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MEN’S BASKETBALL Florida aims to continue perfect start to SEC play
Samantha Harrison / Alligator Staff Florida can start 3-0 in SEC play for the first time since the 2017-18 season with a win at Missouri on Saturday.
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By Tyler Nettuno Sports Writer
Last season, Florida’s men’s basketball team sleepwalked through the beginning of SEC play, starting 1-3.
But this time around, the Gators are 2-0 in the league and playing their best basketball of the season. UF is on a threegame winning streak, averaging 95.7 points over that stretch (though one of those games went to double overtime).
After winning the first leg of a two-game road stretch 81-68 against South Carolina on Tuesday night, the Gators travel to another Columbia, this time west of the Mississippi, to take on the Missouri Tigers at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Florida (10-4, 2-0 SEC) is finally finding its footing on the offensive side of the ball. The defense has been stout all year, allowing 65.5 points per game. Now, it’s paired with a more effective scoring attack. Point guard Andrew Nembhard is coming off back-to-back 20-point games, and he’s beginning to demonstrate the offensive improvement coach Mike White hoped to see when Nembhard decided to return to Florida for his sophomore year. He’s averaging more points (11.4) and assists (6.1) than he did last year.
Freshman guard Scottie Lewis has also increased his production, scoring 15 in his last two games since returning from a concussion. He notched a doubledouble against Alabama with 10 rebounds and nearly did it again in the South Carolina game, totaling nine.
But the Gators now run into a Missouri team that plays strong defense, allowing just 57.7 points per game. The Tigers (8-6, 0-2 SEC) have had a disappointing start to SEC play, losing by 12 on the road to Kentucky and by 10 on their home floor to Tennessee.
Missouri’s resume also features a bad nonconference loss against Charleston Southern.
Still, Mizzou has the personnel to give the Gators trouble, mainly in guards Dru Smith and Mark Smith (no relation). Dru leads the team in scoring with 11.3 points per game, and Mark is just behind, averaging 11.1. Both are shooting above 40 percent from the field, but Mark is more dangerous on the outside having made 34 three-pointers this season.
Mark is also Missouri’s rebounding leader with 4.7 per game, and Drew averages 4.4. Florida will have its hands full on the interior, as the Tigers have two 6-foot-10 players — Mitchell Smith and Reed Nikko — in their projected starting lineup. However, neither average more than four rebounds.
UF center Kerry Blackshear Jr., on the other hand, has been a dominating force under the basket for Florida this season.
He’s averaging 14.6 points and 8.7 rebounds and has seven doubledoubles through 14 games. Containing him will be paramount for a Tigers team that generally wins the rebounding margin (they’re plus-4.1 this year).
As SEC play progresses, Florida will try to show the NCAA Tournament Committee that its four non-conference losses were the result of a brutal schedule. Road wins against teams like Missouri — which White has never lost to as Florida’s coach — would go a long way to bolster that argument.
@TylerNettuno tnettuno@alligator.org
WOMEN’S TENNIS 21st-ranked Gators open up season in the Bahamas
By Dylan O’Shea Sports Writer
Florida’s women’s tennis team will take to the Caribbean to open its 2020 season.
UF is competing in the three-day Pink Flamingo Cup tournament in Nassau, Bahamas, from Friday through Sunday. The Gators’ weekend competition consists of No. 4 UCLA, No. 7 Texas and No. 23 Miami.
Because all participating teams are ranked, the tournament will stand as a good test for Florida to start the spring.
The Cup will pit all four teams against each other in both singles and doubles events.
On Friday, Florida will begin the tournament against Texas in doubles and UCLA in singles.
Saturday will bring a new challenge, as Florida will take on Miami in doubles and flip to singles against Texas. Finally, on Sunday, the Gators will face UCLA in doubles and Miami in singles.
Of the Gators’ eight spots on its roster, six players are returning from last season’s successful campaign.
Florida earned a 32nd-straight NCAA Championship appearance last season and settled into the No. 24 slot in the final 2019 rankings.
Two athletes that will provide Florida with a big push this season are juniors McCartney Kessler and Ida Jarlskog.
Kessler led UF in victories last year, accumulating 15 match wins for the Gators on her way to a 2019 All-SEC Second Team selection, while 2019 All-American Jarlskog finished No. 17 in 2019 singles play.
Jarlskog also earned All-SEC First Team honors. After UF wraps up its weekend overseas, it will return home until it has to hit the road to compete in the ITA Kick-off Weekend at NC State from Jan. 25-26.
