Mocs Set to Open Exhibition Slate Friday in Gainesville Against Florida

LAKELAND - Florida Southern is set to open its two-game exhibition slate on Friday evening in Gainesville as the Moccasins face the University of Florida in a 7 p.m. contest at the O'Connell Center on the UF campus in the exhibition opener for both teams.

Friday's game is the first of two consecutive exhibition games at Southeastern Conference foes for the Mocs as they will leave Gainesville following Friday's game and travel overnight to Knoxville, Tenn., as they will face the University of Tennessee at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Nov. 2 in its final tune-up for the regular season.

UF and FSC enter the game on Friday as the top two winningest NCAA men's basketball programs in the state of the Florida since the beginning of the 2007 season. Since the beginning of the 2007-08 campaign, the Gators have won 154 games and posted a 154-63 record, while FSC has won 148 games and has a record of 148-46 over that same time span. In addition, the Mocs winning percentage of .763 is tops in the state among NCAA men's basketball teams since 2007, while UF's winning percentage of .710 is second during that same time frame.  

The Mocs, who were tabbed to repeat as the Sunshine State Conference champion by the league coaches in the SSC Preseason Poll, welcome back three starters and five key performers from last season's 27-6 squad that advanced to the NCAA Division II Elite Eight for the ninth time in school history and first time since 2000. Along the way, FSC shared the SSC regular season title with Saint Leo, claimed its second consecutive SSC Tournament title and won the South Regional title on its home court with a 90-88 win over Alabama-Huntsville to advance to the Elite Eight.

"We're excited to get the chance to go and play at Florida and Tennessee this weekend,"  Mocs head coach Linc Darner. "It will be a good test and challenge for our team as they (UF and UT) will be two of the best teams we'll face all season long."

Among the key returners for the Mocs are senior guard Dominic Lane (St. Petersburg, Fla.), senior forward Lamar McKnight (Cleveland, Ohio) and junior guard Kevin Capers (Winter Haven, Fla.). Lane averaged 13.4 points and 5.9 rebounds per game, McKnight averaged 9.4 points and 5.1 boards per game and Capers averaged 13.4 points and 2.9 rebounds per game off the bench as he was the team's sixth man a year ago. Lane and McKnight are two of the Mocs three returning starters.

The third returning starter is junior guard Tyler Kelly (Pickerington, Ohio), who averaged 4.9 points, 3.0 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. The other key returning player is sophomore guard Dominique Williams (Haines City, Fla.). One other player returns after sitting out all of four games last season due to injury, senior forward Garrett Putman (Washington, D.C.). Putman, who earned a medical hardship after missing most of last year due to injury, averaged 5.2 points and 6.0 rebounds per game as a junior in 2011-12.

Along with the six returning players, the Mocs also brought five newcomers this season, highlighted by senior guard Frank Adams (Stone Mountain, Ga.) and junior forward Bubby Johnson (Waldorf, Md.) and Stephen Battle (Waldorf, Md.). Adams comes to FSC after playing the past three seasons at Young Harris College and in those three seasons, he scored over 1,500 points and averaged nearly 20 points per game, while Johnson, who began his collegiate career at NJIT, comes to FSC from Utah State University Eastern and Battle is a transfer from Gannon University. The other two newcomers are junior guard Tyler Logan (Landover, Md.), who is a transfer from Prince George's Community College and freshman forward Stephen Turner (McCordsville, Ind.), who had a stellar prep career at Mt. Vernon High School in Fortville, Ind.

"I think our players will be excited to play against someone other than themselves," the eighth-year Moccasin coach said. "We're going to play the way we always play. We're not going to change things up just because of the opponent we're facing."

The Mocs opponent on Friday, Florida, returns two starters and five of its top eight scorers from last season's 29-8 squad that advanced to lost to Michigan in the regional final of last year's NCAA Tournament. In fact, the Gators have advanced to the Elite Eight of the NCAA Tournament the past three seasons and won back-to-back NCAA titles in 2006 and 2007.

One of the top returners for the Gators is senior 6-foot-9 center Patric Young, who averaged 10.1 points and 6.3 rebounds per game a year ago and is a two-time SEC Scholar-Athlete of the Year. UF, though, must find a replacement for Kenny Boynton, who finished his Gator career last season as the program's No. 2 all-time scorer with 2,035 points and is now playing professionally overseas.

Other key performers for 18-year Gators head coach Billy Donovan this season are senior guard Scottie Wilbekin, senior forward Will Yeguete, sophomore guard Michael Frazier II and freshman guard Kasey Hill. Wilbekin averaged 9.1 points and 5.0 assists per game at year ago, while Yeguete averaged 5.5 points and 5.8 boards per game, Frazier averaged 5.6 points and 3.1 rebounds per game and Hill comes in after earning McDonald's All-American honors last year while playing at Montverde Academy.   

"Florida is a Top 10 team for a reason. They have four outstanding players and a lot of experience coming back from last season's Elite Eight team," said Darner, who is 156-66 as the Mocs coach. "Young is very strong inside player, while Frazier can really shoot the ball, Wilbekin is an outstanding point guard and Hill was a McDonald's All-American last year in high school.

"They will present a challenge for our players, but this will be good for us as we move forward this season," the Mocs coach added.

On Saturday, the Mocs will face a Tennessee squad that returns three starters and seven lettermen from last season's 20-13 squad that advanced to the NIT. The Volunteers, who are ranked outside of the Preseason AP and USA Today Coaches' Poll, are coached by a former Purdue player, Cuonzo Martin. Martin and Darner played three seasons (1991-94) together for the Boilermakers, including playing together on Purdue's 1994 team that went 29-5 and advanced to the Elite Eight.

Martin's third Volunteer team, which was picked to finish third in the SEC by several national publications, returns 64 percent of its scoring and 73 percent of its rebounding from a season ago, including senior guard Jordan McRae, who averaged nearly 16 points per game and was named an All-SEC selection and junior forward Jarnell Stokes, who averaged 12.4 points and 9.6 rebounds per game and recorded 16 double-doubles.

A live online broadcast of the Mocs game on Friday at UF will be available free on GatorVision and tickets are still available for the game. Tickets can be purchased from the Gator Ticket Office at (352) 375-4683 or 800-34-GATOR (42867).  

Meanwhile, Saturday's game at UT will feature a live webcast on www.UTSports.com.

Following this weekend's exhibition games, the Mocs will open the 2013-14 regular season next weekend with two games at the Delta State Classic. FSC will open the two-day exempt tournament on Saturday, Nov. 9 against Delta State at 7:30 p.m., before facing Arkansas-Monticello on Sunday, Nov. 10 at 3 p.m.

Complete FSC-UF Game Notes