As a No. 10 seed in the NCAA Tournament, Virginia Tech men's basketball will take on seventh-seeded Florida to begin Friday's slate of games at 12:15 p.m. ET on CBS at Hinkle Fieldhouse.
SERIES HISTORY
The Hokies (15-6, 9-4 ACC) and Gators (14-9, 9-7 SEC) will meet for the first time since 1991, a 79-57 win for Tech in the Red Lobster Classic in Orlando, Florida behind 19 points from John Rivers.
Tech leads the all-time series 5-4 versus Florida, with five of the nine matchups being on a neutral court.
YOUNG'S TRACK RECORD
Tech coach Mike Young has never faced Florida's Mike White. Young will, however, face his former assistant on Friday, as Florida's Darris Nichols was an assistant at Wofford under Young (2013-14).
NCAA TIDBITS
The Hokies, who made their first NCAA Tournament in 1967, are 8-11 in The Dance and have made the tourney four years in a row, with the 2020 NCAA Tournament being canceled.
Tech has never faced Florida in the NCAA Tournament or a current member of the SEC either. However, the Hokies have played in the state of Indiana before and are 0-1, with that setback coming on March 13, 1976 against Western Michigan in South Bend, a 77-66 overtime loss.
Never being a No. 10 seed, the Hokies are entering the 2021 tourney with never having played a No. 7 seed either. The No. 10 seed is their lowest seeding in school history, with the previous low of No. 9, which has happened three times, with most recently being in 2017.
ON THE CALL
The matchup will be broadcast on CBS, with Jim Nantz (play-by-play), Bill Raftery (analyst), Grant Hill (analyst) and Tracy Wolfson (reporter) on the call, while Jon Laaser (play-by-play) and Mike Burnop (analyst) will broadcast on Virginia Tech Sports Network.
LAST TIME OUT
Tech took a three-point lead into halftime, but would let it slip away for the first time this season, falling to North Carolina 81-73 in the quarterfinals of the ACC Tournament. The game was tied at 49-all with 11 minutes left, but a UNC run proved too much for Tech.
PLAYERS TO WATCH
Shooting 10 for 16 from the field, Justyn Mutts turned in a season-high 24 points against UNC at the ACC Tournament. The redshirt junior hit three 3-pointers and had three monstrous slam dunks, while grabbing eight rebounds.
Tyrece Radford racked up his third 20-point outing of the season and sixth of his career last Thursday vs. UNC. Going 4 for 4 from the charity stripe and pulling down six boards, Radford drew four fouls with having his way driving to the rim.
SCOUTING FLORIDA
• Florida is coming off a 12-point loss to Tennessee (18-8, 9-7 SEC), which is a No. 5 seed in the NCAA Tournament, last Friday in the quarterfinals of the SEC Tournament, 78-66. The Gators never led and were down by as many as 17 points to the Volunteers, but were paced by All-SEC selection Tre Mann and his 30 points.
• White is in his sixth year in Gainesville, following a four-year stint as the head coach at Louisiana Tech. With the Gators, White has racked up over 120 wins and led them to four straight NCAA Tournament berths. He also has earned Coach of the Year honors in three conferences (WAC, C-USA, SEC).
• UF is led by Mann, who is averaging a team-high 16.0 points and team-best 3.4 assists per game, and Colin Castleton, who is second on the team in points (12.0) and is first in rebounds (5.9).
• One of the better rim-protecting teams in the nation, the Gators are fourth nationally in blocks per game, owning 5.4 a contest. They also capitalize once they get to the charity stripe, shooting 75.7 percent from the free-throw line to rank 40th overall and first in the SEC.
