The bulk of Florida’s challenging non-conference games are finished and they’ll now take their 6-4 record into the end of the month with three “buy” games–matchups where the Gators are paying low-major opponents to come to Gainesville. These are traditionally the type of games you see as blowouts, and that’s what Florida will be looking for on Wednesday when they take on the Saint Francis Red Flash on Wednesday.
Saint Francis was a great story in the 2024-25 season when they unexpectedly went on a surge in the NEC Tournament, winning the conference and earning an NCAA Tournament spot as a 16-seed. They went out in the play-in game, but making the Big Dance as a 16-18 NEC team showed that just about anything is possible in a sport where you can survive and advance in your conference tournament and beyond. Following this surprise NCAA Tournament appearance, Saint Francis announced that they would be transitioning from the D1 to the D3 level, citing financial difficulties with remaining at the highest level. For the time being the Red Flash remain in D1, but will go to D3 for the 2026-27 season. Because of this decision, head coach Rob Krimmel chose to leave the program, and many players chose to leave as well. Recruiting D1 players becomes quite difficult when you are a program set to drop levels, and Saint Francis finds themselves in somewhat of an awkward position for this season.
This has resulted in the Red Flash having a 2-9 record, though their 2 wins have come against non-D1 opponents, leaving them winless against D1 competition. According to KenPom they are currently the 362nd ranked team (out of 365), and may be in contention to be the worst team in college basketball. With most of their games being buy games they have lost a lot of games in blowout fashion, and in games where they weren’t bought, they still lost by multiple possessions.
Needless to say, the Red Flash will be in a tough spot when they come to Gainesville and the Gators will have to look at this game as an opportunity to hone in on some of the deficiencies during their 6-4 start, and possibility give some run to younger players like CJ Ingram, Isaiah Brown, and Alex Lloyd as they look to see who could provide a spark in SEC play, particularly on the offensive end.
One player to watch for Saint Francis is Skylar Wicks, a 6’6” senior who has brought a lot of fight and contributed in a number of ways averaging 18.8 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 1.3 steals to really stuff the stat sheet. Wicks has a thick build and can play a physical downhill game, drawing fouls and finishing against shot blockers. Adding to his potency is a 40% three-point stroke, making him clearly the most productive player on the Red Flash.
As a team, Saint Francis will play a slow pace on offense and move the ball while they get through actions, not focusing on any one player having to do much creation outside of Wicks. Defensively, the Red Flash will try to muck up the game with random traps and attempts at steals, and while they can be effective at creating deflections, they will often put themselves out of position which has resulted in giving up a ton of points.
Florida probably isn’t going to be up on upset watch in this one, but they’ll have to use the opportunity to get better as they build towards SEC play.
Florida and Saint Francis will tip off Wednesday, December 17th at 6:30 PM ET, and it will be televised on SEC Network.