The rebounding battle will be one to watch when Missouri travels to Gainesville to take on No. 5 Florida in Southeastern Conference action on Tuesday.
The Gators (15-1, 2-1 SEC) notched a 71-63 win at Arkansas on Saturday. Alijah Martin scored 14 points to lead four Gators in double figures.
Walter Clayton Jr. had 12 points against the Razorbacks and leads Florida in scoring at 17.2 points per game. Alex Condon posted his third double-double in the last five games with 12 points and 10 rebounds against Arkansas.
Led by Condon’s 8.1 rebounds per game, the Gators are No. 1 nationally in boards per game (46.1) and rebounding margin (plus-12.7).
Condon helps power the Gators on offense, too, where Florida ranks ninth at 86.3 points per game. The 6-foot-11 Condon has started every game and averages 11.0 points and a team-high 1.6 blocks.
“We can win in different ways and that’s a sign of a really good team,” Florida coach Todd Golden said. “We’ve won on the boards all year.”
Missouri is still chasing their first road win and faces a steep challenge in Gainesville, where the Gators are 8-0 and just beat then-No. 1 Tennessee by 30 points last week.
“We knew this was going to be a really challenging game for us, but we also do believe we’re getting to that point where we expect to win these types of games,” Golden said after that beatdown. “It’s hard to say when you host the No. 1 team in the country that you expect to win, but I think our program did going into this game.”
Missouri (13-3, 2-1) is on a two-game winning streak and picked up a 75-66 home win against Vanderbilt on Saturday to improve to 13-0 at home.
Graduate student Josh Gray came off the bench and corralled a game-high 11 rebounds for the Tigers against Vanderbilt. The 7-footer didn’t score, but he’s posted a game-high rebound total in consecutive games.
“We outrebounded an SEC opponent in back-to-back games,” Missouri coach Dennis Gates said. “I’m proud of our guys for that. That says a lot about our character and our growth.”
Mark Mitchell led the Tigers with 19 points against the Commodores and averages a team-high 13.5 points per game. Mitchell, a junior transfer from Duke, is on the Julius Erving Award Watchlist which honors the nation’s top small forward.
“Basketball is a game of runs and highs and lows,” Mitchell said. “I think we’ve got to battle through those, weather the storm and not try to get too high or too low.”
Gates is aware of the challenge the Tigers face.
“Going on the road gives us the opportunity to go against one of the top teams in the country,” Gates said. “Florida is a potential No. 1 seed. That’s what we are facing. I just want our guys to play free and to their instincts.”
Florida has swept the last four meetings in the series.
–Field Level Media
