The Missouri Tigers men’s basketball team will face a top-five team tonight when they take on the Florida Gators in Southeastern Conference action.
Game time is 8 p.m. in Gainesville, Fla. (ESPNU).
Florida (15-1, 2-1 SEC) jumped three spots to No. 5 in the Associated Press Top 25 rankings released Monday. The Gators defeated then No. 1 Tennessee and Arkansas last week. Missouri (13-3, 2-1) received eight points in the voting.
Missouri and Florida are among the top five teams in scoring in the conference. The Gators are totaling 86.3 points per game, while Missouri is totaling 85.1. On the defensive side, Florida is fourth in the SEC defensively at 64.8 points per game. Missouri is 12th at 68.5.
Alex Condon of the Gators was named conference Co-Player of the Week on Monday. Condon, a 6-foot-11 sophomore, averaged 12 points, 11 rebounds, 4 assists and 2.5 blocks in Florida’s wins against Tennessee and Arkansas.
Condon is eighth in the conference in rebounding, averaging 8.1 per game. The Gators are rebounding their opponents by an average 12.7 per game.
Walker Clayton Jr. (6-3 jr.) tops Florida in scoring at 17.2 points per game, good enough for seventh in the conference. Clayton is hitting 36.2 percent of his 3-pointers this season, making 46.
Alijah Martin (6-2, graduate student) is next in scoring for the Gators at 15.9 points.
Missouri also won both of its games last week at Mizzou Arena, defeating LSU and Vanderbilt.
Mark Mitchell leads four Tiger players averaging in double figures at 13.5 points. Tamar Bates is next at 13.0, followed by Caleb Grill at 11.3 and Anthony Robinson II at 10.6.
Missouri is 0-2 in true road games this season. Florida, which has won its past four meetings with Missouri, has won all eight of its home games.