Florida was run off the floor by Florida State on Monday and then suffered a loss to Loyola-Chicago two days later, which leaves Mike White searching for answers entering Saturday’s tilt against Cincinnati.
The two teams will meet in Newark, New Jersey for the Never Forget Tribute Classic, and both will try to get back on track.
The Bearcats are coming off of their biggest rivalry game of their season, losing a hard-fought contest to cross-town rival Xavier by 13 points, allowing their season high in points and scoring their third-lowest point total of the season.
Let’s take a look at the players to watch, the keys to victory, and a score prediction for this Top 25 matchup at the Prudential Center.
Players to Watch
Egor Koulechov (Florida)
The Rice transfer had a very impressive start on the offensive end of the floor, but has struggled in recent games.
He is averaging 15.5 points and 6.9 rebounds per game on 39.5 percent shooting from 3-point range.
He has been the second option on offense behind Jalen Hudson, but that role suits his offensive game pretty well, as he can come off of screens to get his shot off in the corners, as well as spotting up in those corners to get high-percentage looks.
Cincinnati is only average at defending the 3-point line percentage-wise, so finding a way to get Koulechov going early is going to be important to the Gators’ success in this contest.
Gary Clark (Cincinnati)
The senior forward and team leader of the Bearcats squad, Clark has been fantastic in averaging 13.8 points and 8.0 rebounds for a team that boasts the second highest average margin of victory at 25.1 points per game.
Clark has been recognized for his outstanding play so far this season, earning the MVP award and an All-Tournament team spot at the Cayman Islands Classic, where he averaged 16.3 points and 9.3 rebounds over the three games.
He excels on the offensive boards, averaging 2.8 offensive rebounds a game, so if he can rebound over the likes of Keith Stone and Kevarrius Hayes, look for the Bearcats to get easy second-chance points around the basket.
How Florida Can Win
If the Gators can work the ball inside-out to get shooters good looks, they have a really good shot to win this game.
Finding open spots on the floor for Hudson, Koulechov, Chris Chiozza, and KeVaughn Allen will be very important to having early success in this game.
The Bearcats are one of the best defensive teams in the country, but they aren’t the stoutest from the perimeter, ranking 141st in the country in opposing 3-point shooting percentage.
If the Gators can get going earlier with their three-point shooting barrage, they could run away with this one.
How Cincinnati Can Win
If the Bearcats can continue to play the high-level defense that they have been able to put together all season, they have a really good chance to pull this one out.
They rank 231st in tempo, while the Gators rank 57th, so keeping the pace of the game slow is quite important to Cincinnati’s gameplan.
Chiozza also likes to get out on the break and create, so stopping ball on transition is also a very important philosophy that the Bearcats will need to execute on to win this game.
They have the horses to do so, but execution is the key factor to the success of their defense.
Prediction
The Gators and Bearcats are very evenly matched across the board when it comes to overall talent, but Florida’ recent struggles are certainly a bit concerning.
The edge is going to come in the Cincinnati defense, who will be able to get enough stops of the Gators to win a tight contest.
Prediction: Cincinnati 70, Florida 67