NCAA Tournaments, joined by Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Villanova, and Florida State. That said, they’ve only made it past the round of 32 once in that span, the 2017 Elite Eight run.

BONUS: Crazy Hair Alert

Freshman guard Kowacie Reeves averages 5.4 points and 1.3 rebounds per game. If you’ve watched a Florida game this year, you know him for his hair.