LSU travels to Florida on Wednesday night to take on a very scrappy Florida team. LSU is coming off of a great week in which they took care of Kentucky and really manhandled Tennessee relatively easily. On the flip side, Florida lost at home vs Alabama and on the road to Auburn.

LSU has struggled with the Gators in the past, and they will be without Xavier Pinson this game, which makes matters even worse.

Before I get into Florida, I want to update LSU fans on where our team stands from a stats perspective.

LSU Stats (National Rank)
Offensive

PPG: 76.9 (44th)
FG%: 44.8% (113th)
2P%: 51.6 % (114th)
3P%: 32.3% (226th)
FT%: 72.8% (118th)
APG: 13.2 (140th)
TOPG: 14.3 (260th)
ORPG: 11.3 (20th)
% of Offensive Rebounds: 33.5% (28th)
% of Points from 2: 54.6% (92nd)
% of Points from 3: 27.6% (268th)
% of Points from FT: 17.9% (165th)
Offensive Efficiency: 1.039 (84th)

Defensive

PPG: 56.4 (3rd)
FG%: 34.9% (1st)
2P%: 42.6% (8th)
3P%: 26.6% (9th)
RPG: 41.5 (9th)
Opp % of ORs Per Game: 24.2% (100th)
BPG: 5.0 (32nd)
SPG: 12.3 (1st)
Opp TOs Per Game: 19.0 (3rd)
Defensive Efficiency: 0.762

Florida Preview-
Schedule Breakdown

Florida comes into the game 9-5 with the following losses:

@Oklahoma 67-74
Texas Southern 54-69
Maryland 68-70
Alabama 70-83
@Auburn 73-85

They did beat Ohio State and Florida State much earlier in the season. Both those teams aren't as good as people thought they would be, but regardless, Uf seems like a much different team now.

Texas Southern beat them because they out rebounded them by an astounding 23.

Florida Stats (National Rank)
Offensive

PPG: 73.6 (96th)
FG%: 42.9% (205th)
2P%: 51.1% (124th)
3P%: 31.2% (262nd)
FT%: 71.5% (164th)
APG: 12.9 (160th)
TOPG: 13.4 (197th)
ORPG: 11.4 (19th)
% of Offensive Rebounds: 34.5% (17th)
% of Points from 2: 47.9% (265th)
% of Points from 3: 31.1% (186th)
% of Points from FT: 21.0% (36th)
Offensive Efficiency: 1.028 (103rd)

Defensive

PPG: 63.4 (42nd)
FG%: 43.5% (186th)
2P%: 49.4% (176th)
3P%: 29.9% (47th)
RPG: 37.0 (89th)
Opp % of ORs Per Game: 25.5% (140th)
BPG: 5.7 (14th)
SPG: 9.7 (14th)
Opp TOs Per Game: 16.9 (20th)
Defensive Efficiency: .884 (26th)

Players to Watch

SR F Colin Castleton 6'11 231 - Last season LSU got into foul trouble and simply could not match up with him down low. Castleton dominated LSU last season and is one of the best big men in the SEC this year. Averaging 15.6ppg, 9.2rpg, 2.4bpg, 3.5 ORs. Old school big man, very active. Won't shoot from the outside but seems to get his hands on everything around the rim. Shot 78% from the FT line last season, but only 65% this season.

SR G Phlandrous Fleming 6'5 205 - Senior transfer from Charleston Southern. Dominated for years at CHSO, also had free reign to do anything he possibly wanted. Averaging 10.6ppg, 3.5apg. He has dominated for Florida against lesser opponents and been pretty bad against better teams. For example, in two games vs Auburn and Bama he's 1 for 12 for 7 total points. Something to watch.

SR G Tyree Appleby 6'1 163 - 4th year player, a little unpredictable. Transfer from Cleveland St, shot a lot better last year at Florida than this year. Only averaging 10.0ppg this season, 3.6apg. Shot around 35% from 3 last season, only shooting 29% this season. Good player but averages 2.6 turnovers per game.

SR G Myreon Jones 6'3 175 - Transfer from Penn State. Averaged nearly 15ppg at PSU last season. This season, averaging 9.9ppg, 3.6rpg. Two seasons before Florida he shot 40% and 39% from 3 at PSU. This season he is only 31%...so he can shoot but he has not shown it. He doesn't get to the rim very much at all, definitely prefers to shoot.

SR F Anthony Duruji 6'7 209 - Another 4 year player. Came to Florida last season from La Tech. Averaging 9.1ppg and 4.4rpg. Has worked very hard to become a shooter and is actually shooting 43% from 3, but he only averages taking 2 per game. However, if he is open he will shoot. He's a very very good athlete. He's the type of guy that if Florida wins it'll be a guy like him who has a good night.

SR G Brandon McKissic 6'3 185 - 5th year transfer from Kansas City. Another guy who scored a ton for a smaller school but it hasn't transitioned. Averages 7ppg, 3rpg. Shooting only 29.6% from 3, but shot over 37% his last two seasons. Very good defender and that's mostly why he plays.

JR F CJ Felder 6'7 231 - Transfer from Boston College where he started lots of games. Averaging 5ppg, 3.1rpg. Capable shooter. Decently athletic and big strong body.

Breakdown

Florida is really a poor man's LSU. Their strength are our strengths and their weaknesses are our weaknesses. The difference is...our strengths are a bit better, our weaknesses are a bit better. They don't shoot it well, they turn it over a lot, but the one thing they do great is offensive rebounding. Colin Castleton is an extremely good big man, and LSU is going to have to bring it on him.

Defensively, they aren't close to where LSU is in regards to opponent shooting. They've allowed 2 SEC teams to already surpass 80 points. However, they do a fantastic job at creating turnovers, and especially steals. We are used to LSU's shocking steal numbers, otherwise we'd be extremely impressed with Florida.

Prediction

If you have watched Florida this season and watched LSU...there's not much reason to think Florida should win. However, LSU will be without Xavier Pinson. Mike White has also completely had Will Wade's number the last couple of seasons. Lastly, Florida is a very tough place to play.

All in all though, I still think LSU wins. We talk about how Auburn beat us, but LSU 100% has learned and grown a lot from that game. And guess what...we ain't playing Auburn. Even by playing our worst possible game, LSU had moments in which we fought and came back. I can't see us playing that type of game again. Florida is a solid team, but they clearly have flaws. They have 6 Seniors and really rely on their leadership to carry them. Other than that, they have to play a team game, share the ball, take care of the ball.

Florida needs to play a very good game and they need LSU to play a below average to bad game. I truly think we are a better team. White has had Wade's number in the past, but Wade has not had a truly physical team like this. We normally want to run up and down, play this isolation game...White's teams want to punch you in the mouth. This is going to be an insanely ugly and physical game. I think there will be lots of fouls (there always are with us because refs hate us).

Pinson is our quarterback. He really calms guys down, is extremely smart and constantly talks on D and on O. He allows Gaines to roam and go crazy. But I think Eric Gaines is going to step up. People are very critical of him, but he has acknowledged how terrible he was at Auburn. I really expect him and Justice Williams to show out.

LSU 73
Florida 68