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Florida Basketball: Gators’ Schedule A War Zone From Hereon Out

By Nicholas Gonzalez

Dec 21, 2016; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard Eric Hester (2) celebrates during the second half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell. Florida Gators defeated the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans 94-71. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2016; Gainesville, FL, USA; Florida Gators guard Eric Hester (2) celebrates during the second half at Exactech Arena at the Stephen C. O'Connell. Florida Gators defeated the Arkansas Little Rock Trojans 94-71. Mandatory Credit: Kim Klement-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Florida basketball team is 16-5 on the season and 6-2 in conference play. With a tough schedule ahead, can the Gators close strong?

After the Florida Gators’ clash with the Missouri Tigers on Thursday, Feb. 2, the schedule is going to get tough. In the following nine days, the Gators will play the Kentucky Wildcats, Texas A&M Aggies, and Georgia Bulldogs.

They will travel to Athens to play Georgia as the Bulldogs will look to avenge their four-point Jan. 14 loss in Gainesville.

The challenges don’t stop there, either. Florida will then go on to play back-to-back road games against the Mississippi State Bulldogs and Auburn Tigers. They will then follow that up with a rematch against the South Carolina Gamecocks.

The Gamecocks beat the Gators in Columbia by four earlier this season. Then, right after the rematch with “SCAR”, they’ll head straight to Lexington to play Kentucky once more.

The Gators don’t have many “break games” left on the schedule as the SEC has improved as a basketball conference this season.

After the Kentucky game, the Gators will close out with the Vanderbilt Commodores and Arkansas Razorbacks, which,, once again, aren’t easy games.

Florida is 8-2 in its last ten games with its only losses coming against quality opponents in South Carolina and Vanderbilt. If the Gators want to close the season out strong during this tough upcoming stretch, they will need to keep up their hot shooting form or something close to it.

With 10 games left and a 16-5 record, the Gators would like to avoid a 10-loss season in order to secure a March Madness spot and not have to sweat it out during the SEC Tournament.

If the Florida basketball team can finish off the season on a 7-3 run, which is the most likely scenario factoring in how hard their upcoming schedule is, they should be able to finish with the second seed in the SEC, as well as a 23-8 record on the year.

Must Read: Can Devin Robinson make the leap for the Florida Gators?

What do you think the Gators will finish the season as? Do you think they can survive this upcoming schedule gauntlet? Let us know!

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