Colorado/Florida Preview

[unkiemark]

No. 12/14 Colorado (9-2) travels to face No. 20 Florida (7-3) Friday night in Gainesville -- 5 pm MST tipoff. It will be only the second meeting between the two teams. The first occurred last season in Boulder where an inspired Buff team buried the Gators 98-62. In that game Florida's Brandi McCain scored 19 points, but no other Gator scored in double figures. The big statistical difference in the game was the Buffs' 43-49 free throw performance. The Buffs also held a 54-26 advantage on the boards. It's doubtful that will happen again on Friday night in Gainesville. Something else that will be missing will be the speed of Buff reserve guard Caroline Koechlin. She opted to return to France with a year of eligibility left.

Colorado has struggled against quality opponents on the road this season. They have lost at Vanderbilt and Colorado State. In both cases Colorado did not bring their "A" game and weren't able to make a game of the contest. This will be their last chance for a "quality" road victory prior to the start of their conference schedule.


Probable Starting Lineups
University of Florida (7-3)
# Player Pos. Ht. Yr.PPG RPG Misc.
25 Monique Cardenas F 6-0 Sr. 8.7 8.6 41.2% FG
24 Courtney Cooper F 5-9 Jr. 10.0 7.2 46.3% FG
55 Vanessa Hayden C 6-4 So. 19.2 13.0 55.6% FG
3 Tishona Gregory G 5-5 Fr. 7.0 2.0 5-12 3FG
11 Brandi McCain G 5-3 Sr. 17.5 3.9 36.7% 3FG

University of Colorado (9-2)
# Player Pos. Ht. Yr.PPG RPG Misc.
42 Eisha Bohman F 5-10 Sr. 8.1 4.4 51.6% FG
54 Randie Wirt F 6-2 So. 3.9 5.1 45.7% FG
50 Tera Bjorklund C 6-5 So. 13.5 6.0 56.4% FG
21 Jenny Roulier G 5-9 Sr. 13.6 3.3 46.2% 3FG
23 Mandy Nightingale G 5-6 Sr. 14.3 4.4 4.6 apg

Stat Comparison
Florida (7-3) ........................... Category.....................Colorado (9-2)
76.0 .................................... Points Per Game .................................. 79.5
62.4 ..................................... Opp. Points PG ................................... 58.7
+13.6 ................................... Scoring Margin ................................. +20.8
46.6 ...................................... Rebounds PG .................................... 41.8
38.8 .......................................Opp. Reb. PG .................................... 36.8
+7.8 .................................... Rebound Margin .................................. +5.0
41.6% .......................................... FG % ....................................... 46.5%
39.0% ......................................Opp. FG % ................................... 34.7%
34.8% ......................................3-Pt. FG % ................................... 37.5%
30.3% ................................. Opp. 3-Pt. FG % ............................... 28.6%
57.1% .......................................... FT % ........................................ 74.4%
Hayden, 19.2 ....................... Leading Scorer ................ Nightingale, 14.3
Hayden, 13.0 ....................Leading Rebounder .................Bjorklund, 6.0
McCain, 4.7 .......................... Assist Leader ................... Nightingale, 4.6
McCain, 36.7% (29-79) ...........3-Pt. FG % ......... Roulier, 46.2% (24-52)

You can listen to the game live at GatorZone.com



------------------
MarkW

[carolann]

I was starting to wonder yesterday if anyone else remembered that there are a lot of important non-conference games this weekend besides OU-Connecticut! All the teams are looking at one or two games to establish the way they want to play going into conference. The Florida/CU game looks like it could be a crucial game for both teams but Florida may have the most to lose.

Colorado could greatly bolster its confidence and its national standing with a win on the road against Florida. On the other side, this is also the last chance for the Gators to get a win over a ranked team before heading into SEC play. The 7-3 Gators have struggled against quality teams this year, period. Florida's 3-game winning streak has come against Lamar, South Florida, and Elon College, hardly WBB powers. They have lost to Wisconsin, USC, and Tulane. Given the toughness of the SEC, a loss to Colorado tonight could seriously hurt the Gators chance of a decent NCAA bid (or even a bid at all?).

The Gators are at home and should be highly motivated. The Buffs have looked like the better team this year.

[swok34]

carolann......I remember, though I've been scouring for info on OU/UConn primarily.

The TV guide here says that we get the Texas/Penn State game tonite.....I'm hoping to get my first look at Texas.

And did anyone catch the score of the North Carolina/South Carolina match up last night?.........sure gives a whole lot of credibility to South Carolina winning 85-53, in my opinion.

Also notice that Texas Tech is playing Rutgers even though I don't think the Rutgers of this year is the Rutgers of 2 years past.

[carolann]

Right, Tech/Rutgers is definitely on my radar. Rutgers is struggling big time but Rutgers is still Rutgers and a win on the road against the Scarlet Knights would be another good statement by the Raiders that they've put their early season struggles behind them. An aditional non-conference loss will further hurt the team's chances of a favorable NCAA seeding.