Florida Women’s Hoops to Face off with Alabama

The Florida Gators (14-13, 3-11 SEC) have a home SEC matchup against Alabama (20-7, 9-5 SEC) tonight. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. at Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

The Gators will honor KK Deans, Faith Dut, and Nina Rickards for their senior night in a ceremony before tonight’s game.

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The Matchup

This SEC matchup marks the 64th time these teams have faced off against each other. Alabama leads the series with a 33-30 record when playing the Gators. Tonight is the first time Alabama and Florida have met this season. Last season, the Gators beat the Crimson Tide 85-77 in their matchup in Tuscaloosa.

A win for the Gators tonight will give them a winning regular season record, leading them to back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since the 2012-2013/2013-2014 seasons.

Florida Key Players

Senior Guard KK Deans is coming off a team-high 30-point game against the LSU Tigers. Deans leads the Gators, averaging 14.1 points, 3.4 assists and 3.9 rebounds per game. She made the top 15 for triples during a single season at Florida with 60 to break the record.

Nina Rickards is close to becoming the 27th Gator to reach the 1,000-point club with 951 points so far in her career.  Rickards averages 11.9 points and 5.2 rebounds, while Leilani Correa adds 11.1 points and 1.6 steals per game for the Gators.

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Alabama Key Players

Brittany Davis led the Crimson Tide with 14 points and 8 rebounds in their loss to Mississippi State on Sunday. Aaliyah Nye added 12 points in their SEC matchup against the bulldogs. Alabama is led in points by both Davis and Nye. Davis sits in the top five for points per game in the SEC. She averages 17.9 points and 7 rebounds per game, while Nye averages 8.9 points with 2.3 from the three-point range. Hannah Barber and Megan Abrams put up 7.8 points per game for the Crimson Tide.

Stats

The Gators put up an average of 69.4 points per game. When finishing a game with at least 59 points, they are 13-7. As a team, Florida has a 71.1 percent accuracy when shooting free throws. Florida holds the 39th fastest pace in the NCAA and is No. 4 in the SEC for getting up the court on offense, averaging 74 possessions per game.

For the Crimson Tide, they average 69.4 points per game. Alabama has found success when shooting from three-point range. The team averages 8.9 threes made per game. The Crimson Tide have a 10-1 record when shooting above their three-point average.

Senior Night Highlights

Gator seniors Rickards and Dut helped lead Florida to the NCAA tournament last season, their first since the 2015-2016 season. Together, they have secured 62 career wins in their Gator careers. They had appearances in the 2020-2021 WNIT Tournament and the 2021-2022 NCAA Tournament, as well as contributing to the most wins in the last two seasons since 2017. These seniors and Deans have earned 45% of the team’s points and 46% of their defensive steals.

⚡️It’s Electric⚡️@kkdeans + @faithdut7 + @NinaRickards_15 #GoGators pic.twitter.com/O4Ksu1uRXq

— Gators Women’s Basketball (@GatorsWBK) February 23, 2023