Florida vs. Oklahoma State, Game Thread: Gators look to heat up in South Florida

Florida can't shoot, not really. Whether that will matter may not get tested on Saturday night in the Orange Bowl Classic against Oklahoma State (8 p.m., Fox Sports 1), but the Gators would certainly like to get their rangefinders set.

The problem? Florida hasn't shot the lights out in Sunrise in quite a while. The Gators made six of 23 threes against Wake Forest last season in the same building they'll be in tonight, and made five of 18 in 2013 against Fresno State. A 7-for-19 performance from behind the arc against Air Force in 2012 is slightly more promising, but even that seems like a stretch for the current Gators: They're 326th nationally in three-point percentage, making just under 29 percent of their triples.

If even one Gators could heat up from deep, as Chris Chiozza did against Michigan State, it might do wonders for Florida's offense, which stagnated against the Spartans without John Egbunu to anchor an interior assault.

One thing Florida won't have to worry about — in theory — is defense. The Gators boast KenPom's No. 2 defense, allowing under 0.90 points per possession so far this season. Only Purdue and Miami, teams with top-20 offenses per KenPom, have cracked a point per possession on Mike White's stingy band of Gators, and the Hurricanes only barely got there. Oklahoma State's offense is nothing special, ranking No. 148 nationally, so Florida should be able to keep the Cowboys from riding roughshod.

And Florida should have a welcome addition this evening, as well. Forward Alex Murphy, who graduated on Saturday, is set to make his 2015-16 regular season debut with the Gators after sustaining a foot injury in Florida's exhibition opener. Murphy could be a fine complement to Florida's frontcourt, and provide some scoring off the bench.