The Florida Gators officially announced the basketball team’s 2010-11 non-conference schedule on Tuesday. Previously reported by OGGOA the following premiere out-of-conference games have now been confirmed:

Nov. 16 vs. Ohio State (Gainesville, FL)
Nov. 28 at Florida State (Tallahassee, FL)
Dec. 1 vs. Central Florida (Orlando, FL – Amway Center)
Dec. 18 vs. Kansas State (Sunrise, FL – BankAtlantic Center)
Dec. 31 vs. Xavier (Cincinnati, OH)

» And here are the rest:

Oct. 28 vs. Florida Tech (Gainesville, FL)
Nov. 3 vs. Georgetown College (Gainesville, FL)
Nov. 12 vs. UNC-Wilmington (Gainesville, FL)
Nov. 18 vs. North Carolina A&T (Gainesville, FL)
Nov. 21 vs. Morehead State (Gainesville, FL)
No. 23 vs. Florida Atlantic (Gainesville, FL)
Dec. 5 vs. American (Washington, D.C.)
Dec. 9 vs. Kent State (Gainesville, FL)
Dec. 20 vs. Jacksonville (Gainesville, FL)
Dec. 22 vs. Radford (Gainesville, FL)
Dec. 28 vs. Fairfield (Gainesville, FL)
Jan 3 vs. Rhode Island (Gainesville, FL)

» NOTES
- Head coach Billy Donovan on the schedule: “I think we benefited last year from a challenging non-conference schedule and getting a couple of quality wins early in the season. We’re going to stay with the same scheduling philosophy and we’ve put together another competitive non-conference schedule.”
- Florida’s opener against Florida Tech on Oct. 28 is the earliest start in school history.
- UF will face UNC-W, OSU and NC A&T as part of the Global Sports Invitational.
- The Gators play in three more events during the regular season: the Florida Citrus Shootout with UCF, the Orange Bowl Basketball Classic against KSU and the BB&T Classic vs. American.

Tags: BB&T Classic, Billy Donovan, Central Florida Knights, Florida Citrus Shootout, Florida State Seminoles, Global Sports Invitational, Kansas State Wildcats, Ohio State Buckeyes, Orange Bowl Basketball Classic, Xavier Musketeers

Coming off of a tough conference loss to the South Carolina Gamecocks on Wednesday, the Florida Gators (17-8) hoped to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive with a win in a rare late season out-of-conference game against the Xavier Musketeers (17-7). While the Gators did their best to fend off the Musketeers throughout the game, the overwhelming size and speed of their opponent coupled with their own inconsistency would make their efforts moot in the end Saturday night in Gainesville, FL, at the Stephen C. O’Connell Center.

Read the complete and detailed OGGOA game story after the jump!
Continue Reading » Florida fights off, eventually falls to Xavier 76-64

Tags: Alex Tyus, Atlantic 10, Billy Donovan, Erving Walker, Jamel McLean, Jason Love, Jordan Crawford, Kenny Boynton, NCAA Tournament, O'Connell Center, Vernon Macklin, Xavier Musketeers

Location: Stephen C. O’Connell Center – Gainesville, FL [Capacity: 12,000]
Time: 6:00 p.m. (EST)

TV: ESPN / ESPNHD
Online Video: ESPN360
Live Updates: OGGOA on Twitter

Odds: Florida -4, O/U (OFF)

KEEP AN EYE ON…
» The dynamic backcourt of…sophomore point guard Erving Walker and freshman guard Kenny Boynton who are averaging 31.5 points and 7.9 assists per game in conference play this season.
» Speaking of Walker and Boynton…they have hit 51 of the Gators’ 64 treys in SEC play. Walker has gone for 20+ points in five of 10 SEC games.
» Junior forward Alex Tyus…who is dominating the front court, averaging 14.7 points and 7.9 rebounds over the last 15 contests. He has hit double figures in 14 of 15 games and scored 15+ in eight of those. Tyus had a career-best 15 rebounds Wednesday.
» Junior F Chandler Parsons…who has back-to-back double-doubles and four on the season (six for this career). He has also been helping dish the ball with six assists in each of his last two games.
» The duo of Tyus and Parsons…who are combining for 15.6 rebounds per game during SEC play including 26 on Wednesday night.
» Double-digit scoring by Vernon Macklin…the Gators are 11-1 when the redshirt junior transfer center finishes in double figures.
» Musketeers guard Jordan Crawford leads both his team and the A-10 in scoring at 19.7 points per game.