@dylanoshea24 doshea@alligator.org
MEN’S TENNIS UF starts the season ranked No. 1
By Dylan O’Shea Sports Writer
The UF men’s tennis team comes into the 2020 season ranked No. 1 in the Oracle/ITA Rankings.
Florida’s top position was announced on Wednesday as it approaches its first match against Furman and FAU on Saturday.
This is the first time Florida has been slotted this high since it opened the 2006 season at No. 2.
Florida’s 2018-19 season was a bookmark year in terms of success and improvement. The squad finished 25-4 and won the SEC regular season title. It claimed the No. 4 spot in the final 2019 rankings.
This year’s No. 1 ranking is in large part to its dominant young athletes returning to the court in 2020.
Sophomore and team captain Sam Riffice will play a key role in Florida’s success this season. The 2019 SEC Freshman of the Year, ITA All-American (singles) and ITA Freshman of the Year provides UF with experience and leadership.
Senior Johannes Ingildsen and junior Duarte Vale will also provide leadership for the Gators this season.
That guidance will be needed in order to groom two budding blue-chip freshmen for Florida.
Freshmen Blaise Bicknell (the No. 13 recruit in the country) and Will Grant (the No. 16 recruit in the country) add to Florida’s roster and both will get the chance to make an impact right away.
Florida opens its spring competition at the Alfred A. Ring Tennis Complex against Furman on Saturday at 10 a.m., followed by FAU at 3 p.m.
The Perfect Game preseason rankings were released Wednesday. A season ago, UF came in at No. 9.
Ranked opponents: • at No. 7 Miami (Feb. 21-23) • No. 10 Georgia (March 13-15) • No. 14 Florida State (March 10, March 24, April 14) • No. 22 Texas A&M (March 27-29) • at No. 4 Arkansas (April 2-4) • No. 18 Ole Miss (April 24-26) • at No. 6 Auburn (May 1-3) • No. 2 Vanderbilt (May 7-9)
Alligator File Photo Junior pitcher and fi rst baseman Jordan Butler hit .358 last season and made 22 appearances on the mound.
Meet is at 6:45
GYMNASTICS, from pg. 10
everyone doing pretty much every event,” Gowey said. “That’s a huge benefi t to have so many people and so much depth at each event.”
The Gators’ opponent, the Razorbacks, are coming off a disappointing year. Last season, they fi nished eighth in the SEC with a 1-7 dual record. Mark Cook, who had been the coach of the program since its founding in 2003, retired and was replaced by Jordyn Wieber. Wieber was a member of the gold medal-winning 2012 U.S. Olympic team and is the fi rst Olympic Champion to coach a collegiate program.
This is the fi rst of nine straight meets for the Gators against teams ranked in the Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association (WCGA)’s top 25.
“There is no down time in gymnastics,” Rowland said. “You hit the ground running, and you are prepared, and you do what you can and it’s go time.”
Given the returning talent and the preseason rankings, expectations are sky high for the team this season.
“Everybody is super fi red up for the season, and we have been looking great in the gym,” Thomas said. “When we get out, you’ll see what we’ve been doing in the gym.”
The gymnasts expect the O’Connell Center to be rocking again 2020. Last season, the O’Connell Center averaged 8,333 fans per meet last season, about 90 percent of the arena’s capacity for gymnastics.
“The O’Dome is really indescribable,” Gowey said. “I was trying to explain it to Payton (Richards) but you really just have to experience it yourself.”
@noah_ram1 nram@alligator.org
Briggs' 19 points led the team
WOMEN'S BASKETBALL, from pg. 10
which prevented Auburn from settling into its halfcourt defense. This led to 11 fastbreak points for UF by the end of the fi rst half compared to AU’s zero. “We did a good job of being aggressive in the fi rst half and shot it really really well,” Newbauer said in a release. “It was crazy, too, because we had fi ve offensive rebounds on only seven missed shots.”
Auburn wasn’t much better offensively.
It made just 24 of its 61 fi eld goal attempts and went
7 of 29 from the three-point line against a suffocating Florida defense that has now held 11 of their 16 opponents below their scoring average. Auburn averaged 70.6 points per game before Thursday night but was held to just 63 by UF.
Guard Brooke Moore and forward Unique Thompson led the Tigers with 14 and 10 points, respectively, in the loss.
With this victory, the Gators are now 2-1 in conference play for the
fi rst time since the 2015-16 campaign.
“We are just playing one possession at a time and not really thinking about anything other than trying to be the best version of ourselves,” Newbauer said. “We are just trying to compete and be the best team we can, day in and day out.”
@bryan_2712 bmatamoros@alligator.org
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