Preview: Gators take on Georgia for second time in two weeks

#8 Florida Gators (14-2, 4-0 SEC) at Georgia Bulldogs (7-10, 1-3 SEC)
Stegeman Coliseum (capacity: 10,523), Athens, GA 8:00 p.m.

Broadcast Information

TV: SEC Network; Dave Neal (play-by-play) and Barry Booker (analyst)
Radio: WRUF/Gator IMG Sports Network; Mick Hubert (play-by-play) and Mark Wise (analyst)
Streaming: ESPN3.com

Head Coaches

University of Florida: Billy Donovan (400-160, 17th season at Florida; 435-180 overall, 19th season)
Georgia: Mark Fox (57-56, 4th season at Georgia; 180-99 overall, 9th season)

Probable Starters

Florida Gators

#5 Scottie Wilbekin (6'2", 176 lbs JR) Season stats: 8.3 ppg, 4.9 apg, 2.9 rpg, 1.9 steals per game
#1 Kenny Boynton (6'2", 190 lbs SR) Season stats: 13.3 ppg, 3.7 rpg, 2.9 apg
#3 Mike Rosario (6'3", 183 lbs RS-SR) Season stats: 12.5 ppg, 2.3 apg
#33 Erik Murphy (6'10", 238 lbs SR) Season stats: 12.5 ppg, 4.7 rpg
#4 Patric Young (6'9", 249 lbs JR) Season stats: 11.4 ppg, 6.5 rpg, 1.9 blocks per game

Bench

#15 Will Yeguete (6'7", 240 lbs JR) Season stats: 6.6 ppg, 6.3 rpg
#20 Michael Frazier (6'4", 200 lbs FR) Season stats: 5.4 ppg, 3.0 rpg
#25 DeVon Walker (6'6", 191 lbs FR) Season stats: 1.0 ppg, 1.0 rpg
#12 Dillon Graham (6'4", 179 lbs FR) Season stats: 0.3 ppg, 0.3 rpg


Georgia Bulldogs

#4 Charles Mann (6'4", 205 lbs FR) Season stats: 5.7 ppg, 2.8 rpg
#1 Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (6'5", 205 lbs SO) Season stats: 17.1 ppg, 6.2 rpg (team leader in points and rebounds)
#31 Brandon Morris (6'7", 205 lbs FR) Season stats: 4.0 ppg, 1.9 rpg
#15 Donte' Williams (6'9", 225 lbs JR) Season stats: 6.0 ppg, 4.9 rpg
#32 John Florveus (6'11", 240 lbs SR) Season stats: 2.9 ppg, 3.3 rpg

Bench

#11 Vincent Williams (6'0", 165 lbs SR) Season stats: 5.3 ppg, 2.4 apg
#42 Nemanja Djurisic (6'8", 230 lbs SO) Season stats: 8.1 ppg, 4.4 rpg
#23 Sherrard Brantley (6'2", 187 lbs SR) Season stats: 3.2 ppg, 1.1 apg
#5 Tim Dixon (6'9", 225 lbs SO) Season stats: 2.2 ppg, 2.0 rpg

Injury News and Team Notes

• Junior forward Casey Prather (high ankle sprain) will be out for another week, but he traveled with the team.  He will most likely miss Saturday's game at Mississippi State.
• Freshman guard Braxton Ogbueze (knee) is out, according to Coach Donovan.
• UF has outscored its opponents by an average of 24 points since the loss to Kansas State on December 22nd (UF is 6-0).
• This will be Florida's third road game in its last four overall.
• Kevin Brockway: "...the Gators have lost three of their last four games at Stegeman Coliseum.  Florida's lone win during that stretch was a 104-91 double-overtime outcome in 2011."  Former Gators Erving Walker and Chandler Parsons played huge in that one.
• Brockway: "Florida ranks third in the nation in scoring defense, holding opponents to 51.7 points per game.  The Gators have held eight opponents under 50 points and 12 opponents under 60 points. … Florida is playing its seventh game away from the O'Connell Center in its last 10 games.
• Georgia forward Donte' Williams and guard Kenny Gaines did not play in the first meeting due to violation of team rules.
• Georgia only shoots 33% from three.
• The Bulldogs are 7-4 at home this season
• The Gators are 4-2 on the road this season 

Last Game for Both Schools

Florida: Defeated #17 Missouri (home) on Saturday, 83-52

Georgia: Defeated LSU (home) on Saturday, 67-58

Gators All-Time Versus Georgia

Florida is 107-97 all-time versus Georgia.  UF has won 16 out of the last 19 meetings, but Georgia has won three of the last four in Athens, including last season's blowout of the Gators, 76-62.  The Gators are 36-58 all-time on the road in the series, but 9-6 in Athens under Donovan.

Last Meeting Between Schools

Florida defeated Georgia 77-44 in Gainesville on January 9th.  Mike Rosario led the Gators with 19 points.  Erik Murphy and Patric Young each scored 11, and Casey Prather added 10.  Florida forced 19 Bulldog turnovers.

What I'm Wondering

1.  Florida, for some reason, has had trouble at Stegeman Coliseum, losing three of the last four games there.    The crowd will be rocking and the Bulldogs will try to get out in front early.  Will the Gators be able to take the crowd out of the game?

2.  Once again, I'm waiting for Coach Donovan to give one of the seldom-used freshmen some minutes.  Is tonight the night that we see some extended minutes from one or both of them?

Records to be Broken in the Near Future

 •Boynton (1,801 points) recently passed Udonis Haslem for 3rd on the all-time scoring list (Ronnie Williams leads with 2,090 points)

 •Boynton (298 threes) is now the all-time leader in three-pointers made in school history

 •Boynton (121 games started) is just 8 starts away from passing Andrew DeClerq (128 starts) for the all-time record in school history

Final score prediction: Florida 72 - Georgia 65