STREAKS:
» Xavier leads the all-time series against Florida 1-0, with their sole win coming in the Hurricane Classic in Miami, FL, on Dec. 28, 1959. The Musketeers won 86-74.
» This is the first time the Gators have played a non-conference opponent during SEC play since 2003.
» Under head coach Billy Donovan, Florida is 4-3 against the Atlantic 10; they lost earlier this season to the Richmond Spiders 56-53.
» The Gators have been holding opponents to 58.8 points per game in their 17 wins while allowing the number to jump to 75.7 points per game in their seven losses.
» Florida is 11-2 at home this season and 80-10 in the O’Dome since 2005.
» The Gators are 5-3 in games decided by five points or less compared to 4-6 in such games last season. Florida is 4-1 in the last five contests that were that close.
» UF is now 6-1 in conference play and 12-2 overall when out-rebounding an opponent after losing to South Carolina on Wednesday.
» Xavier has a win over then-No. 19 Cincinnati this season and leads the A-10 in scoring offense (79.4) and three-point shooting (39.4 percent).
» The Musketeers have reached two Elite Eights and a Sweet 16 in the last six years.
» Florida will honor the 2000 NCAA Championship runner-up team at halftime.

Read OGGOA’s Florida Gators vs. Xavier Musketeers preview after the jump!
Continue Reading » Gameday: Florida Gators vs. Xavier Musketeers

Tags: Alex Tyus, Chandler Parsons, Chris Mack, Erving Walker, Jordan Crawford, Kenny Boynton, NCAA Tournament, O'Connell Center, Vernon Macklin, Xavier Musketeers

Devan Downey may be the South Carolina Gamecocks‘ star player, but fellow senior guard Brandis Raley-Ross stole the show Wednesday night in Columbia, SC. Raley-Ross’ 17 second half points and four three-pointers led the Gamecocks (14-9, 5-4 SEC) to a comeback 77-71 home victory over the Florida Gators (17-7, 6-4 SEC).

Though Florida only missed seven shots in the first half and was shooting 68.2 percent to 37.8 percent for South Carolina, an astounding 12 turnovers (including five in the first 4:17 of the game) left them with only a four-point lead at halftime.

This trend would continue after the break, with the Gators surrendering three turnovers in the first 4:30 of the second half and a five more before the final buzzer sounded. The Gamecocks were stingy, only giving up six all night compared to UF’s season-high 20.

Read the rest of OGGOA’s Florida at South Carolina game story after the jump!
Continue Reading » Gamecocks rally in second half to top Gators 77-71

Tags: Alex Tyus, Brandis Raley-Ross, Chandler Parsons, Colonial Life Arena, Devan Downey, Erving Walker, Kenny Boynton, Kyle McClanahan, NCAA Tournament, Sam Muldrow, SEC, South Carolina Gamecocks, Xavier Musketeers

1 » Picking seventh in the 2010 NFL Draft, the Cleveland Browns are likely looking to upgrade their secondary with either a safety or cornerback. Assuming Tennessee Volunteers S Eric Berry is off the board, the Browns are expected to target Florida Gators CB Joe Haden with their first-round selection. Seriously lacking defensive backs and a starting quarterback, the Browns could go either way to start the draft, but Haden may be as can’t-miss as it gets at that spot and could even start from day one.

2 » Head basketball coach Billy Donovan mentioned that the University of Florida will be honoring the 2000 NCAA Championship runner-up Gators team with a video and posters during Saturday’s home game against the Xavier Musketeers. “[There are] too many guys still playing/coaching to get them [all] back,” Donovan said. “[I] hope people remember what a special team that was.” The game will air live at 6 p.m. on ESPN.

Tags: Billy Donovan, Cleveland Browns, Draft, Eric Berry, Joe Haden, NCAA Championship, NFL, Tennessee Volunteers, University of Florida, Xavier Musketeers