Three-minute preview: Missouri men’s basketball vs. Florida

Florida at Missouri

▪ WHEN/WHERE: 6:30 p.m. Saturday at Mizzou Arena in Columbia

▪ TV/RADIO: SEC Network; KMBZ (98.1 FM)

▪ ABOUT MISSOURI (10-20, 3-14 SEC): The Tigers have lost 20-plus games in back-to-back seasons for the first time since 1967. Mizzou’s 43 losses the last two seasons are tied with Bob Vanatta’s final two teams for the most losses in any two-season span in program history. The Florida game marks the first time since 1974 that Missouri didn’t play in some form of a postseason tournament. Freshman forward Kevin Puryear from Blue Springs South currently boasts the seventh-best scoring average for a freshman in program history and can finish no worse than tied for eighth with Linas Kleiza. Puryear’s 344 points are sixth-most by a freshman in Tigers history. He trails Paseo graduate and fellow Kansas City native Anthony Peeler by 18 points for fifth place.

▪ ABOUT FLORIDA (17-13, 8-9 SEC): The Gators currently are among CBS Sports bracketologist Jerry Palm’s first four teams left out of the NCAA Tournament field. First-year coach Mike White’s squad is among the “Next Four Out,” according to ESPN bracketologist Joe Lunardi. A loss to Missouri essentially would end Florida’s tourney hopes, barring an automatic berth by winning the SEC Tournament. The Gators, who enter play on a four-game skid and having lost five of six games, are winless in two trips to Mizzou Arena.

This story was originally published March 4, 2016 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Three-minute preview: Missouri men’s basketball vs. Florida."