Below is each team's NET ranking and quadrant resumes. This is a quadrant 1 game for us against UF as they are inside the Top 75 (vs. 1-75 away game is Quadrant 1). These results below are as of 2/24/20.

Quad 1 = Against #1-30 Home, #1-50 Neutral, #1-75 Away
Quad 2 = Against #31-75 Home, #51-100 Neutral, #76-135 Away
Quad 3 = Against #76-#160 Home, #101-200 Neutral, #136-240 Away
Quad 4 = Against #161-353 Home, #201-353 Neutral, #241-353 Away

#29 (19-8, 10-4 SEC) LSU
Quad 1 = 4-6
Quad 2 = 7-1
Quad 3 = 4-1
Quad 4 = 4-0

#33 (17-10, 9-5 SEC) Florida
Quad 1 = 4-7
Quad 2 = 4-3
Quad 3 = 5-0
Quad 4 = 4-0

LSU as of recent
After dropping 4 out of 5 games, LSU bounced back in a big way to win on the road 86-80 against a surging South Carolina team. As per usual, we got out to a sizable lead being up by 19 with 5:11 left in the game, and we decided to watch South Carolina get right back in it cutting it down to 4 with 18 seconds left, only to watch Smart ice the game at the line to make it a 6 point with 16 seconds left. LSU shot 39% from 3 as we continue to shoot well on the road and Smart, Days, Watford and Mays all had good games. Manning provided quality minutes off the bench and we even had some issues with Days and Mays getting hurt in game at similar times with Taylor in foul trouble so Cooper saw a quick appearance on the court.

Florida as of recent
After looking a bit down and out starting the season out 12-8, 4-3 SEC, UF has won 5 of their last 7 now with a close loss at Kentucky this past weekend. Florida didn’t beat anyone of note during those 5 wins, but they took care of business mostly against Vandy 2x, A&M, UGA and Arkansas during that stretch. After losing to UK last weekend, Florida is really looking to cement their place in the tournament now with win over us and avenge an early season loss @ LSU.

Florida projected starters
C (6'10, 241) GR. Kerry Blackshear Jr.
PF (6'5, 231) SO. Keyontae Johnson
SF (6'5, 185) FR. Scottie Lewis
SG (6'3, 207) SO. Noah Locke
PG (6'5, 193) SO. Andrew Nembhard

Kerry Blackshear Jr. is the star transfer for Florida who has had his numbers dip a little bit but is still a very good player. In 27.9 conference minutes per game is averaging 12.9 points, 7 boards (2.2 offensive), 1.5 assists and 0.7 blocks on 41% from the floor and 33% from 3 (takes 3 a game). Blackshear in game 1 went for 15 points, 5 boards on 5 of 7 from the floor. Blackshear’s conference PER is 21.5 on the season.

Keyontae Johnson is probably the most underrated players in the conference. He’s one of those undersized tough PFs who earns everything he gets. In 31.1 conference minutes per game he’s averaging 14 points, 7.7 rebounds (1.9 offensive), 1.6 assists, 1.4 steals on 54% from the floor and 36% from 3 (shoots 2.6 a game). In our first game Johnson went for 16 points, 9 boards, on 12 shots (3-6 from 3). His conference PER of 25.8 leads Florida.

Scottie Lewis maybe hasn’t had the season for the highly rated 5-star most expected, but he’s cemented himself as part of the starting lineup now. In 27.4 conference minutes per game is averaging 8 points, 4 boards (1.1 offensive), 1.1 steals and 1.1 blocks on 44% from the floor and 43% from 3 (takes 2 a game). In our first game Lewis went for 9 points, 6 boards on 7 shots. His conference PER is 15.9 on the season.

Noah Locke is arguably the conference’s best shooter. In 30 conference minutes per game is averaging 11.6 points, 2 boards, 1 assist on 48% from the floor and an astounding 49% from 3 (takes 6 a game at that rate still). This is a very very scary player for us as we struggle to guard the line. In the first game he went for 16 points on 4 of 7 from 3. His conference PER is 16.9 on the season.

Andrew Nembhard is a very solid big PG for UF. In 32.4 conference minutes per game is averaging 13 points, 3 boards, 5 assists, 1.1 steals to 3.3 turnovers on 49% from the floor and 28% from 3 (takes 3.4 a game). In the first game Nembhard had 15 points, 10 assists to 4 turnovers on 6 of 16 from the floor (1 of 7 from 3). His conference PER is 18.3 on the season.

Florida top bench players
CG (6'4, 172) FR. Tre Mann
C (6’10, 223) FR. Omar Payne
PG (5’11, 176) FR. Ques Glover

Florida wont go deep on the bench and they only played 3 off the bench there in our first game. It’s a talented bench but full of inexperience with 3 freshmen. Mann is a former 5-star who throw sin 5 points a game on just 34% from the floor right now. Payne is a near 5-star who we really wanted and is averaging 4 points, 4 boards (2 offensive) and 1.3 blocks on 56% from the floor in just 17 conference minutes a game. Glover will come in to run the point some and averages 4 points, 1 assist on 41% from the floor.

Florida as a team
Florida has all the talent in the world and just didn’t put it all together this season so far, but is coming closer and closer. They have the #2 offense in efficiency in the conference per kenpom and the #5 defense as well. They are tops in the conference in 3 point %, 3rd in 2 point % and a very good 76% from the line. There’s not a lot kinks in Florida’s armor but they do rarely get to the line, being dead last in the conference in FTA per FGA. They like to shoot a lot of jumpers, hence the inability to get to the line consistently. They really seem to have just about every check mark you’d want on a team except maybe overall experience.

The Matchup
Like last time, the matchup isn’t really in our favor, but we pulled it off at home still. Florida is going to be really hungry this game, with a win, they stay in the Top 4 of SEC. If we win, we all but lock up a Top 4 seed in SECT at that point and the double bye as we would have 2 games on the entire next group of teams at that point with tie breakers over all of them. Blackshear could be a problem inside, but he takes a lot of shots away from the basket too. Their 3 point shooters are downright scary and everyone shoots them except Payne. Florida shot 11 for 30 from 3 in the first game against us and certainly don’t want that getting any better this time around. Kenpom has this as a close loss this time around and I don’t necessarily disagree if UF shows up ready to play, I think they have the better overall team, but again, just haven’t put things together in a lot of cases this year, so anything could happen.

Projected LSU Starting 5
PF (6'6, 230) SO. Emmitt Williams - #5
PF (6'6, 240) SO. Darius Days - #0
SF (6'9, 235) FR. Trendon Watford - #2
SG (6'4, 205) SR. Skylar Mays - #4
PG (6'4, 205) SO. Javonte Smart - #1

Main rotational players
SF (6'5, 210) SR. Marlon Taylor - #14
SF (6'5, 225) rFR. Aundre Hyatt - #15
SG (6’5, 200) JR. Charles Manning Jr. - #11

Kenpom's Prediction: LSU 73 Florida 76

This post was edited on 2/25/20 at 10:39 am