After defeating the Georgia Bulldogs at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center Saturday, the Gators are traveling to Baton Rouge, Louisiana, to face the Louisiana State Tigers. A win could move UF to .500 in conference play.
LSU is currently 12-3 this season but has struggled against opponents in the Southeastern Conference, similar to Florida. Both squads are 1-2 in the conference.
The Gators are currently 8-7 and 1-1 on the road this year. They’ve played five games at neutral sites and won two of them.
UF’s strength of schedule ranks 38th in National Collegiate Athletic Association men’s basketball, according to teamrankings.com. The Tigers have the 88th most difficult schedule.
LSU’ two losses in the SEC have both come on the road. They lost to the Kentucky Wildcats in a close 74-71 loss Jan. 3 and then to the Texas A&M Aggies 69-56 Jan.7.
The Aggies were a force in the paint, making the Tigers shoot more from beyond the arc. LSU — which shoots 36.1% from 3-point range — took 22 triples and made nine of them.
Louisiana State is led by fifth-year forward KJ Williams, a transfer who spent his first four years of collegiate basketball at Murray State.
Williams averages 18.2 points and 7.7 rebounds per game for the Tigers. He’s also been known for his shot-blocking ability; he has 14 rejections this season.
The transfer was named SEC Player of the Week Dec.12 and is a former teammate of the 2020 National Basketball Association Rookie of the Year, Memphis Grizzlies guard Ja Morant.
He will likely be in charge of defending UF’s leading scorer, graduate student forward Colin Castleton. Two potential future NBA players will be battling it out inside.
Williams can also shoot well from the front-court position, Florida head coach Todd Golden said. He shoots 49.3% from the perimeter.
“We’ve got to be mindful of that,” Golden said.
Louisiana State plays high-pressure defense. It averages 8.3 steals a game — sixth best in the SEC — and prevents its opponents from scoring in runs.
The Gators, coming off of a win against Georgia, are looking to have their first back-to-back victories since the first two games of this season.
Graduate student guard Kyle Lofton and sophomore guard Kowacie Reeves have made jumps coming into conference play.
They’re the only Gators to average 11 or more points in the past three games. Lofton had a season-high 18 points in the game against the Bulldogs.
Tuesday’s game is also a return to Baton Rouge for sophomore forward Alex Fudge. He played for the Tigers in his freshman year before transferring to Florida.
The 6-foot-9-inch big man is averaging 7.5 points per game and has posted two double-doubles this season — Nov. 30 against Florida A&M and Dec. 14 versus Ohio. He averaged 3.3 points a game at LSU.
Tip-off is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Pete Maravich Assembly Center in Baton Rouge Tuesday. The game will be broadcast on SEC Network.
Contact Brandon Hernandez at bhernandez@alligator.org. Follow him on Twitter @BranH2001.
Brandon Hernandez is currently the enterprise sports writer and sports podcast host for The Independent Alligator. He likes long walks on the sidewalk and watching basketball tape in his off time. You can find most of his work @BranH2001 on X and on The Courtside Podcast on Spotify.
