game SEC Tournament florida 28 March 12, 2004 East No. 2 Florida vs. Alabama or Tennessee today’s game Florida went 1-0 against Alabama and 1-1 against Tennessee Tip 9:45 p.m. UF has made the SEC Tournament title game three times - 1934, 1989, 1994 Site Atlanta, Georgia Georgia Dome tipoff TV JP Sports. Tim Brando and Barry Florida is making its 39th appearance in the SEC Tournament , where the Gators receive a Booker handle the call. bye as the SEC East’ No. 2 seed and will face the winner of the game between West No. 3 Radio Gator Radio Network. Mick Alabama and East No. 6 Tennessee...Florida has a 20-38 all-time record in the event with Hubert and Mark Wise call the three appearances in the final - 1934, 1989 and 1994 (for a complete history, see page 157 of action the Florida media guide)...Florida is 2-6 in its SEC Tournament history against Alabama and Coaches Billy Donovan is 167-82 in his 2-4 against Tennessee...The Gators are 1-1 against Alabama in the SEC Tournament under eighth season at Florida and 202- 102 in his 10th year as a head Billy Donovan, losing in his first year in 1997 before posting an eight-point win in coach. Mark Gottfried 115-73 in 2001...Donovan has never faced Tennessee at the SEC Tournament and the two teams have six seasons at Alabama and 183- not met in the event since a Florida victory en route to the Final in 1989...While Florida has 97 overall, while Buzz Peterson experienced a wealth of success against the SEC West in recent years, going 28-8 during the is 47-40 in three seasons at Ten- regular season against West opponents, a team from the other side of the league has nessee and 152-90 in eight season knocked the Gators out of the SEC Tournament five straight seasons and in six of Donovan’s overall. seven years at Florida....The best showing by a Donovan-coached team was in 2001 when the polls his squad reached the semifinals before falling to Ole Miss...The Gators have been riding the trio of Anthony Roberson, David Lee and Matt Walsh , as the three combined for 48.3 AP ESPN Florida RV RV points per game (of UF’s 71.6 in league play)...Roberson averaged 17.7 points per game in Alabama RV NR SEC play, hit .464 from the floor and .426 from three-point range...Roberson has seven 20- Tennessee NR NR point games in his last 13 outings and scored in double figures in 14 of 16 SEC games...Over the past six games, Roberson has 30 assists to just 15 turnovers...Matt Walsh scored in series information double figures in 15 of 16 games in SEC play, averaging a team-high 17.8 points...Over the UF trails the all-time series with Alabama past eight games, Walsh is averaging 20.9 points per game, hitting .529 from the floor and 71-50, while Tennessee holds a 60-46 advan- .460 from three-point range (23-50)...Walsh led the SEC in points per game in the month of tage in that series. February, averaging 21.3 points over the seven games...David Lee has been in double figures in six of the last seven games, including an 17-point effort against Kentucky... Lee by the numbers is averaging 14.3 points over the last three games...Arguably the best passing big man in 7.8...the average number of free throw at- the SEC, Lee finishes second on UF in assists during SEC play with 39. tempts per game for Matt Walsh over the last eight contests, as he has hit 52-of-62 (83.9 scouting alabama and tennessee percent) during that stretch. Florida will face the winner of Thursday night’s late game between West No. 3 seed Alabama and East No. 6 seed Tennessee...Florida went a combined 2-1 against the pair of 11...the number of times the Gators have hit teams, winning at Alabama while splitting two games with Tennessee...Alabama has been 50.0 percent or better from the floor, includ- ing three of the last five starting lineup 24...the Gators were +24 in assists over turn- overs in their nine SEC wins and -7 in their Florida Gators (18-9, 9-7 SEC) seven losses No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown PPG/RPG 44 Matt Walsh G 6-6 205 So. Holland, Pa. 16.1/4.6 48.3...the number of points per game in SEC 24 David Lee F 6-9 253 Jr. St. Louis, Mo. 13.7/6.9 play for Florida’s trio of Anthony Roberson, 4 Adrian Moss C 6-9 238 R-So. Houston, Texas 6.3/4.4 Matt Walsh and David Lee - 67.5 percent of 12 Lee Humphrey G 6-2 180 Fr. Maryville, Tenn. 4.0/1.3 the Gators’ offense in league play 1 Anthony Roberson G 6-1 180 So. Saginaw, Mich. 17.3/4.0a
