Scouting LSU: A Look At UF Men’s Basketball’s Next Opponent

The Florida Gators men’s basketball team has taken the college basketball world by storm and is now No. 2 in the nation. Saturday, Florida plays in Baton Rouge at 6 p.m. ET (SEC Network, 103.7-FM) to face a struggling LSU team which is yet to find its stride in 2025.

Florida enters the weekend 23-3 overall with a national ranking of No. 2. The Gators have impressed this season, adding a huge win at No. 1 Auburn to their resume Feb. 8.

Averaging 83.8 points of offense per game, while allowing only 66.4 to opponents, Florida’s 17.4 point margin is the best in the SEC (ahead of Auburn’s 16.3 point margin).

LSU enters Saturday’s match at 14-12 overall and 3-10 in the SEC. Second to last in the SEC, the Tigers are only ahead of South Carolina (which is 0-13 against SEC opponents).

Struggling both to score and keep points off the board, LSU ranks 11th and 12th in the SEC in points scored per game and points allowed per game, respectively.

Momentum

Florida has won its last five games, including its last two at home. After tipping off the season with a 13-0 record through Dec. 29, Florida has continued to dominate, posting a 10-3 record since conference play began.

The Gators will enter Maravich Assembly Center coursing with energy and carrying momentum from their wins against Vanderbilt, No. 1 Auburn, Mississippi State, South Carolina and Oklahoma.

Following a solid 11-2 start to its season, LSU has gone a grim 3-10 in 2025 conference play en route to the 14-12 record. After starting conference play 0-3, LSU picked up a win against Arkansas (78-74), before falling in seven straight matches.

Despite their recent struggles, the Tigers picked up much-needed wins against Oklahoma and South Carolina in their last two games.

With two wins under its belt this week, LSU enters their home court against UF with a slightly bolstered sense of confidence and new found momentum.

Back-to-Back Dubs ✅ pic.twitter.com/f1NxI0BzRd

— LSU Basketball (@LSUBasketball) February 19, 2025

Stats that Matter

The Gators’ have a huge advantage in 3-point shooting and will need to capitalize on this to pull away from the Tigers. Florida shoots around 35.2% from 3 (sixth in the SEC), while LSU makes around 31.7% of its 3-point shots (14th in the SEC). Additionally, Florida’s opponents are shooting a measly 28.4% from 3 (second in the SEC) while LSU’s opponents average a 31.6% success rate from 3 (10th in the SEC).

The rebounding ability of both teams will play a big role in the scoring and pace of Saturday’s match as LSU will need to find a way to impede Florida’s high rebound percentage. Florida ranks second in the SEC in rebounds per game (with 42 total rebounds per game), while LSU is 15th in the SEC in rebounds allowed to opponents (averaging 37.1 rebounds allowed to opponents per game).

LSU does have a defensive advantage in blocked shots with that it can use to its advantage this weekend to disrupt Florida’s 47% field goal percentage. LSU averages 5.12 blocked shots per game (fifth in the SEC), while Florida averages only 4.77 (seventh in the SEC).

Despite having homecourt advantage, LSU has the 15th lowest average home attendance of all SEC teams with only around 7,894 fans per game. If this game were in Gainesville, one could expect around 9,903 fans to attend.

Saturday

While playing a conference opponent on the road is never easy, Florida looks to continue its dominance by taking care of business against LSU and improving to 11-3 in SEC play.

Florida looms over the Tigers as one of five top-25 conference opponents it must face before March’s SEC tournament. Furthermore, LSU is in need of big wins to keep hopes of a deep playoff run alive.