With the 2015-16 season at its midway point, Inside the Gators now takes a look at the Florida men’s basketball team (12-6, 4-2 SEC) by the numbers.
--The Gators are 20th nationally in RPI (.6243), 25th in BPI (81.4) and fifth in strength of schedule. Florida is 0-2 versus top-25 teams and 1-3 against teams in the 26-50 range. Joe Lunardi currently has UF listed as a No. 10 seed in his mock bracket, with the SEC having four teams (Texas A&M, Kentucky, South Carolina, UF) in there.
--Florida currently stands at No. 30 in the Ken Pomeroy College Basketball Ratings. The Gators have no wins against KenPom.com top 50 teams but five against teams currently ranked in the 50-100 range (Saint Joseph’s, Richmond, Oklahoma State, Georgia and LSU). Five of UF’s six losses have come against teams in KenPom.com’s top 50 – Purdue (9), Miami (13), Michigan State (16), FSU (38) and Texas A&M (7). Tennessee (No. 89) currently stands as UF’s worst loss. KenPom.com has UF’s schedule currently tabbed as the seventh strongest in the nation. The site currently ranks UF’s non-conference slate as 38th strongest overall.
--UF has had only two three-game winning streaks this year, with both coming through the first seven games of the non-conference slate. Since then, UF has had only two winning streaks of two contests, with UF currently on a two-game winning streak.
--The Gators currently rank 105th nationally in adjusted offensive efficiency but sixth nationally in adjusted defensive efficiency, per KenPom. That success on the defensive end, where UF plays mostly man-to-man, has correlated to playing at a slower pace, with UF’s average length of possession on the defensive side of the floor at 17.9 seconds (301st in the country). Florida’s offense averages 15.9 seconds per possession, which is 47th overall, according to KenPom.
--Florida is 8-1 at home and 2-1 at neutral sites this year, but just 2-4 on the road with its only two road wins coming against Navy and Ole Miss.
--As far as experience goes, UF players average 1.32 years played, which is 296th nationally (the nation average is 1.7). However, UF is 64th in the country in average height (6 feet, 4.75 inches).
--The Gators are shooting 42% from the field and 31% from behind the arc (294th nationally) this season. Right now, UF currently ranks 345th in the country with a 61.3% clip from the free throw line. Only six teams – Texas Southern, Harvard, Middle Tennessee, Southeast Missouri State, Jackson State and North Texas – are shooting worse from the charity stripe. Florida has shot 30.7% from three-point range in its victories and 31.7% in defeat. At the free throw line, Florida has gone 61.4% in wins and 60.2% in losses.
--By KenPom’s standards, Devin Robinson has the best overall offensive rating (119.8, 209th nationally) on the team. Robinson is hitting on 63.2% of his two-point baskets but is just 30.5% from three. Finney-Smith (112.9, 491st nationally) is second on the Gators roster overall but has the second-best three-point shooting percentage (40%) after Justin Leon (41.9%)
--Finney-Smith is averaging team bests in points (13.9 PPG on 43.6% shooting) and rebounds (8.0 RPG) this season but is also averaging a team-high 30.3 minutes per contest – at least 5.5 more than everybody else. During the past five games, the redshirt senior forward has been on a tear, averaging 16 points and 9.6 boards per game. Finney-Smith has three straight double-doubles, joining Chandler Parsons, Marreese Speights, Al Horford, David Lee and Udonis Haslem as the only Florida players over the past 20 seasons to earn three straight.
--Florida guard KeVaughn Allen’s 32-point performance versus Florida State on Dec. 29 marked the fifth-most points in a game by a Florida freshman and the most since Matt Walsh had 33 vs. Miami on Dec. 21, 2002. It was the first 30-point performance in the O’Dome by a Gator since Joakim Noah’s 37-point game vs. Georgia on March 1, 2006.
--Speaking of Allen, he has scored at least 15 points in six of UF’s last eight games. The first nine games of the year, he averaged 6.2 points on 31.3% shooting. The last nine, he’s averaging 16.4 points per game on 49.5% shooting.
--Chris Chiozza is averaging a team-high 4.3 assists this season. The sophomore point guard is averaging 6.8 assists per contest over his past eight games after averaging just 2.6 over his first 10 games.
--In his first season playing as a Gator, center John Egbunu is averaging 11 points, 6.6 rebounds and a team-high 1.6 blocks per game, with three double-doubles this season (coming against FGCU, Richmond and Georgia). However, he is just 54.5% from the free throw line.
--Leon’s numbers have improved dramatically recently. In his first 12 games of 2015-16, Leon averaged just 2.5 points on 46.2% shooting and 1.8 rebounds per contest. However, in the past five games he has averaged 11 points on 62.9% shooting and 5.2 rebounds in 21.6 minutes on the floor.
--Kasey Hill’s play has frustrated plenty of Gators fans this season, and some of the numbers don’t do him any favors. While Hill is averaging 3.3 assists per game, his two turnovers per contest ties the team lead with Finney-Smith. Hill is shooting 33.8% and just 21.7% from three-point range. Of the five Gators with at least 30 free throw attempts, Hill ranks the worst at 54.2%. In Florida’s six losses this year, Hill has shot just 26.5% (13-of-49) from the field. Hill has not made a three-pointer in a loss, going 0-of-7 in UF’s six defeats. However, one area where Hill has thrived this season has been steals, where he ranks 71st in the country as he earns a steal on 3.55% of UF’s defensive plays. He leads the team with 1.4 steals per game.
--Brandone Francis-Ramirez’s current shooting slump has to be up there with the worst ones in Gators basketball history. In 18 appearances, Francis-Ramirez has shot just 16.9% (12-of-71) from the field and 13.2% (5-of-38) from downtown while going 5-of-11 (45.5%) from the free throw line. The redshirt freshman guard went a stretch of 10 games this year where he missed on all 18 of his three-point attempts. DeVon Walker has also struggled from the field this year. He’s shooting 31.4% on two-point attempts but just 11.1% (2-of-18) from downtown.