83...the number of three-pointers by Anthony Key Reserves Roberson this year, the third highest total in No. Player Pos. Ht. Wt. Yr. Hometown PPG/RPG UF history and just 15 shy of tying the school 42 Bonell Colas C 6-9 225 Sr. Miami, Fla. 5.0/3.0 record 32 Chris Richard C 6-8 245 Fr. Lakeland, Fla. 3.7/2.7 21 Mohamed Abukar F 6-10 200 Fr. San Diego, Calif. 2.9/2.1 22 Rashid Al-Kaleem G 6-3 192 So. Dorchester, Mass. 2.5/0.8 23 Ryan Appleby G 6-3 165 Sr. Stanwood, Wash. 0.9/1.1.3a on a hot streak of late, winning four of their final five games with their lone loss coming in schedule & an overtime thriller to SEC regular season champion Mississippi State...When the Gators last saw the Tide they were without Ernest Shelton and his 15.4 points per game...They did results get to see Kennedy Winston who scored 25 points in the shootout between the two Date Opponent Results/Time schools...Alabama led the SEC in three-point accuracy, hitting .383 from beyond the arc, 11/10 EA Sports All-Stars (Exh.) W, 103-97 while posting over 35 rebounds per game...As for Tennessee, it was a tale of two teams - one 11/18 Team Nike (Exh.) W, 107-73 that went 7-1 at home in league play, including a two-point victory over Florida on Jan. 31 11/25 Montana State W, 112-73 11/28 Arizona W, 78-77 and one that went 0-8 in league play away from Thompson-Boling Arena, including a 38- 12/2 Florida A&M W, 102-78 point loss in Gainesville...The Vols are led by Scooter McFadgon who averaged 18.1 points 12/4 Central Florida W, 59-39 per game on the season, third in the SEC, and shot an amazing .908 from the line...Tennessee 12/6 Stetson W, 74-61 averaged a solid 72.6 points per game but yield an SEC-high 70.9 points per game...Brandon 12/10 Maryland L, 69-68 (OT) 12/13 Louisville L, 73-65 Crump averages 14.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game while C.J. Watson adds 11.9 points 12/20 West Virginia W, 70-57 and 5.3 assists per game. 12/22 Northeastern W, 101-84 12/27 Eastern Kentucky W, 109-63 1/3 Florida State W, 87-73 last time out 1/7 South Carolina* W, 65-62 Anthony Roberson scored 19 of his 22 points in the second half after getting into early 1/10 Tennessee* W, 95-57 foul trouble, but the Gators couldn’t overcome 19 turnovers and a -27 deficit on the glass, 1/17 Vanderbilt* L, 86-72 1/21 Mississippi State* L, 79-68 as Kentucky ended their four-game winning streak, 82-62, at Rupp Arena...The trio of 1/24 Auburn* W, 68-52 Roberson, David Lee and Matt Walsh scored 51 of Florida’s 62 points, as the Gators got 1/27 Alabama* W, 88-78 only two points off the bench...Roberson picked up two fouls less than two minutes into 1/31 Tennessee* L, 65-63 the game, sending him to the bench for a bulk of the first half...The Gators limited Kentucky 2/3 Kentucky* L, 68-65 2/7 Vanderbilt* W, 81-71 to just 4-18 on three-point attempts in the first half to remain within striking distance at the 2/14 LSU* L, 73-70 break...The Gators trailed by only six early in the second half, but Kentucky’s smothering 2/17 Georgia* L, 76-62 defense, combined with six second-half three-pointers broke the game open...Lee added 17 2/21 Ole Miss* W, 81-66 points for Florida while Walsh scored 12, the 15th time in 16 SEC games he wound up in 2/25 South Carolina* W, 69-58 2/28 Arkansas* W, 73-68 double figures...Florida hit 16-of-22 free throws, getting to the line 20+ times for the eighth 3/3 Georgia* W, 63-55 time in the last 11 games. 3/7 Kentucky* L, 82-62 3/11-14 SEC Tournament TBA *Denotes SEC game.Home games in bold. All times EST roberson getting the point... Anthony Roberson has been the Gators’ point guard by definition all season, however, the in the last three weeks has had to put the responsibility squarely on his shoulders with the departure of Christian Drejer...Roberson has embraced the challenge and is displaying the polls excellent decision-making and care of the ball of a veteran point guard...Roberson has had Florida Week-by-Week seven assists in three of the past six games and over that stretch has 30 assists and just 15 AP ESPN/Coaches’ turnovers, a 2:1 ratio. Preseason 8 8 Nov. 17 8 8 Nov. 24 8 8 Roberson’s Assists to Turnovers Over The Last Six Games Dec. 1 2 2 Opponent Assists Turnovers Dec. 8 1 1 Georgia 7 4 Dec. 15 15 13 Dec. 22 13 13 Ole Miss 4 1 Dec. 29 14 12 South Carolina 7 0 Jan. 5 14 11 Arkansas 7 3 Jan. 12 15 10 Georgia 2 5 Jan. 19 17 17 Jan. 26 22 20 Kentucky 3 2 Feb. 2 21 21 Total 30 15 Feb. 9 22 20 Averages 5.0 2.5 Feb. 16 RV RV Averages before Feb. 17 3.7 2.0 Feb. 23 RV RV March 1 RV RV March 8 RV RV near mirror images Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh will forever be linked, as the two came to Florida at Florida’s Opponents in the Polls AP ESPN/Coaches’ the same time, experienced immediate success and have been able to sustain it, as they have Arizona 21 16 become one of the SEC’s most potent 1-2 punches...The numbers of the two are strikingly Kentucky 8 8 similar through just under two years of their careers, as their career point totals are sepa- Mississippi St. 4 5 rated by only 16 (Roberson 856, Walsh 840).
