This is the second time Florida will be taking on a #2 ranked opponent this season, and we all remember how Florida pulled out the win over then #2 Michigan State. Tonight, the Gators will get a second chance to knock off another top team, this time it’s a conference rival, the Kentucky Wildcats.

The Wildcats are led by the Freshman phenom, John Wall. He is averaging 17.2 points per game and 7.1 assists per game, but is also a threat on defense, as he is averaging around 2 steals a game. The Gators will attempt to contain the young talent, though it will be tough, the Gators will do their best to throw everything they got at Wall.

Besides Wall, Kentucky has a great Junior Forward, Patrick Patterson. While averaging 8 rebounds per game, Patterson is second on the team with 16.7 points per game. Earlier in the season against Rider University, Patterson hauled in a season high 18 rebounds, which hopefully doesn’t happen against the Gators. But wait, Patterson isn’t the leading rebounder on his team. In fact, Demarcus Cousins leads the team with 9.4 boards a game. He’s snagged 18 rebounds in a game twice, and scored 27 points in one of those games. This is why Kentucky is ranked so high, they have talent up and down their roster, and John Wall, DeMarcus Cousins, and Patrick Patterson are their three studs.

Can Florida stop these three guys? It will be a difficult task, but if Florida is able to shoot consistently, as well as hit their threes, this game could come down to the wire.

Saturday marks the start of the SEC portion of the Florida Gators Men’s Basketball schedule. It’s sort of a half way mark in the season, even though there are still a few more games left than have been played.

To make the NCAAs this year, let’s look at what wasn’t enough to make it the previous one. Last year UF lost 2 non conference games. The lost to Syracuse and FSU. They had wins against NC State and Washington along with a bunch of mid majors and small schools. They then went 9-7 in the SEC and 1-1 in the SEC Tournament.

This year, UF has 3 losses in non conference play. So it would appear that we are in more danger going into SEC play. However, UF has wins against FSU, NC State, Rutgers, and the biggie, Michigan State. Again they have a tough loss to Syracuse and also a tougher than we thought Richmond, and a bad one to South Alabama. We also still have one non conference game in February against always tough Xavier. A win in that one would be big.

So what does UF need to accomplish in SEC play? Will another 9-7 get us in? I think it does. First, the non conference schedule this year was much tougher than last year. Hopefully, Michigan State, Florida State and NC State will do well the rest of the season to help Florida’s RPI rating. Also, the SEC will be tougher this year. Last year the SEC was awful. Only three teams made it into the Big Dance. All were gone by the first weekend. This year Kentucky is unbeaten and ranked in the top 5. Mississippi and Mississippi St are also highly regarded. Tennessee was until they had four players run afoul of the law. But all in all, a 9-7 SEC mark will look a lot better than last year.

My prediction, 9-7 will get us in. 8-8 with a win over Xavier may be enough as well. 8-8 with a loss to XU may not make it without a good SEC Tournament run. If that happens, we better make it to at least the semi-finals. 7-9 and we go back to the NIT. It should be another nail biter in early March.

By: James Folsom

Florida Gator sophomore forward Kenny Kadji may need to have surgery done on his back if the treatments for his disc problem does not ease the pain up any.

Kadji has been facing with this herniated disc the entire season, and if he does follow through with the surgery, it will very easily end his 2009-2010 season. So far this season, Kadji has payed only eight games for a total of 45 minutes.

Donovan said that he doesn’t expect Kadji to return anytime soon. He is still going through therapy with his back. They have been giving him injections to reduce the bulge that he has from the herniated that is located in his disc which is right on one of his nerves. After all the therapy and injections he goes through, he will try to get back in action through practice and if he suffers anymore pains then he will probably be suggested to go though with the back surgery, but that is going to be a decision him and his family will probably have to make.

Information gathered from the Gator Report said that Donovan suffers from back problems himself and he knows what Kadji is going through right now, but is trying to avoid from ever having surgery. Donovan also said that he notices that Kadji is not really jumping or running like he should be and not trying to play basketball. It’s going to be a big decision between him and his family. The decision may be on hold whether Kadji will be able to try and play without having surgery done.

“I think that’s the decision he’ll have to make,” Donovan said.

The Gators will start up SEC play at Vanderbilt this Saturday.

(Info/Quote gathered from Antonya English/Gator Report.)

Wow!  That’s all I can say. To repeat myself: Parsons’ 78 foot shot defeats NC State! For those of you who missed it, all I can say is that you missed the play of year. I’m just going to skip the whole first half…make that the whole second half…and you know what, how about most of the overtime too,  besides the final 30 seconds.

The Gators were trailing by five points with time winding down, when Kenny Boynton drained a three point shot with 13.2 seconds left. The Wolfpack were not hitting all of their foul shots, which kept Florida alive. The Gators eventually trailed by three with eight seconds left, when NC State quickly fouled Erving Walker, which eliminated the chance of him putting up a three pointer. Walker made both of his foul shots, and cut the lead to one. Florida had to foul NC State one last time, just to give themselves a chance. The first foul shot was successful, and then the second one rimmed out, and this is where “the shot” happened.

The ball landed in the hands of Chandler Parsons, and with time expiring, he hoisted the shot up, with basically no hope of it going in the net. But as the ball neared the hoop, and the crowd quickly quieted, all you could hear was the sound of “nothing-but-net”. In a miraculous play, Chandler Parsons drained a game winning three point shot to give Florida the 62-61 win over NC State. Before that shot, Parsons was 0 for 3 from behind the arc, which only further shows how incredible this shot really was.

The Gators are now 11-3, and open up conference play against Vanderbilt on January 9th.

The Presbyterian Blue Hose were no match for the Florida Gators high octane offense. Chandler Parsons led the way with 21 points, which is his season high. Parsons wasn’t the only Gator to light up the opposition. Alex Tyus notched a double-double, as well as Erik Murphy. Overall, the Gators got production from the entire team.

The Gators out rebounded the Blue Hose 51-29, and dominated the paint, with a 46-12 edge in points in the paint. Kenny Boynton scored 14 points, Erving Walker only went for 5, and Dan Werner scored…zero points! What?!? That’s right, the lone Senior could not score a single point against a 2 win team. He went 0 for 4 from the floor, and 0-2 from behind the arc. He did lead the team with 4 steals, and added 4 rebounds. Hopefully this will be his only bad game this season.

The Gators now stand at 10-3, and will take on North Carolina State on January 3rd. The Wolf Pack are currently 9-3, and are led by Junior Forward, Tracy Smith, who nearly averages a double-double per night.

The Gators were in a bit of a slump heading into tonight’s game, losing three consecutive games, and dropping from the rankings. With injuries tearing up the Gators depth chart, they needed to find a way to win tonight, and put an end to their ugly losing streak. The Gators finished off American, 76-60, and ended their skid.

Alex Tyus led the way with 20 points, followed by Kenny Boynton’s 19 points. Despite coming out victorious tonight, the Gators were still outscored by the Eagles in the second half, which isn’t good considering that they are currently 2-11. But a win is a win, and the Gators will take it.

With a desperate need for someone to step up, the Gators witnessed Vernon Macklin take the role. He dropped a career high in points with 18, and if he can continue this strong play heading into conference play, the Gators may comeback from there three game losing streak.

The win tonight was the first since December 4th, almost a month without a win. The Gators play this upcoming Wednesday against Presbyterian, another 2 win team. Florida currently sits in 5th place in the SEC, with conference play approaching. A win Wednesday would put Florida at 10-3, and riding a two game win streak into a big game against ACC opponent, North Carolina State.

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.