Gator Basketball Faces Seton Hall

The Gators’ next stop on their statewide tour, due to the O’Connell Center renovations, is in Orlando at the Wide World of Sports.

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The Gators are coming off of a 78-61 win over the Belmont Bruins, a three-point happy team who made the Gators defend the three-point line on Monday night.

They will participate in the Advocare invitational, a tournament with eight total teams which include Indiana State, Iowa State, Stanford, Miami, Quinnipiac, and Gonzaga.

The Florida Gators first opponent will be the Seton Hall Pirates.

Seton Hall, out of the Big East Conference, earned a trip to the Big Dance by winning their league title last season. The Pirates were knocked out by Gonzaga (another potential opponent for the Gators in this tournament) in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

This season the Pirates are 3-0 with wins over Fairleigh-Dickinson and Central Connecticut. They also came out with a win at a tough road game at Iowa, where they beat the Hawkeyes 81-73.

Seton Hall averages 88 points per game with 54 percent from the field and 42 percent from the three-point line. Players to watch for the Pirates include Kadeem Carrington. The junior point guard averages 21.7 points per game with 3.3 rebounds.In their first three games, he’s shot 10-for-15 from the arc and has shot 60 percent from the floor.Other top contributors include center Angel Delgado who averages double doubles, with 15 rebounds per game and has a 65 percent shooting percentage. Reserve guard Myles Powell adds 15.3 ppg and isn’t scared to shoot deep, as he’s made nine of those 20 shots.

The Gators don’t have a set rotation for this game yet, as head Florida coach Mike White likes to have his players compete for starting spots.

Reserve forward Canyon Barry led the Gators in their last game with 17 points. In the game against St. Bonaventure he hit three straight threes and scored 11 of 13 points in their last win. It wouldn’t be surprising if Barry had more minutes in this tourney. Devin Robinson is up next in scoring behind Barry. Robinson has hit double figure points in every game this season, and has improved his defense.

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Point guards, Kasey Hill and Chris Chiozza have not been as consistent with them being 8-for-27 and 6-for-17 respectively from the floor. However the two have stepped up defensively.Center John Egbunu, someone who struggled with free throws last year has improved on that percentage with going from .532 to .688. He also has improved on his rebounds as well.

In order for the Gators to prove that they are an NCAA tournament team as well, they must keep up the consistency from start to finish.

The Florida Gators will face the Seton Hall Pirates at 8:30 p.m. in Orlando, FL on Thanksgiving night . Live radio coverage will be on ESPN Gainesville 95.3 FM and will be on ESPN 2.