Roberson vs. Walsh through two years G/GS FG/FGA Pct. 3pt. Pct. Reb. A St. Pts. Avg. Walsh 60/60 262-567 .462 116-293 .396 4.7 179 95 840 14.0 Roberson 59/38 293-672 .436 157-382 .411 2.7 165 63 856 14.8 today’s matchup statistical comparison alabama series information Florida Category Alabama UT 76.7 Points Per Game 71.8 72.6 Series Information 68.3 Opp. Points Per Game 67.9 70.9 Overall: 50-71 .482 Field Goal Percentage .453 .446 Home: 34-19 .416 Opp. Field Goal Percentage .421 .430 Away: 14-46 .379 3-Pt. Field Goal Percentage .383 .348 Neutral: 2-6 .328 Opp. 3-Pt. Field Goal Percentage .356 .347 Dononvan vs. Opponent: 7-3 .744 Free Throw Percentage .700 .725 First Meeting: Feb. 17, 1927 (44-49) +1.3 Rebound Margin +1.6 +3.7 Last Meeting: Jan. 27, 2004 (88-78) 8.0 3-Pts. Per Game 7.0 5.6 Last Five Meetings: 4-1 6.6 Opp. 3-Pts. Per Game 7.3 7.0 Last Ten Meetings: 8-2 3.2 Blocks Per Game 3.1 3.4 Most UF Points: 99, Mar. 3, 1983 (99-106, 2OT) 7.0 Steals Per Game 6.5 6.0 Most Opp. Points: 108, Feb. 13, 1956 (74-108) 16.6 Assists Per Game 11.6 15.5 Least UF Points: 18, Dec. 15, 1946 (18-45) 15.0 Turnovers Per Game 13.6 14.9 Least Opp. Points: 28, Dec. 17, 1940 (22-28) 14.4 Turnovers Forced Per Game 13.4 13.3 Least UF Points (since 1985-86): 44, Jan. 30, 1990 (44-57) Least Opp. Points (since 1985-86): 45, Mar. 5, 1988 (52-45) Largest UF Margin: 32, Feb. 6, 1967 (82-50) the coaches Largest Opponent Margin: 34, Feb. 13, 1956 (74-108) Florida’s Billy Donovan Tennessee’s Buzz Peterson Games Decided by 1: 3-5 UF Record: 167-82 (.671) UK Record: 47-40 (.785) Games Decided by 2: 5-3 SEC Record: 76-52 (.594) Overall: 152-90 (.733) Games Decided by 3: 2-5 Overall: 202-102 (.664) Years at UT/overall: 3/8 Games Decided by 4: 5-1 Years at UF/overall: 8/10 Games Decided by 5: 2-4
Alabama’s Mark Gottfried tennessee series information UA Record: 115-73 (.611) Overall: 183-97(.654) Overall: 46-60 Years at UA/overall: 6/9 Home: 29-20 Away: 14-36 Neutral: 3-4 last time vs. alabama Donovan vs. Opponent: 10-6 Florida 87 Alabama 77 * January 27, 2004* Tuscaloosa, First Meeting: Jan. 8, 1927 (19-22) Ala. Last Meeting: Jan. 31, 2004 (63-65) Anthony Roberson scored 9 of his 26 points in crucial situa- Last Five Meetings: 3-2 tions down the stretch as the Gators were able to escape a late Last Ten Meetings: 6-4 rally by the Crimson Tide to win 88-78 at the Coleman Most UF Points: 104, Jan. 9, 2002 (104-100 OT) Coliseum...David Lee added 24 points on 8-12 shooting from Most Opp. Points: 116, Jan. 11, 1949 (72-116) the field and the line to provide the scoring support Florida Least UF Points: 26, Feb. 29, 1941 (26-47) needed down low...Alabama was led by Kennedy Winston’s 25 Least Opp. Points: 38, Feb. 23, 1940 (41-38) points, most of which came after the break as the Tide made Least UF Points (since 1985-86): 56, Jan. 25, 1997 (56-50) their run...The Gators’ win ended an 11-game home winning Least Opp. Points (since 1985-86): 47, Jan. 22, 1995 (62-47) streak for the