With six games to go in the regular season for the University of Florida and ideally another nine after that with the SEC and NCAA Tournaments, this might be a good time to catch up on some of the fascinating numbers and milestones that continue to crop up around this basketball team.
1: Outright SEC Championship in the history of the University of Florida basketball program. A number that’s about to change in about two weeks.
3: Consecutive losses suffered by last year’s Gators at this point of the season (after game 25). That’s a streak that is virtually certain not to be repeated.
5: Consecutive wins over the Kentucky Wildcats, the first such stretch endured by Big Blue in more than 30 years. No SEC team has ever beaten the SEC’s premier program six times in a row. That could very well change in March fourth when the ‘Cats come to Gainesville for the season finale’.
12: Consecutive regular season wins over SEC opponents. The Gators’ last loss to an SEC team came in Tuscaloosa last February when Florida dropped an 82-77 decision. As is the case with most of the streaks the Gators are putting together these days it’s the longest such stretch in UF history.
15: Consecutive home wins this season leaving Florida three games shy of its best home record ever. The 1992-94 Gators also enjoyed a perfect season in the O-Dome but for 13 games. Going unbeaten at home was one of the major goals for this year’s squad. They’ve almost reached it.
16: Consecutive wins since the loss at FSU. The Gators need a win over Alabama to post the third 17-game winning streak in the last two seasons. The first was to start last year and set a school record. The second covered the last eleven games of 2006 and the first six of this fall. Tennessee ended the first streak and Kansas the second.
18: Points needed for Taurean Green to become the 39th Gator to score 1,000 points in his career. Corey Brewer reached that mark at Georgia. Joakim Noah (972) should be next followed by Lee Humphrey (928) and Al Horford (911). I’m willing to wager no school has ever had five guys reach that milestone in the same season.
24: Is the school record for wins in the regular season. Florida can tie the mark against ‘Bama and will then have five more chances to set a new standard. Betting is they’ll break that mark several times.
69: The bottom line number for the Gator defense. Florida has won all 19 games this season when it has held opponents to 69 points or less. The Gators have won the last 33 times they have kept opponents from reaching 70 on the scoreboard.
80: Gator wins over the last three seasons, including this one. Florida has lost just 16 times since the start of the 2004-05 campaign. The 80 wins are already — you guessed it — a school record over a three-year period. And, no, the 56 wins over the last two seasons is not another new record. That standard is still one shy of the 57 wins accomplished in the previous two campaigns. In other words, another UF hoops record bound for the scrap heap of statistical history.
126: Career games for senior forward Chris Richard. He needs to play in six more to break the UF record for career games played. He better enjoy the record while he can. Walter Hodge has already played in 64, appearing in every game both of his years in Orange and Blue and is on pace to easily eclipse whatever mark Richard sets.
158: Career blocked shots each for Noah and Horford. That’s two shy of Eugene McDowell for third on the UF list. They both have a chance to catch Andrew DeClercq (176) for second by the end of the year. However catching Dwayne Schintzius (272) would take another season… at least.
242: Career three-point shots made by Florida marksman Lee Humphrey. That leaves the Gator senior one shy of Greg Stolt for third on the Gators’ all-time list. Humphrey needs 33 more to take over first place on the list, passing both Anthony Roberson and Brett Nelson. It appears a fairly lengthy post-season run will be needed to make that happen.
249: Career wins for Billy Donovan since taking over the Gator program eleven years ago. If 20 wins a year is the gold standard, Donovan’s 22.3 and counting is pure platinum.
11,705: Average attendance at the O’Connell Center, easily ahead of the record of 11,047 set three years ago. With the three remaining home games all sold out, a new record is certain to be set. Way to go all of you who go.
175,578: Total attendance at the O-Dome this year, just 19,753 shy of yet another record. The Gators will top the 200,000 mark for the first time on senior day when Kentucky comes to town.