No. 20 Florida battles Maryland

Published Dec. 10, 2021 5:31 p.m. ET

Associated Press

No. 20 Florida (7-2) vs. Maryland (5-4)

Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York; Sunday, 4:30 p.m. EST

BOTTOM LINE: No. 20 Florida visits Maryland in a non-conference matchup. Florida easily beat North Florida by 30 on Wednesday. Maryland lost 67-61 to Northwestern on Sunday.

STEPPING UP: The versatile Colin Castleton is averaging 15.7 points, 9.3 rebounds and 2.8 blocks to lead the charge for the Gators. Myreon Jones is also a big contributor, putting up 10.4 points per game. The Terrapins have been led by Eric Ayala, who is averaging 13.1 points and 4.7 rebounds.ACCURATE AYALA: Ayala has connected on 29 percent of the 62 3-pointers he's attempted and has gone 8 for 29 over his last five games. He's also converted 69 percent of his free throws this season.

UNDEFEATED WHEN: The Terrapins are 5-0 when they score at least 68 points and 0-4 when they fall shy of that total. The Gators are 6-0 when recording at least 11 offensive rebounds and 1-2 when they fall short of that total.

ASSIST DISTRIBUTION: The Terps have recently used assists to create buckets more often than the Gators. Maryland has 28 assists on 60 field goals (46.7 percent) over its past three contests while Florida has assists on 31 of 74 field goals (41.9 percent) during its past three games.

DID YOU KNOW: The disruptive Florida defense has forced opponents to turn the ball over on 26.4 percent of all possessions, the 14th-best rate in the country. Maryland has a forced-turnover percentage of only 16.7 percent through nine games (ranking the Terrapins 307th among Division I teams).

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