Starkville, Miss. — With four games remaining on their regular season schedule, the Florida Gators (15-12, 3-9) are still poised for a run at the top 10 in the SEC standings, which would put them in a great position for one of the SEC’s 11 predicted NCAA Tournament bids. Next up on the docket is a Thursday, Feb. 19 road trip to Mississippi State (18-8, 5-7). The game is being broadcast on SECN+, and tip is slated for 7:30 p.m. EST.
 
Florida had its sights set on a third straight SEC win last Thursday as they led No. 10 Oklahoma on the road for the overwhelming majority of the game’s first three quarters. The Sooners got 11 points each from Aaliyah Chavez and Payton Verhulst in the fourth, however, as Oklahoma eked out the seven-point win. Liv McGill scored 29 points, grabbed seven rebounds, and handed out seven assists in the loss.
 
Offensively, Florida is in the top half of the league in both field goal percentage (.432) and three-point field goal percentage (.324) against SEC competition, and the Gators are holding conference foes to just 30.6 percent shooting from beyond the arc which is the sixth-best figure in the league.
 
A Preseason All-Conference selection, McGill continues to be one of the best all-around players in the country. She is one of three players in all of Division I Women’s Basketball averaging at least 20 points, five rebounds and five assists on the season, and one of 10 players still in contention for the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award.
 
Me’Arah O’Neal, who is averaging 14.0 points and 5.8 rebounds against SEC teams, has found her stroke from beyond the arc of late. She is making 45.7 percent of her shots from distance in conference, and has made 20 of her last 38 shots (.526) from three-point range.
 
Mississippi State has won two straight games to move into 11th place in the SEC, knocking off Georgia and Arkansas in its most recent efforts. The Bulldogs boast one of the most balanced offensive attacks in the nation with seven players averaging between 8.2 and 13.3 points per game. They also have two of the best rebounders in the league in Favour Nwaedozi (10.7 rpg) and Madison Francis (7.4 rpg).
 
The Gators are 28-28 all-time against the Bulldogs, and have won two straight games in the series including a 69-66 win at home last season. Mississippi State led 55-51 heading into the fourth quarter after outscoring Florida by 10 points in the third, and were up nine, 64-55, with 4:30 to go in the game. The Gators scored 14 of the final 16 points to secure the come-from-behind victory.
 
MISSISSIPPI STATE (18-8, 5-7)

A FLORIDA WIN WOULD …

• Improve the Gators’ record to 16-12 on the year, and 4-9 in the SEC.
• Potentially move Florida (3-9) ahead of Texas A&M (3-9 and playing at Tennessee, Thursday), and into a tie with Missouri (4-8 and hosting Auburn, Thursday).
• Improve Florida’s record to 2-8 on the road this season.
• Improve the Gators’ record to 29-28 vs. Mississippi State, and give them three straight wins in the series.

POSTSEASON PICTURE

• The 2026 SEC Women’s Basketball Tournament is being held at Bon Secours Wellness Arena in Greenville, S.C. from March 4-8.
• All 16 teams make the tournament
• The top four seeds have a double bye into the quarterfinals on March 6.
• The five through the eight seeds have a bye into the second round on March 5.
• The nine through 16 seeds play in the first round on March 4 with 9 playing 16, 10 playing 15, 11 playing 14 and 12 playing 13.
• Entering Thursday’s game, Florida is tied for 13th place with Texas A&M (3-9), a game back of Missouri (4-7) in 12th, and two games behind Mississippi State in 11th.
• With four games remaining in the regular season, the Gators’ remaining schedule consists of contests against, Mississippi State (T-13th), Alabama (T-9th), Ole Miss (6th), and Georgia (T-9th).

TALE OF THE TAPE

Florida		Mississippi St.
73.8	PPG	78.0
66.1	OPP PPG	65.1
+7.7	SCORING MARGIN	+12.9
44.8	FG %	45.4
39.8	OPP FG%	39.2
28.6	3 FG%	33.8
28.8	OPP 3 FG%	31.3
5.4	3FG/G	6.4
69.9	FT %	74.0
38.4	REBOUNDS/G	43.1
36.6	OPP REBOUNDS/G	32.7
+1.7	REB MARGIN	+10.4
13.4	ASSISTS/G	14.7
17.1	TURNOVER/G	15.1
+0.78	A/TO RATIO	+0.97
9.8	STEALS/G	7.9
4.11	BLOCKS/G	4.77

 