Crimson Tide. Largest UF Margin: 22, Feb. 19, 1997 (76-54) twice Largest Opponent Margin: 44, Jan. 17, 1979 (72-116) last time vs. tennessee Games Decided by 1: 2-6 Tennessee 65 Florida 63* January 31, 2004* Knoxville, Games Decided by 2: 4-3 Tenn. Games Decided by 3: 2-7 Tennessee rallied in the final minutes to get past No. 20 Florida Games Decided by 4: 7-3 65-63 at the Thompson-Boling Arena...Florida’s dynamic duo Games Decided by 5: 2-2 of Anthony Roberson and Matt Walsh combined for 34 points but the Gators were unable to contain Tennessee guard Scooter McFadgon who scored 24 points in 38 minutes of play...Anthony GatorZone.com Roberson had a chance to tie the game with 13.8 seconds re- The Official Web Site maining in the game but was only able to convert 2-of-3 free throws...Tennesse and Florida split the season series 1-1. of the Florida Gators youth is served one or no losses when the Gators faced them...Twenty-four of the 26 Florida remains among the nation’s elite, having been ranked teams they’ve faced have had winning records...The combined record as high as No. 1 and in the Top 25 until Feb. 16 despite being of Florida’s opponents at the time of their meeting on the season is 256- the fourth youngest team in the nation…Eight of Florida’s 10 104 (.711). remaining scholarship players are either freshmen or sopho- mores, or 80 percent…Junior David Lee and senior Bonell home court success Colas are the only scholarship players on the roster not in their Despite dropping four games at home this season, three of which first or second year with the program. were by a combined seven points, Florida’s 26 home wins over the last two seasons are tied for second most in the SEC: Youngest NCAA Division I Teams Team No. of Fr./So. Total Players Pct. SEC Home Records Over the Past Two Seasons (As of 3/7/04) 1. Villanova 9 10 90.0 LSU 2 8 2. Northwestern St. 11 13 84.6 Florida 26 3. Maryland 9 11 81.8 Tennessee 26 4. Florida 8 10 80.0 South Carolina 25 Utah 8 10 80.0 Vanderbilt 25 LaSalle 8 10 80.0 Auburn 25 7. Arkansas 9 12 75.0 Georgia 25 Wake Forest 9 12 75.0 Alabama 24 9. Houston 7 10 70.0 Mississippi St. 24 10. Long Island 9 13 69.2 Kentucky 23 Ole Miss 21 gators finishing strong Arkansas 18 While a great deal has been made about the Gators’ inability to finish games against Kentucky, LSU and at Tennessee, they’ve success against the sec west actually experienced greater success down the stretch than many Florida has gone 28-8 (.777) against the SEC West over the past six would think. Against Georgia on March 3, the Gators trailed 52- regular seasons, including 6-0 in three of the past five seasons...Billy 48 with 4:57 remaining before closing the game on a 15-3 run - one Donovan is 20-4 all-time against the SEC West at the O’Dome, with of a number of occasions this season they’ve excelled down the only losses to LSU in 1998 and 2004, Ole Miss in 1999 and Mississippi stretch: State in 2004...Florida went 4-2 against the West this season.
