No. 10 Florida vs. Texas Christian

 
* What: Rady Children’s Invitational
* When: Thursday, 3 p.m. (ET)
* Where: Jenny Craig Pavilion / San Diego
* Records: Florida (4-1) / TCU (3-2)
* Series/Last meeting: Florida leads 2-1. The two programs had not played in 33 years when they last met in the Big 12/SEC Challenge on Jan. 26, 2019, when the Horned Frogs prevailed 55-50 at Fort Worth, Texas. Forward Kouat Noi led all scorers with 22 points, with guard Desmond Bane adding 17, including a pair of free throws with 2.2 seconds left to ice the outcome. The Gators missed 14 of their first 15 shots to start the game, but rallied from a 16-point first-half deficit to to the tie the score in the second. By then, they’d spent all their energy on the comeback and had little left to finish the job. They lost despite holding the Horned Frogs to just 27.3% shooting and forcing 12 turnovers. UF, led by 11 points from guard KeVaughn Allen, shot just 30.6% for the game. 
* TV: FS1 (Cory Provus and Donny Marshall)

* Ticket info

Projected Starters

The Setup

Florida, winner of four straight, enters the most ambitious and challenging portion of its non-league schedule, with a run of four consecutive games against opponents from high-major programs, starting Thanksgiving Day against TCU, out of the Big 12 Conference, in the program’s latest (and annual now) foray into a holiday tournament. The Gators, after defeating state rivals Florida State and Miami, beat up on Merrimack Friday night with an 80-45 win that was never close. Now comes a date against the Horned Frogs, who early on are looking like a middle-of-the-pack league team, with its three wins coming against low-major programs, most recently an 81-45 rout of Kansas City a week ago. 
 

Tale of the Tape

The Breakdown 

About the Gators: Defense has been their theme. Since Arizona shot 49% in its season-opening win at Las Vegas, no UF opponent has reached 34% from the floor, with the season-low of 28.6% allowed to Merrimack also including 4-for-25 defense from the 3-point line. The Gators are allowing just 5.4 3s per game. … While UF rates 20th nationally in offensive efficiency, that’s a number Coach Todd Golden wants/needs to improve. The Gators are shooting 44.1% overall, but 57.1 inside the 3-point line. The numbers from arc have been inching up over the last four games, with the 36.4 (with makes from five different players) a season high. … Center Rueben Chinyleu is coming off a 14-point, 21-rebound performance — his third consecutive double-double — that made him the first UF player since 1994 to grab at least 20 rebounds in a game. He’s at 56% from the floor, with offensive (17.4) and defensive (29.1) rebounding percentages that place him in the top 30 nationally. … Forward Alex Condon also had a double-double last game, with 20 points and 11 boards. He’s shooting 58.5% from the floor and 73.3 at the free-throw line, both numbers up significantly from last season. … Thomas Haugh had 13 points, hit five of six shots from the 2-point area, but missed all four of his 3s last game. Contrast that to point guard Boogie Fland, who missed both his 2-point attempts, but went 2-for-3. … Shooting guard Xaivian Lee’s numbers have increasingly fallen off since scoring 14 and making a trio of 3s in the opener. He had his first scoreless game against the Warriors, missing all six of his shots. He’s 0-for-9 from 3 over the last two games and 1-for-10 over the last three. Those are confounding stats, to say the least, given he made five 3s and was sensational in UF’s preseason scrimmage win over Illinois last month. … Backup 7-1 center Micah Handlogten (7.5 ppg, 8.8 rpg), who sat out the Merrimack game after taking a forearm to the head against Miami, was progressing earlier in the week and could be cleared for this game. … Backup guards Urban Klavzar (7.2 ppg) and Isaiah Brown (3.6 ppg, 3.2 rpg) each scored six points and hit two 3s vs. Merrimack, with Brown continuing his trend as the seventh man in the rotation (ahead of freshman CJ Ingram). 

About the Horned Frogs: They’re in the 10th season under Jamie Dixon, who in 2016 returned to his alma mater after 13 outstanding seasons at Pittsburgh (with 11 NCAA berths) and has gone 179-128 with four NCAA berths, including three straight from 2022-24. TCU, which will be playing its first game away from its home floor in Fort Worth, Texas, opened with a disappointing loss to New Orleans, defeated Saint Francis and Lamar, lost a tight one to Michigan, then beat Kansas City a week ago. Dixon’s teams are known for their defense. As such, the Frogs are a top 50 team in effective field-goal percentage, turnover, steal and block percentage. … Point guard Brock Hardy, transfer from Iowa, is the guy who makes TCU go, but not because of his scoring. He’s shooting only 39% from 2 and 28 from 3, but he keeps the offense organized (top 200 player in assist percentage at 27.4) and affects the game defensively by creating steals (24th nationally at 6%). … Guard Jayden Pierce, transfer from Providence, is their main 3-point threat at 37.9% on 29 attempts. … Forward David Punch doesn’t shoot a lot, but makes the most of his touches and is an elite shot-blocker. … Backup forward Micah Robinson (10.8 ppg, 6.0 rpg), at 6-6, 235, is as effective as any Frog on offense, despite not starting. He’s 8-for-16 from the arc and 22-for-26 on a team-high 26 free throws. … Guard Liutauras Lelevicius is just shy of 32% from 33 from the arc, but hit over 38% at Oregon State last season.

 

Numbers of Note 

* 14.0 —Chinyelu’s rebounding average over the last four games, after his uncharacteristic one-rebound effort in 17 minutes against Arizona to start the season. 

* 1986 —The year of the Gators defeated the Horned Frogs in the second round of National Invitational Tournament, in a game that (at the time) was one of the most thrilling ever staged at the O’Connell Center. The date as March 17. UF senior forward Joe Lawrence nailed a 22-footer from the baseline with two seconds left to give the Gators a 77-75 victory and send them into the tournament’s third round, where the Gators defeated Southwest Missouri State and advanced to the NIT Final Four in New York City for the first time and what was (again, at the time) the greatest postseason run in program history.

* 2005 — The year David Lee became the last Gator to post four consecutive double-doubles, as Chinyelu has a chance to do Thursday. Lee collected his in the final four regular-season games, all wins: Vanderbilt (13 points, 14 rebounds), at South Carolina (13 and 14), at Georgia (17 and 13) and on his “Senior Day” against Kentucky (11 and 10).

 

Bottom Line

Can the Gators, who a year ago in Kissimmee, Florida, rolled to easy wins over Wake Forest and Wichita State at the ESPN Events Invitational, win a second consecutive holiday for the first time since 1976?

Email senior writer Chris Harry at chrish@gators.ufl.edu. Find his story archives here.