PROJECTED FLORIDA STARTERS

 
GATOR BITES

• Through games of Monday, Feb. 16, Florida is … 12th in the SEC this season in points per game (73.8) … 12th in scoring defense (66.1) … 12th in scoring margin (+7.7) … 8th in field goal percentage (.448) … 10th in field goal percentage defense (.398) … 13th in three-point field goal percentage (.286) … 6th in three-point field goal percentage defense (.288) … 13th in free throw percentage (.699) … 10th in offensive rebound percentage (.356) … 13th in defensive rebound percentage (.656) … 12th in assists (13.4) … 8th in steals (9.78) … 9th in blocked shots (4.11).
• In SEC games, Florida is ranked 11th in scoring (68.8), 12th in scoring defense (75.9) sixth in field goal percentage (.432), 11th in field goal percentage defense (.438), seventh in three-point field goal percentage (.324), and sixth in three-point field goal percentage defense (.306).
• The Gators have held 17 of 27 opponents below 70 points this season.
• Florida is 43rd in the nation in free throws made per game (14.5), and tied for 39th in free throw attempts per game (20.7) through games of Tuesday, Feb. 17.
• Florida’s NET rating, which helps determine which teams make the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Championship, is No. 52 through games of Tuesday, Feb. 17.
• Liv McGill became the 28th player in Florida Women’s Basketball history to score 1,000 points in her career when she connected on a free throw line jumper in the second quarter Jan. 11 at Auburn. She is now in 23rd place with 1,173 career points, 41 points behind Haley Lorenzen in 22nd with 1,214.
• Liv McGill was named to the Nancy Lieberman Point Guard of the Year Award Mid-Season List along with Kentucky’s Tonie Morgan, NC State’s Zoe Brooks, Nebraska’s Britt Prince, Notre Dame’s Hannah Hidalgo, Oklahoma’s Aaliyah Chavez, South Carolina’s Raven Johnson, TCU’s Olivia Miles, Texas’ Rori Harmon, and UCLA’s Kiki Rice.
• Liv McGill and Me’Arah O’Neal have each earned SEC Player of the Week honors this season.
• Liv McGill became the first player in Gators women’s basketball history to be named a US Basketball Writers Association National Player of the Week on Tuesday, Nov. 11. She averaged 27.7 points, 6.0 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 5.00 steals while connecting on 40.9 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in Florida’s three wins. She also was named the SEC Player of the Week for her performance during that same stretch of games.
• Liv McGill was named the most outstanding player of the Grand Cayman Classic over Thanksgiving weekend when she averaged 27.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 2.00 steals and 1.00 blocked shots.
• Liv McGill has three games this season of at least 25 points, five rebounds, five assists and five steals. The other 4,500-+ players competing in women’s basketball at the Division I level have 11 games with 25-5-5-5.

PROJECTED MISSISSIPPI STATE STARTERS

	No.	Ht.	Pos.	Class	Hometown / Previous Schools
Trayanna Crisp	4	5-8	G	Sr.	Goodyear, Ariz. / North Carolina, Arizona State
Jaylah Lampley	10	6-1	G	Fr.	Fishers, Ind. /
Favour Nwaedozi	25	6-3	F	Jr.	Delta, Nigeria /
Kharyssa Richardson	33	6-2	F	Sr.	Douglasville, Ga. / Ole Miss, Auburn
Madison Francis	40	6-2	F	Fr.	Lancaster, N.Y. /

 
BULLDOGS QUICK HITS

• Members of the media tabbed Mississippi State to finish 10th in the SEC this season, while the coaches picked the Bulldogs to finish 12th.
• Mississippi State has won 20 or more games in each of the past three seasons, and made two trips to the NCAA Tournament as a nine seed (2024-25) and an 11 seed (2022-23)
• The Bulldogs went 13-1 in non-conference play with the team’s lone loss coming at Texas Tech (69-62).
• Mississippi State is the fourth best defensive rebounding team in the SEC against conference competition (.724 DReb%), and the seventh best offensive rebounding team (.350 OReb%).
• The Bulldogs have one of the most balanced offensive scoring attacks in the league with seven players averaging between 8.2 and 13.3 points per game led by freshman forward Madison Francis. Against conference competition, the team’s top six scorers average between 7.1 and 13.3 points.
• Favour Nwaedozi and Madison Francis rank third and seventh in the SEC against conference opponents in rebounds per game at 9.8 and 8.3 respectively.
• Senior guard Trayanna Crisp is connecting on 38.0 percent of her three-point field goal attempts in SEC games this year, which is the sixth highest percentage in the league.
• Madison Francis is blocking 2.42 shots per game against conference foes which is the second highest average in the SEC.

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