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If the No. 3 Florida Gators men’s basketball team is to advance to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament today it would have to go through two-time defending national champion UConn at the Lenovo Center in Raleigh, N.C.
The Gators (31-4), the top seeds in the West Regional, take on the eight-seeded Huskies (24-10) at 12:10 p.m. ET today in a game televised on CBS and also airs on 103.7-FM.
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Florida, the SEC Tournament champion, advanced to the Round of 32 by defeating 16-seed Norfolk State 95-69 in Friday’s first round, while UConn beat 9-seed Oklahoma 67-59. The winner will advance to the Sweet 16 round set for Thursday at San Francisco against the winner today from the four seed Maryland (26-8) and 12 seed Colorado State (26-9) game.
Florida is favored -9.5; over/under is 150.5 at BETMGM SPORTSBOOK LINE.
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UF is 14-0 against non-conference opponents this season and is second in the SEC scoring 85.7 points while shooting 47.3% from the field. The Huskies are 15-7 against Big East opponents. UConn scores 77.1 points while outscoring opponents by 9.3 points per game.
Florida makes 47.3% of its shots from the field this season, which is 5.3 percentage points higher than UConn has allowed to its opponents (42.0%). UConn averages 8.6 made 3-pointers per game this season, 2.0 more made shots on average than the 6.6 per game Florida gives up.
All-American guard Walter Clayton Jr. averages 3.0 made 3-pointers per game for the Gators, scoring 17.7 points while shooting 38.1% from beyond the arc. Will Richard is shooting 46.5% and averaging 14.5 points over the past 10 games. Solomon Ball averages 2.9 made 3-pointers per game for the Huskies, scoring 14.6 points while shooting 42.2% from beyond the arc. Alex Karaban is averaging 14.5 points, 5.9 rebounds and 1.6 blocks over the past 10 games.
The Gators are 9-1 in their last 10 games, averaging 90.5 points, 38.1 rebounds, 15.9 assists, 7.2 steals and 4.2 blocks per game while shooting 47.8% from the field. Their opponents have averaged 76.0 points per game.
