UNF Ready for Challenge against Gator Hoops

The No. 6 Florida Gator men’s basketball team opens its 2019-20 season against the University of North Florida tonight at 7 p.m.

Last year’s game between these two team resulted in a 98-66 Gator victory. The Gators were led by then senior and now alum KeVaughn Allen, who totaled his 18 points.

UNF Head Coach Matthew Driscoll

North Florida head coach Mathew Driscoll joined Steve Russell on his show today to talk about the match-up.

The Ospreys have five returning seniors and are ready to challenge Florida in Exactech Arena tonight.

“It isn’t like this is new for them. Seven of them are ranked, one of them was your guy and at one point two of them went to the final four.  So, obviously we understand the challenge ahead of us and we understand about Florida and how they are; their DNA. And how they’ve been able to get a lot of guys who can make shots and a lot of guys who can really play with high-level basketball experience.” -UNF Coach Matthew Driscoll

Driscoll believes his team has a lot of experience and has improved from last year.

UNF from a depth Perspective

The Ospreys plan on starting a redshirt senior, three other seniors and a sophomore tonight.

Their main issue from previous years has been depth, but Driscoll believes they’ve addressed that this year.

“That’s been one of our biggest issues over the last couple years, and we think we’ve really resolved that from the preseason and kind of what it’s looked like from going all the way back to Puerto Rico. Because Ivan wasn’t part of us, he was playing for the Puerto Rican National Team and playing against all those NBA players and getting that experience. So we’ve really felt that we’ve addressed it from a recruiting stand-point and also too we’ve had some injuries last year from some guys that couldn’t play”- UNF Coach Matthew Driscoll

With five guys on their roster back and a lot of experience under their belt, the Ospreys feel prepared to take on the sixth-ranked Gators tonight.