North Carolina A&T at Florida -- Monday, 8 pm
Sunday, November 15, 2015 | Men's Basketball, Chris Harry
NORTH CAROLINA A&T at FLORIDA
When: Monday, 8 p.m. (ET)
Where: O'Connell Center, Gainesville, Fla.
Records: UF (1-0), North Carolina A&T (0-1)
TV: Streaming / SEC Network + (with Bernie Guenther and Bill Koss)
Radio: Gator IMG Sports Network (with Mick Hubert and Mark Wise). Check for availability here.
STAKES, STARS AND STATS
>>> The Gators are back at the O'Connell Center for their 2015-16 home opener after starting the season -- and the tenure of new Coach Mike White (left) -- Friday night with a 59-41 win at Navy in the Veterans Classic. The Aggies, meanwhile, opened their season Friday as well, losing 81-40 at No. 23 Purdue. ... UF and NCA&T will play for just the second time. The Gators and Aggies last met Nov. 18, 2010, with Florida winning 105-55 behind 16 points each from Kenny Boynton and Chandler Parsons. Five other Gators also scored in double figures, while Will Yeguete, then a freshman, grabbed 15 rebounds. ... The game is the second of a double-header, with UF's women taking on rival and No. 7 Florida State at 5:30 p.m.
>>> Florida turned the ball over 19 times at Annapolis, including seven in the first seven minutes. Ball security is a serious concern right now for the UF coaches, given the 23 turnovers in an exhibition game against Division II Palm Beach Atlantic. ... Against the Midshipmen, the Gators got a big outing from 6-9 sophomore forward Devin Robinson (right), who came off the bench to post the first double-double (13 points, 10 rebounds in 28 minutes) of his career. Florida's staff has high expectations for Robinson, maybe the most talented player and athletic frontcourt player on the team, but those expectations begin with effort (especially on the glass). He answered the call in the opener and it may be a matter of time before he makes it into the starting lineup. That said, the coaches also want to see consistency with that effort. ... Look for senior forward Dorian Finney-Smith (4 points, 12 rebounds) to bounce back from a sluggish, foul-plagued game when he went 1-for-6 from the floor with five turnovers. Finney-Smith never seemed to find a rhythm in the game and tried to force some plays, resulting in turnovers. ... The point guard tandem of starter Kasey Hill and backup Chris Chiozza combined for 15 points and six assists at Navy. Not good enough. Then again, the second of those numbers would have been better had the Gators shot better than 3-for-19 from the 3-point line. ... UF remains without senior forward Alex Murphy (torn plantar fascia), but forward Justin Leon, the junior college transfer who missed the Navy game with soreness from a hyperextended knee, practiced Sunday and could be cleared to play against the Aggies.
>>> NCA&T returns its top seven scorers from last season, but that Aggies squad finished 9-22, with a 6-10 mark in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference play. ... The Aggies' best player is 6-7, 215-pound center Bruce Beckford, who averaged 15.1 points per game last season. Beckford did not hit double-figures in the loss to the Boilermakers finishing with just nine points, but no one else on A&T hit double-figures, either. Why? Easy answer. The Aggies shot just 24.1 percent from the floor and went 0-for-15 from 3-point range. No one on the roster had more than two field goals. ... Starting A&T forward Ede Egharevba, who had five points and five rebounds at Purdue, is a graduate transfer from Albany and was on the Danes' roster two seasons ago when the top-seeded Gators beat 16th-seed Albany in their opening NCAA Tournament game en route to the Final Four.
SOME NUMBERS OF NOTE
* 1 -- UF players (Robinson) who finished in double-figure scoring against Navy.
* 2 -- UF players (Finney-Smith and Robinson) who finished with double-figure rebounds against Navy.
* 5 -- Players who Friday scored their first points as Gators: freshman guard KeVaughn Allen with 9 points; sophomore center John Egbunu (pictured far right) with 4; freshman guard Brandone Francis-Ramirez (No. 2 pictured) with 5, sophomore center Schuyler Rimmer with 6; fifth-year senior guard and career walk-on Lexx Edwards with 1 (the first point of his career).
* 25 -- Florida's record against current teams in Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference. The Gators are unbeaten in those games, with 17 of those coming against in-state foes Florida A&M and Bethune-Cookman.
* 47 -- Rebounds grabbed by UF against the Midshipmen, a number the Gators hit just once last season.
WATCH FOR IT
Among those UF turnovers Friday night were poor and ill-advised passes into the post. The Gators would like to get Egbunu or even Rimmer more involved in the halfcourt offense, but after the preseason game and season opener passing looks like a weakness for this team right now.