Florida regular season record vs. the SEC West (1999-2004) Opponent Run Score At The Time Year Overall record Home record Arizona 5-0 run over the final 2:38 Trailing 77-73 2004 4-2 1-2 West Virginia 25-14 over the last 9:00 Leading 45-43 2003 6-0 3-0 South Carolina (1/7) 8-5 over last 5:28 Tied at 57 2002 3-3 3-0 Auburn 21-10 over last 11:100 Leading 47-42 2001 6-0 3-0 Alabama 17-6 over last 6:48 Trailing 72-71 2000 6-0 3-0 South Carolina (2/25) 16-5 over last 3:36 Tied at 53 1999 3-3 2-1 Georgia (3/3) 15-3 over last 4:57 Trailing 52-48 Total 28-8 15-3 roberson enjoys saturday success uf sets attendance mark Anthony Roberson has enjoyed Saturday’s at the O’Connell Florida broke its season attendance average of 10,805 fan per game Center this season, scoring 20-points or more in four-of-seven set in 2001-02, averaging 11,047 fans per game for the 2003-04 home Saturday games at the O’Dome...Roberson averaged 21.0 points slate...Florida had five games of 12,000-plus fans and nine games of per game on Saturday’s at the O’Dome...Florida went 6-1 in those 11,000-plus fans this season...Florida fell just 2,122 fans short of break- games. Overall, he is averaging 17.8 on Saturday games, hit- ing the all-time attendance record of 167,827 set last season, however, ting .497 from the floor and .449 from three-point range. remarkable conisdering there was one less home game this season. Roberson’s Saturday Success At Home Opponent FG 3-pt. Pts. what have you done for me lately? Stetson 6-11 3-8 18 In the four games prior to Sunday’s loss to Kentucky, the Gators put Eastern Kentucky 8-11 4-6 22 together a winning streak using a solid combination of offensive and Florida State 8-14 7-11 28 defensive efficiency...Over the four games, the Gators averaged 71.5 Tennessee 6-8 2-2 15 points per game, while holding their opponents to just 61.8...None Auburn 8-12 5-7 21 scored more than 70 points during those four games, as the Gators are Vanderbilt 7-19 5-12 25 10-3 this season when holding the opposition to fewer than 70 LSU 9-15 2-7 18 points...Florida hit.527 from the floor, while holding their opponents to Totals 52-90 28-53 21.0 just .413...From three-point range the Gators hit .397 while their oppo- nents hit just .205. gators well-tested against strong opponents Florida has held 21 of 27 opponents to under 50 percent from the floor Florida currently sits 18th in the RPI rankings while its strength this season. of schedule is No. 6 in the nation, and has been No. 1 at several points this season...Nine of Florida’s 26 opponents have had Florida has held five of its last 14 opponents to 20 or fewer field goals. Trailing 52-48 with 4:57 remaining, the Gators held Georgia to one South Carolina 7-13 5-10 24 7 0 field goal over the remainder of the game...Florida shut down Geor- Arkansas 5-10 2-6 12 7 3 gia over the final five minutes, out-scoring them 15-3 over that stretch. Georgia 6-12 4-7 19 2 5 Kentucky 7-14 6-8 22 3 2 The Gators limited South Carolina to only two field goals in their Total 33-66 20-39 20.2 23 11 final eight possessions on Feb. 25..With the game tied at 53, the Gators went on a 14-0 run, and closed the game on a 16-5 run over Matt Walsh is second on the Gators in scoring at 16.1 points per the final 3:50. game and has been on fire as of late...Earlier in the season he earned MVP honors at the MassMutual Classic with his 27-point effort and Against Tennessee on Jan. 10, Florida forced more turnovers than at the Orange Bowl Classic, the third MVP honor in his UF career, as it allowed field goals, holding the Vols to just 17 field goals and he claimed the honor at last year’s Orange Bowl Classic following a forcing 20 turnovers. The Gators did the same against Auburn, forc- 33-point outburst against Miami...Walsh has taken his game to an- ing 22 turnovers while holding the Tigers to 20 field goals...Florid other level in SEC play, averaging a team-high 17.8 points per game, held Auburn without a field goal for 5:57 during a decisive 16-2 fifth in the league in conference play...His 21.3 average during the stretch on Jan. 24. month of February led the league...Walsh scored 116 points in a five-game stretch from Feb. 7-Feb. 25, the highest five-game total by Trailing by one, 72-71 at Alabama on Jan. 27, Florida held the Tide a Gator since 1987...Walsh has scored in double figures 23 times this to one field goal in the final 6:44 of regulation and outscored Ala- season and 40 times in 60 career games. bama 17-6 down the stretch. SEC Scoring Leaders For The Month Of February UF held West Virginia without a field goal for 10:45...On Dec. 10 1. Matt Walsh, Florida 21.3 Florida held Maryland without a field goal for a stretch of 11:02, 2. Aaron Harper, Ole Miss 21.1 starting with 9:14 remaining in regulation and ending with 3:12 re- 3. Matt Freije, Vanderbilt 21.0 maining in overtime...Florida’s press has begun to take its form since 3. Kennedy Winston, Alabama 20.7 the second half of the West Virginia game and against Florida State, 5. Lawrence Robers, Miss. State 19.7 the Gators put together a stretch of holding the Seminoles scoreless 6. Justin Reed, Ole Miss 19.0 for over 4:00 that helped separate the game. 7. Anthony Roberson, Florida 17.9