Florida basketball: Gators host Aggies in search of first SEC win

Tonight, Florida basketball hosts the Texas A&M Aggies in their second game of SEC play. They look to bounce back after a close loss at Auburn in their conference opener and get some momentum going as they start the new year.

Despite their struggles, the Gators are 6.5-point favorites over A&M, and they seem to be in an excellent spot to notch a win tonight.

If Florida is to take down the Aggies tonight, they’ll have to contain Wade Taylor IV, A&M’s sophomore guard, and leading scorer.

Taylor is putting up 15.5 points per game, with 2.5 rebounds and 3.5 assists. He’s also a threat defensively with 2.3 steals per game and has a good stroke from deep with a 38.7% 3-pt percentage.

This game could also be an opportunity for the Gators to get going from deep. They’ve struggled from 3-point range all season and went a lazy 3-19 from deep in their last game against Auburn.

But they have a favorable matchup tonight against an A&M team that is horrible at defending the long ball. They rank 296th in the country in three-point defense.

If there’s ever a game in conference play where the Gators can turn around their poor shooting, it’s this one.

Florida also needs their big man Colin Castleton to get it going. He’s had a few bad games over UF’s last few outings and only had six points on one field goal at Auburn.

Castleton is the difference maker for Florida. If he’s off and the Gators don’t have a strong paint presence, they need to rely on perimeter shooting to score. And we know how that goes.

One bright spot for the Gators in their last game was Myreon Jones, who started to look like he was getting it together. He put up 10 points, and the Gators need him to be a more consistent part of the scoring game if they want to succeed in the conference.

Keep up with Florida basketball at Hail Florida Hail.