Colin Castleton to lead Florida Basketball over upset-minded Oral Roberts

2. Run Abmas off the 3-point line

Abmas is most definitely the catalyst for ORU. The 6-1 sophomore is speedy and has an outstanding range. He is an excellent shooter and prefers to launch shots from beyond the arc, where he takes nearly 50% of his over 18 shots.

The Texas native, who takes 30% of the Eagles shots when he is on the floor, is also a strong ball-handler and good passer. Abmas has had strong performances against top competition, producing an effective field goal of 57.3% while owning an assist rate of 32.7% and a turnover rate of 11.5%. He is averaging over 23 points and is averaging over nine treys attempt and making four triples a contest against high-major foes.

Florida is an outstanding defensive team, and the Gators have several strong individual defenders, particularly on the perimeter.  UF does an excellent job at preventing 3-point attempts, with 35% of their opponents’ attempts are from beyond the arc, which is above average. The Gators are also permitting opponents to make 6.3 triples a game at just a 30.5% rate.

3.  Control the glass 

The Gators, who have a huge advantage in size and athleticism, should be able to dominate the boards in this matchup. While UF is a below-average defensive rebounding team, hauling in less than 69% of all available rebounds on that end, they do a good job on the offensive glass.

Florida is grabbing 30.1% of the rebounds on the offensive end as Castleton (11.7%), Osayi Osifo, Payne, and AnthonyDurji all hit the boards on that end hard.  Overall, UF collects 51.3% of all available rebounds and owns a 13-4 record when outrebounding its opponents.

4. Scottie Lewis

Lewis is coming off his best game in almost two months, and he will need to come up with more strong performances. The sophomore wing, a talented two-way player, may have to step up even more if Appleby cannot go.  He and Mann will likely be responsible for checking Abmas.