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Florida's got one last game in 2012 before finishing its non-conference schedule against Yale next Sunday, and it comes this Saturday afternoon down in Sunrise at the 2012 Orange Bowl Classic against Air Force.
Florida is coming off two losses in three games, both coming away from the O'Connell Center, but this is a semi-home game as opposed to the trips to Tuscon and Kansas City that ended with losses to Arizona and Kansas State. And Air Force simply isn't in either of those teams' class, or Florida's: Do-everything senior guard Michael Lyons leads the Falcons in points and rebounds with a 20-5 average, but just two other Air Force players score 10 points per game, and, well, a 6'5" guard leads Air Force in rebounding with five rebounds per game.
This should be a get-right game for Florida, which could well dominate the Falcons on the glass and on the inside (Air Force center Taylor Broekhuis is 6'10", but slender enough to get outmuscled by even Will Yeguete), but, more importantly, it should be a get-right game for Kenny Boynton, who has flourished in Florida's trips to his native South Florida (Boynton went to American Heritage), scoring 22 points and sinking six threes against Texas A&M in an Orange Bowl Classic game in 2011 and putting up 15 against Kansas State in 2010.
But in Florida's 2009 loss to Richmond in the Orange Bowl Classic, Boynton was woeful, making three of 12 shots and misfiring on six threes. That's more like the Boynton we've seen this season, and, hopefully, Florida's plans to use him off the ball more will help him rescue himself from the extended slump he has been mired in.
One thing that could tip this game in Air Force's favor? Todd Fletcher's three-point shooting. The Falcons' sniper has made more than half of his threes on the year, and is third nationally in Ken Pomeroy's Offensive Rating because of it. The Gators can't afford their often mediocre three-point defense allowing Fletcher to get off and keep Air Force in the game.
Florida's game against Air Force will be broadcast on Sun Sports or FOX Sports Net or ROOT Sports, depending on where you are.