COLLEGE BASKETBALL

• Gators and Thunderbirds get together in Gainesville

  
  

  Gainesville, FL (Sports Network) - The 18th-ranked Florida Gators seek their seventh straight 3-0 start to a season, as they welcome the Southern Utah Thunderbirds to Gainesville for a non-conference matchup at the Stephen C. O'Connell Center.

  Billy Donovan's Gators have looked impressive in the first two games, posting lopsided wins over both Toledo (80-58) and most recently, Bradley (81-58). With the victories, Florida moved to 52-6 all-time under Donovan in the month of November, including a stellar 28-2 record over the last five years.

  The Thunderbirds would like to hand the Gators their third loss over that time period, but will be fighting an uphill battle this evening on the road. Southern Utah, out of the Summit League, won its season-opener last weekend, besting Division II's Mesa State, 85-73.

  This game represents the first-ever meeting between these two teams on the hardwood.

  Roger Reid's Thunderbirds got a huge performance by center John Clifford in the season-opener, as he poured in 24 points and grabbed seven rebounds to lead Southern Utah to victory. Three others finished in double figures for Southern Utah, with Dave Marek adding 11 points from his starting guard position. Jake Nielson and Mike Josserand provided solid minutes off the bench, chipping in 11 and 10 points, respectively. The Thunderbirds shot the ball extremely well, converting 57.4 percent from the floor. One area which the Thunderbirds have to work on is their sloppy ball-handling, as the team turned the ball over 21 times against Mesa State. The team was fortunate in that fact that it forced 22 miscues by its opponent. The Thunderbirds will need to play under control in this game, if they are to remain competitive for long.

  The Gators shot the long ball very well against Bradley, converting 14-of-32 from behind the arc, en route to the lopsided win. Dan Werner and Walter Hodge led the offensive charge with 17 points apiece. All-American candidate Nick Calathes added a strong all-around game with 13 points, seven rebounds and six assists. Erving Walker came off the bench to add 10 points to the cause in just 17 minutes of action. The Gators are putting up just over 80 points per game in the early going and are shooting .466 from the floor and a solid .412 from three-point range (21-of-51). Werner has been outstanding, averaging 18.0 ppg, delivering on half of his three-point attempts (5-of-10). Calathes adds 14.5 ppg, but does a little bit of everything, adding 5.5 rpg and 6.5 apg, while pacing the team with seven steals. Hodge provides the team with a third scoring option, adding 13.5 ppg.

  11/20 10:34:20 ET