Texas @ Florida preview

Texas at Florida

Do not expect No. 5 Florida to look past visiting Texas when the teams square off as Southeastern Conference foes for the first time in a marquee matchup on Saturday afternoon in Gainesville, Fla.

There are no easy opponents on the SEC schedule, as nine of the league's 16 teams are ranked in the Top 25. It puts even the best squads on notice for each game.

Case in point: Florida (15-2, 2-2 SEC) looks to bounce back from an 83-82 home loss to Missouri on Tuesday. Florida trailed 50-34 at halftime and never led after the break while dropping to 8-1 at home this season.

"You can't afford to take a half off and win an SEC game," said Florida guard Will Richard, who scored 12 points.

Walter Clayton Jr. scored a game-high 28 points for the Gators, while Alijah Martin hit for 14. Rueben Chinyelu amassed 11 points and 10 rebounds.

All four of Florida's conference games have been Quadrant 1 matchups, and the Gators are 4-2 in Quad 1 contests this season.

"When you come into the game with the wrong mentality, you leave yourself susceptible to a situation like (the loss to Missouri) where you put yourself in a really big hole and you have to dig out," Florida coach Todd Golden said.

"Every night is gonna be a Quad 1 or Quad 2 opportunity. Every team, for the most part, is fighting for an NCAA Tournament seed right now. And there's just no easy games."

Expect that trend to continue on Saturday when the Longhorns play in Gainesville for the first time since December 1996.

Texas (12-5, 1-3) carries needed momentum into the game after a 77-73 win at Oklahoma on Wednesday that ended the Longhorns' three-game losing streak and gave them their first ever win in the SEC.

It was the first Quad 1 victory for Texas this season. The Longhorns won despite getting just one point from its bench.

Jordan Pope scored 19 of his team-high 27 points in the second half as the Longhorns held on for the win. They led by 23 points in the second half before surrendering a 24-3 run to Oklahoma.

"I knew it was going to come down to a couple of plays," Pope said.

Tre Johnson hit for 16 points and Tramon Mark added 15 points for Texas, which captured its eighth straight victory over the Sooners.

"This is the SEC. You have to come to play at a high level every game," Texas coach Rodney Terry said. "I thought my team did a great job in the first half by attacking on our terms. Proud of the way we hung tough and got the win in a tough place.

"We kept working the game, working through the matchups. We have played really hard in the first three conference losses and we've got better, even though we didn't have a lot to show for it."

Texas holds a 4-3 all-time edge over Florida that includes wins in the past two contests, the last of which was played in Austin in December 1997.

--Field Level Media