The Gators, who started off red hot and had aspirations of making a top seed in the NCAA Tournament, are now battling to keep their March Madness hopes alive. After three straight losses since their undefeated start, the young Gators team has suffered key injuries that have taken a toll on their season. But a win tonight will put them back on the win map, and get their confidence up before conference play begins.

The No. 18 Gators hope to avoid their longest losing streak of the decade tonight when they face American University tonight in Gainesville at 7pm.

This week has been hard for the University of Florida, especially with all of the attention that is surrounded by Urban Meyer and his choice to take a leave of absence. Coach Donovan and his Gators have lost three straight after winning their first eight games by almost 18 points. The 67-66 loss against South Alabama was pretty shocking and was actually their first home loss in December since 2004. That should of been a game you could have circled a W around but things just didn’t go the way they wanted it to in the second half.

Looking at the last game against the Jaguars, Florida only shot 36.8 percent from the floor. The Gators had the lead with just under a minute left in regulation but the Jaguars snagged an offensive rebound and put it back in and scored which gave them the lead with just final seconds remaining.

One of their main reasons why they lost had to do with shooting. No your not going to have lights out shooting every game, but when your top scorers can’t produce from the floor at all, it’s hard to win ball games. Chandler Parsons shot 1 of 8 from the floor and missed a shot that they needed down the stretch. The Gators third leading scorer on the team Erving Walker has shot horribly throughout the three game skid. Walker is 10 of 36 from the floor the last three games.

The Gators have to become successful tonight on offense. The first eight games they averaged 75 points per game and shot 46.7 percent compared to 64 points per game and 39.7 percent shooting the last three games. We all know the South Alabama game was an upset, just think if they lost to American University tonight how big of an upset that would be.

American University (2-10) lost their last 15 games against ranked opponents by at least 23 points or more. They shot 27 percent from the field in the 73-46 loss against Georgetown back on December 5.

Both the Gators and Eagles have met once before back in 2000, the Gators came out on top in a blowout win 76-33.